Universal Colorblind Code?

This essay has been adapted from Brian’s 2023 article at www.colorblindgames.com, where he focuses on the effects of accessible barriers and mitigations on tabletop, board, and card games.

---

Once a child "learns their colors," this new language allows them to communicate easier with others and better understand the world around them. In games, designers use this language to help players distinguish objects from one another.

Those of us with color vision deficiencies are not fluent in this language, so we mitigate this communication gap with other methods and tools. A common and useful method called "double-coding" can be applied to all game elements on the screen, and it is generally game-specific based on that game's setting and theme. For example, Peggle includes a colorblind mode that adds symbols to some of the colors to help players distinguish them from one another.

Double-coding for accessibility reduces the colorblind barrier by introducing another barrier to overcome: learning this new language. Even after I learn what a triangle or plus symbol means in Peggle, that learning does not translate to other games (i.e., they don’t all use this same triangle icon). Double-coding is awesome, but it also maintains the unequal challenge between colorblind and color-normal players by requiring re-learning with each new game.

But what if we could further reduce this accessibility barrier by developing a Universal Colorblind Code? Is it possible? What might it look like? How "universal" must it be to be useful? Would a universal code be better for gamers and easier for designers and publishers? What are the pros and cons, wins and losses that come with standardization?

What about other methods?

Double-coding is not the only mitigation for color vision deficiency. Many games, and more recently consoles themselves, have introduced colorblind filters that help some players improve their ability to play games by changing the color palette based on their needs. But these only go so far, and color vision deficiency is highly varied. For many of us, instead of trying to help us “see the colors,” it works better to instead replace color with a different primary distinguisher.

Attempts at universal color coding

The first step is to NOT reinvent the wheel, but instead learn from those who have already asked this question and tried to answer it. There are several methods used to double-code colors in gaming that we could apply universally

ColorADD

Sea Salt & Paper

I've been following the ColorADD story since I first saw their tool used on UNO cards in 2017; in fact, their tool was an inspiration for me to begin writing about colorblindness. Most recently, I've seen ColorADD's "color alphabet" added to a small card game called Sea Salt & Paper.

I've tried to use ColorADD myself, but I've run into three limitations that keep it from being "the solution" for me.

1. The ColorADD code is not intuitive. Nothing about a diagonal line "feels" like yellow. Two rounded triangles do not evoke purple in my mind. It requires rote memorization and/or a separate legend, and while I've tried to memorize the code, it never sticks for me.

2. The coding is not rotationally symmetrical. This might matter more on a table than a screen, but in some cases it’s a problem that the code cannot be read upside down or sideways. For most board and card games this is a problem.

3. ColorADD is a proprietary tool that must be licensed by publishers. While I appreciate the research and development process (along with its associated costs), I imagine this would be a hurdle for designers and publishers who already experience very small profit margins.

If ColorADD is not the ideal solution, how might we be able to address some of these issues?

ArtiSlime's quadruple code

ArtiSlime

RAWR! Games, in a recent Kickstarter for the card game ArtiSlime, introduced quadruple-coding of colors.[1] As seen on the purple card below, it is identified by color, by the combination of red and blue (shown as "R" and "B" icons in their colors), by written name, and by a supplemental color Venn diagram placing a white dot to denote which of the six colors it is.

This method includes so many combinations that I anticipate any colorblind gamer will be able to play; the graphic designers, artists, and publisher deserve all the credit for this effort.

For this article's question regarding a universal colorblind code, using the "ArtiSlime model" as a base includes a few limitations

1. English-only letters and words reduce this method's applicability to English-speaking players.

2. The Venn diagram only covers the six primary and secondary colors.

3. The Venn diagram itself is not colorblind-friendly; one must at least memorize the locations of blue, red, and yellow to be able to know what the white dot means.

So we keep looking.

Path to a colorblind code

Taking all the information described above and adding in my own experience with games accessibility, I continued searching for iconography that might be universally applicable.

Peter Vel's symbology

Peter Vel's November 2021 essay, Vision Encoding Language, was my primary inspiration. Peter described the issue, limitations of current methods, and recommended a colour-based language following these steps:

1. Colour Model. Peter recommended a structure based on primary colours (red, yellow, blue) instead of each colour receiving its own icon: "If we create a different symbol for every colour, learning all the symbols will become a big and complex task, which would render the whole concept unusable in practice."

2. Symbology for Red, Yellow, Blue. Mapping to readily-understood items, Peter recommends Red Fire, Yellow Sun, and Blue Wave as the three symbols. This allows for black, white, or grey versions of the symbols to also reflect red, yellow, and blue.

3. Combinations for Other Colours. Similar to ColorADD, this system combines symbols for secondary colours; for example, placing the sun and wave together to symbolize green.

Minimize, Modify for Themes. Fire, Sun, and Waves are not the best icons for all games. Simplifying to generic shapes could make them more universal, and then future creativity to fit them to other themes like outer space.

While this is heading in the desired direction, it does not provide an "intuitive" symbol for the secondary colors (choosing instead to combine the three primary colors), and it does not provide a solution for other commonly-used colors like pink and grey.

What symbols make sense?

From Peter's recent work and the ensuing discussions online, I reviewed several other sources, including popular games that use color-based icons and preschool classroom materials. A particularly useful source was a website called The Noun Project.

The Noun Project Website: Search for Green

Color	Possible Symbols
Red	Fire, Apple, Heart, Rose, Cherry, Stop Sign
Yellow	Sun, Cheese, Lemon, Banana, Rubber Duck
Blue	Wave, Droplet, Whale
Green	Tree, Leaf, Frog, Clover
Orange	Pumpkin, Carrot, Traffic Cone
Purple/Violet	Grapes, Goblet
Pink	Pig, tongue
Brown	Mountain, Acorn
Grey	Rock, Mouse
Black	Bat, Tire, Skull, 8-ball
White	Sheep, Snowflake, Baseball

Here is a starting point to consider:

Next steps

I'm actually not sure what's next on this topic. Additional conversation and insights will probably bring about some new ideas and insights. I'm sure this list of colors is lacking in several ways: Should dark blue and light blue have separate symbols? Are baseballs and traffic cones universal across cultures?

What do you think? Is there value in continuing a conversation about a universal colorblind code? If so, how do you think it should be done, who should "choose" the symbol or symbols to be recommended to game designers and publishers, and what should those symbols be?

[1] To clarify, RAWR! Games never claimed or suggested their coding should be universal; I am extrapolating their excellent work for my own purposes.

Image Credits (top to bottom): PopCap Games, Bombyx, RAWR! Games, Peter Vel, The Noun Project