Do colorblind people see colors at all?

Nearly all of them do. Only about 1 in 30,000 people see no color at all; for everyone else, certain colors merge.

What colors do colorblind people confuse?

In red-green color blindness: red, orange, yellow, green and brown, and purple with blue. In the rare blue-yellow kind: blue with green and yellow with pink.

What do colorblind people see instead of red?

In deutan vision, a mustard or olive tone. In protan vision, a darker olive or brown. To them it is simply what red looks like.

Colors

What colorblind people see

Not black and white. Most colorblind people see plenty of color; certain colors just merge. These pictures show where, mostly in deutan vision, the most common kind, which about 1 in 16 men have.

Traffic lights, in typical color vision — Traffic lights in typical and deutan vision. Red and amber look alike, which is why the position of the lamp matters. Photo: Peulle, CC0

Traffic lights, simulated as deutan color vision — Traffic lights in typical and deutan vision. Red and amber look alike, which is why the position of the lamp matters. Photo: Peulle, CC0

Ripe or not

Red against green is how most people spot ripe fruit. In red-green color blindness the two are close, so ripeness is judged by feel, by smell, or by asking.

Tomatoes on the vine, in typical color vision — Tomatoes on the vine: which ones are ripe? Photo: Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0

Tomatoes on the vine, simulated as deutan color vision — Tomatoes on the vine: which ones are ripe? Photo: Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0

Fall colors

The reds and golds that people travel to see flatten into the greens around them.

Maples in Kyoto, in typical color vision — Maples in Kyoto: the crimson that draws the crowds looks like any other tree. Photo: Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0

Maples in Kyoto, simulated as deutan color vision — Maples in Kyoto: the crimson that draws the crowds looks like any other tree. Photo: Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0

Christmas

Red and green is the whole color scheme of the season, which makes it the hardest one for a colorblind eye.

Christmas decorations, simulated as protan color vision — Christmas decorations in protan vision, where the reds also go dark. Photo: TJ Holowaychuk, CC0

Getting dressed

Odd socks, in typical color vision — Odd socks: why matching them in the morning is harder than it sounds. Photo: KaZoria, CC0

Odd socks, simulated as deutan color vision — Odd socks: why matching them in the morning is harder than it sounds. Photo: KaZoria, CC0

A game of pool

Pool balls, in typical color vision — The green felt drains toward gray, and the red, green and brown balls blur together. Photo: MarkBuckawicki, CC0

Pool balls, simulated as deutan color vision — The green felt drains toward gray, and the red, green and brown balls blur together. Photo: MarkBuckawicki, CC0

Art

Painters often set red against green on purpose, to make something stand out.

Monet, Poppy Field, in typical color vision — Monet's Poppy Field in protan vision: the band of red poppies sinks into the field. Photo: Claude Monet, Public domain

Monet, Poppy Field, simulated as protan color vision — Monet's Poppy Field in protan vision: the band of red poppies sinks into the field. Photo: Claude Monet, Public domain

Blue and yellow

The rare tritan kind leaves red and green alone and mixes up blue with green and yellow with pink.

Burano, Venice, in typical color vision — Burano, Venice, in tritan vision: the yellow house turns pink and the blue sky turns teal. Photo: Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0

Burano, Venice, simulated as tritan color vision — Burano, Venice, in tritan vision: the yellow house turns pink and the blue sky turns teal. Photo: Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0

How accurate are these pictures?

They are simulations made with the model of Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes (2009), which predicts which colors merge for a typical person with each kind of color vision. Real color vision varies from person to person and most people have a milder form, and every screen shows colors a little differently. As a picture of which colors collide, they are close.

How do you see color?

The free test on this site takes about a minute and shows which pattern your answers most resemble. It is a game, not a diagnosis.

Take the free color blind test

Questions

Do colorblind people see colors at all? Nearly all of them do. Only about 1 in 30,000 people see no color at all; for everyone else, certain colors merge.
What colors do colorblind people confuse? In red-green color blindness: red, orange, yellow, green and brown, and purple with blue. In the rare blue-yellow kind: blue with green and yellow with pink.
What do colorblind people see instead of red? In deutan vision, a mustard or olive tone. In protan vision, a darker olive or brown. To them it is simply what red looks like.