Can people with colour blindness study art and design?

What do Mark Zuckerberg, Eddie Redmayne and Christopher Nolan have in common? The three of them are partially colour blind and they are successful in their respective fields.

Ophthalmologist Kussulistyaji Aryoputranto, or Aryo, told TFR that colour blindness is found in 8% of men and 0.4% of women in the world. The statistics will vary by country.

Colour blindness is usually a genetic condition, but you can also acquire a colour vision deficiency due to external factors, such as age, diseases, injuries, or medications/substances that could affect the way your eyes perceive colour.

The cause of colour blindness will determine the severity of your case. However, no matter the cause or symptoms, the disease is incurable.

Glasses and contact lenses for colour blindness help to a certain extent. “Contact lenses and glasses simply increases contrast of certain colour waves, normally red and green colour,” said Aryo.

Normal colour vision is known as trichromacy. A person with trichromacy is able to utilise all three types of light cones or, generally speaking, see many different colours. Colourblind people, however, have deficiencies or lack some (if not all) of these light cones. This affects the way they perceive colours. The deficiencies of light cones can be further classified into three types.

The first type is anomalous trichromacy or more commonly known as “red-green” blindness, where people still have three cone types, but one will have a deficiency in the perception of colour. This essentially means that the perception of one out of these three colours–red, blue or green–will not be accurate. People will encounter difficulty in trying to tell those three colours apart. The inaccurate perception of colour depends on which cone type is missing.

The second type is known as dichromacy or “blue-yellow” blindness. This means that a person will only have two types of cones that are able to perceive colour. One section of the light spectrum (or a range of colour) cannot be perceived at all. For example, a person with “blue-yellow” blindness may have difficulty in telling black with various shades of red apart.

The last type is monochromacy, or when people are completely colourblind or unable to see colour at all. They can only see objects or people in black, different shades of grey and white.

There are studies off-limit to people with colour blindness. Engineering, chemistry and aviation are some of them. According to several sources we asked, social studies, humanities and management are recommended studies for people with colour blindness.

State-owned universities do not accept students with colour blindness for art degrees. Four state-owned universities with art programmes-ITB, ISI Jogja, ISI Bali and IKJ-stated on their website that applicants must submit a medical letter from an eye doctor stating they have normal colour vision.

Vonezyo Yupanzara Dharomesz or Zio, who just graduated from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) with a master’s degree in marketing, has partial red-green colour blindness. Marketing was not his first choice of study. He had to give up his first choice, graphic design, due to his colour blindness.

Like Zio, Ardani Yusuf Prawira planned on pursuing art before he found out he was partially colour blind. He then chose to study business with human resources.

This brings up the question, does colour blindness severely affect the ability to produce artworks?

Dimas Djayadiningrat, a notable Indonesian film director, is partially colour blind. During an interview with Detik in 2018, he said, “I found out I was partially colour blind and it doesn’t stop me from trying. I don’t choose to be like that. I was given and it’s partial anyway. I can still see colours and combine colours, but it’s just that what I see might be different from what you see.”

Emanuel Pratalaharja, lecturer at Bina Nusantara University (BINUS), said that over the past decade, he had come across two students with partial colour blindness. “I have personally witnessed their struggle in classes where colours play a very important role; making colour wheel, gradient and identifying value in colours.”

However, according to Emanuel, it doesn’t mean they are incapable of completing design studies. “In colour theory class, the label on the paint can assist them. We simply guide them on the right combination and they look at the contrast.”

In colour theory, there are colour combinations that complement each other: analogous, complementary, split complementary and triad colours. In order to simplify the identification, each colour combination is based on placement of colours in the colour wheel.

For people with red-green colour blindness, blue and yellow stand out among the rest. Despite the limitation, they can apply the colours they are comfortable with into their work. Moreover, in colour theory, blue and yellow makes an appealing colour combination.

There is also monochromatic colour combination. Take Facebook, for instance. Blue becomes the dominant colour on Facebook because Zuckerberg is comfortable with it and he can identify different shades of blue.

In every colour theory class, there will always be exercises in applying colour combinations on an artwork. It is essential for designers to choose an appealing colour combination. Using too many colours for an artwork is not recommended unless it is a special request or part of branding.

Evidently, most of the colour combinations pictured on the colour wheels above have two to three colours. Branding wise, most brands prefer having one trademark colour to set itself apart from others, i.e. Hermès and its orange colour, Louboutin and its red colour, as well as Tiffany&Co and its robin’s egg blue colour. Furthermore, designers rarely apply more than four colours on an artwork in order to reduce printing cost.

As for people with total colour blindness, Emanuel believes that they can still produce artwork because they can see contrast among shades. “A lot of people with colour blindness become illustrators and comic artists. They don’t have to possess the ability to see colours as long as they can draw with pencil or ink,” said Emanuel.

Despite the drawback, both Ardani and Zio continue to create artwork. Ardani (@artdanistudio) took a short animation course in Jakarta. “I attach myself to the graphic world without having a vision that I can work in that industry.”

It was not until he immersed himself in the coffee industry that he realised creativity is inseparable from every line of work. “If we talk about my colour blindness, I feel that a lot of segments in art have nothing to do with colour,” said Ardani.

“What I see is different from what you see. In the end, I either use different shades of a colour or black and white. [If I choose] one colour, let’s say red, I will look at the contrast. Art has a lot to do with surrounding.” He also takes on commission work for murals and illustrations.

Meanwhile, Zio experiments with digital graphics. “So far when I create a design or artwork, the contrast remains ‘safe.’ However, there are colours that I might not be able to spot, such as pastel colours.”

His experiment leads him to design the layout and visual of @popdaring, an Instagram page for his video editing and presentation design services. “I try to provide interesting colours and those [colour] come from my partial colour blind [eyes] when I create artwork,” said Zio.

In short, it is possible for a person with colour blindness to study design, but it will pose a great challenge for them. Other majors in art and design, namely performing arts, film, animation, art history, could be an alternative.

Can people with colour blindness study art and design?

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