Tool
Color Blindness Simulator
See how a palette appears under different forms of color vision deficiency. Identify where colors may become hard to distinguish and make more informed design decisions.
Designing for how color is seen
Beyond contrast
Contrast ratios tell you whether text is readable. Color blindness simulation tells you something different — whether your palette's colors remain distinguishable from each other. Two colors can both have great contrast against white while looking nearly identical to someone with deuteranopia. Both checks matter.
What the simulations show
This tool applies established color transformation matrices to approximate how colors shift under different types of color vision deficiency. Protanopia and deuteranopia (red-green deficiencies) affect roughly 8% of males. Tritanopia (blue-yellow) and achromatopsia (total color loss) are rarer but worth understanding. The simulations are approximations — individual perception varies — but they reveal the most common problem areas.
What to look for
When comparing original and simulated palettes, watch for colors that collapse into the same perceived tone. If two distinct colors in your palette become difficult to tell apart, any interface element that relies on that distinction — status indicators, chart series, navigation states — may fail for affected users. The tool flags pairs with significant distinction loss to help you spot these issues.
Practical responses
You don't need to redesign your entire palette. Common approaches include adding secondary visual cues (icons, patterns, labels), increasing lightness variation between similar hues, and reserving the most distinct pairings for the most important distinctions. A palette that works well under simulation usually works well for everyone.
Part of a workflow
This simulator works alongside Huelib's other tools. Use theContrast Checkerto verify readability, theToken Mapperto assign design roles, and this simulator to validate that your palette holds up across different ways of seeing.