



Here are the three types of cones responsive to different wavelengths, Humans are unusual among mammals for our trichromatic vision – named for the three different types of photopigments we have. The presence of three types of photopigments, each sensitive to a different part of the visual spectrum, is what gives us our rich color vision. This makes cones sensitive to long (red), medium (green), or short (blue) wavelengths of light. Cone cells, or cones, are photoreceptor cells in the retinas of vertebrate eyes that will they respond differently to light of different wavelengths, and are thus responsible for color vision and function best in relatively bright light, as opposed to rod cells, which are responsible for seeing in dim light.Ĭones contain one of three different photopigments. Let’s look at the human eye and understand what it is constructed of, we all know the retina is responsible for our vision and the retina is built with a number of atomic cells called cones and rods. So why is this important? Approximately 8% of all men and 0.5% of all women worldwide are affected by color vision deficiency. Every perceived color is therefore a mixture of stimuli of those three cone types. Each type is sensitive to a certain wavelength of light (red, green, blue). So what actually is color vision deficiency? In simpler words, if you are suffering from a color vision deficiency you perceive a narrower color spectrum compared to somebody with normal color vision.Ĭolor perception builds up by three different types of cones. A better wording would be color vision deficiency, which describes this visual disorder more precisely. But the term is misleading, as more than 99% of all colorblind people can see colors.

There are still a lot of people who think that if you are colorblind you really can’t see any colors. Let’s jump right in,Ĭolor blindness is not "color blindness"! One of the most common questions asked in making a site accessible is How do I design for colorblind users? First off, before designing for colorblindness we have to understand what is how our eye works and what the reason causing colorblindness is.
