“Together with Mindera, we’ve produced a solution that is really useful for including colour blind people in a global world that communicates through colour.” André Teixeira, CEO, ColorADD

THE CHALLENGE

Colour blindness (colour vision deficiency, or CVD) affects approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. Worldwide, there are estimated to be about 300 million people with the condition*. That’s equivalent to almost the entire population of the USA! There are different types of colour blindness and in extremely rare cases people are unable to see any colour at all. However, most colour blind people struggle to ‘see’ red, green or blue light.

To help overcome the challenge, a universal sign code or ‘colour alphabet’ was developed by ColorADD, one of the few solutions available. It works by representing colours and colour combinations through a series of geometric shapes. A mobile app was built around the sign code to help make it accessible to as many people as possible. Point a mobile phone with the app activated at an object, and its colour is revealed.

The app worked so well that it won the accessibility category of the Vodafone Foundation Mobile For Good Europe Awards in 2013. A decade later, the ColorADD team wanted to develop it further, calling on software engineering partner Mindera for help. The aim was to make ‘version two’ available to all mobile users, not just via the App Store as was originally the case, and incorporate more features. ColorADD also wanted the app to be designed:

• For everyone to use – not only colour blind people, but also those with other visual impairments, such as amblyopia, or ‘lazy eye’, causing reduced vision in one eye due to abnormal visual development early in life.
• Incorporating an education component – so people could learn the ColorADD colour identification system.

Normal vision

Deuteranopia

Deuteranomaly is a reduced sensitivity to green light, and the most common form of colour blindness.

THE SOLUTION

To drill down into ColorADD’s aims and brainstorm the approach, Mindera conducted a Sprint 0, a focused and collaborative process to rapidly ‘bootstrap’ a new project. A variety of specialists on the Mindera team were brought together, including:

• Product owner
• Software developers
• UX/UI designer
• Quality assurance analyst

The technology architecture was reviewed in light of the new required features, along with development processes and practices, including tools and environments. With the vision fully understood and features sufficiently elaborated, Mindera first began work on visual design before then commencing software development.

React Native, a JavaScript-based open-source user-interface (UI) mobile app framework, was chosen to create the app for iOS and Android, because it allows solutions to be delivered for both operating systems at the same time. This enabled a relatively small team to write the necessary software code just once, then deploy it across iOS and Android, hitting ColorADD’s goals of delivering the app across both mobile platforms quickly and for minimum cost.

The colour of an object is identified using a bespoke algorithm, which matches a ColorAdd sign code for each RGB (red, green, and blue) element. ColorADD previously developed something close to this solution, using an Excel spreadsheet with RGB (red, green, and blue) matching sign codes. Mindera turned this information into code, implementing approximations when it doesn’t match exactly through the algorithm.

Before the app was launched, rigorous quality testing was carried out by Mindera to ensure it delivered the best possible user experience.

THE RESULT

The ColorADD app in action.

“The entire Mindera team had the amazing ability to understand the framework of the project and to adapt to the social innovation component present in our mission.” André Teixeira, CEO, ColorADD

Working closely with the ColorAdd team, Mindera delivered the iOS and Android versions of the app, each attaining five-star ratings on both the App Store and Google Play respectively. This proved the app delivers a great experience to ColorADD users.

The new version of the app delivers a wide variety of new and improved features, all of which helped it achieve such a high score. These include:

Real-time and static colour identification – As specified, the app immediately detects the colour of anything the user points their camera towards. Plus, a static photographic image can be uploaded from a mobile phone camera, with a code generated to identify its colours.

Saving and sharing on social media – Users are able to save the colour identity information then publish it on social media using the native sharing methods of their device and OS. This raises awareness of colour blindness and helps others with the condition, increasing inclusivity.

Educational tools – To make it easier for people to understand how to use ColorADD, the colour code system was added to the app menu,. This educates people with colour blindness on how using the app can help them with their daily routines and increases awareness of the app among the general public and explains what each colour symbol represents.

The educational tools of the app display text on the user’s screen that detail the following four aspects of ColorADD:

• The colour alphabet – This explains ColorADD is a universal and inclusive language that helps colour blind people to identify colours.
• A simple concept – This outlines that ColorADD is based on three simple graphic symbols which represent primary colours, with ‘black’ and ‘white’ used to show whether the tone is light or dark. The symbols are transformed into a mental game that’s simple for people to memorise and apply, so they can quickly identify colours in their everyday lives.
• Social responsibility and innovation – This demonstrates how ColorADD is a tool everyone can use, not only those who are colour blind.
• Accreditation and recognition – This lists the broad array of organisations that use and benefit from ColorADD. It also explains the breadth of acknowledgement ColorADD has received – from the scientific community to the corporate world.

Increasing inclusion – Although colour blindness is a well-known disability, few solutions are available to relieve the condition, with limited appreciation of its true effects. By working with Mindera, ColorADD has not only significantly improved the usability and functionality for its award-winning mobile app, but also made it accessible to help a greater number of people, while increasing awareness.

Delighted with the new app, ColorADD CEO André Teixeira said: “The entire Mindera team had the amazing ability to understand the framework of the project and to adapt to the social innovation component present in our mission. They were able to leverage all their know-how and adjust it to ColorADD's requirements to, together, produce a solution that is really useful for including colour blind people in a global world that communicates through colour.”

A second version of the app has since been completed to ensure that it’s up to date and optimised for App Store and Google Play compliance.

Mindera’s ColorADD app has received a 5-star rating by Google Play and the App Store.

• _ColorADD is one of the many organisations Mindera has collaborated with to provide long-term answers to key societal challenges as part of our purpose-driven, people-centric culture. Get in touch if you’re looking for a fast, cost effective solution from a technology partner you can trust. We’d love to work with you!

About ColorADD

ColorADD, the colour alphabet, is a unique, universal, inclusive and non-discriminative language that enables the colour blind to identify colours, with a wide spectrum of use by organisations whenever colour is a factor of identification, orientation or choice.

ColorADD APP provides independence and autonomy in the day-to-day life of the colour blind, complementing the presence of the ColorADD code in products and services.

Find out more at https://www.coloradd.net/en/

*Source: Colour Blindness Awareness https://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/