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Concept
EnChroma develops leading patented lens technology to improve the lives of people with color blindness. The company developed a one-of-a-kind technology that enables people with color vision deficiency to see colors they only previously imagined.
EnChroma’s goal is to sell glasses. But unlike any fashion brand, they have a completely unique product and have no competition! I planned to put this advantage upfront.
Challenges
Design for the color blind
The target audience for this site is very clear – people who suffer from color blindness. Therefore, there is a need for design that is accessible to them and there are many restrictions to consider.
Brand feeling
The product helps the customer see colors – so the initial instinct is for the design to have a colorful palette. How can this be conveyed without missing our target audience? As we know, they cannot see a colorful palette yet.
Information overload
The original site was loaded with content – about the technology, how it works, about the research, the awards won, etc. I had to make decisions about what to leave and what was just not interesting enough for the potential buyer.
User Research
At first, I designed without researching the target audience – I did not know any color blind people. I submitted the design once, twice, three times, and received the same comment over and over again – your design looks pretty but sends too much of a “fashion” feel and does not “look and feel” like a product for the color blind. You can see some of the original designs here.
So one day I published a story on Instagram in which I wrote: ‘Are you color blind? Talk to me.’ And I was surprised by the number of color blind people I know without realizing!
I sat down to talk to a few of them and I knew I needed to start from the very beginning:
״How does a color-blind person see the world?״
Sophie simplified the matter for me. “People think that color-blind people see the world black and white, the truth is that there are several types of color-blindness. Most of us see certain colors well.” Indeed, Google backed up her statement.
Bingo. I knew I had to take that fact and do something with it.
Let there be one site on the internet where color blind people feel understood.
The Original EnChroma
Of course, I spent a lot of time on the original site I remade. Here are some things they did that in my humble opinion are less effective:
- Focus a lot on discounts. You have a unique product that is unparalleled in the world! Focus on this advantage and not on having a 70% discount at Christmas.
- Colorful, colorful, and… colorful. As mentioned – your target audience cannot see all the colors that fill the site.
- Lots of little pictures. Color blindness often comes along with other visual impairment, it is best not to overload the client and certainly with not small pictures.
My Solution
After the research I realized that color blind people miss a lot and have a hard time browsing websites. I learned that every color blind person sees certain colors in a poor way and other colors in an accurate way:
* people with Deuteranopia = see yellow better.
* people with Tritanopia = see red better.
* people with Monochromacy = well, they see everything in black and white.
I knew I will make a site that adapts itself to you according to the type of color blindness you have.
And so, I turned the disadvantage into an advantage!
The user interface
Product uniqueness
To emphasize the uniqueness of the brand, behind the glasses the color is saturated - to create a feeling that the glasses are the ones that bring the color.
Clean information
Color blindness often comes with other visual impairments, so it was necessary to clear a lot of content from the original site in order to create a clearer look. I tried to think what the ׳MVP׳ of the product is and I realized that there should be two categories: catalog - for purchase; and story - for those who want to know the background and how the product works.
color color color
Color adjustment according to the type of color blindness, and continuity throughout the site.
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