stick with knowns...

natural finishes... systems... details... it's possible and not unheard of. i wouldn't say i'm succeeding, but i haven't failed (yet, anyway)

i had two guys in my painting class - twins, who were colorblind. every now and then they'd ask one of us if the colors looked ok. they were extremely talented, and their stuff looked great -- never figured out how they got the colors right. i think as long as you make sure you're on the right track every now and then, you're probably going to be just fine.

I'm colorblind and it sucks when clients say "hey lets have some fun and exciting colors." I always like to use natural finishes like holz let the materials express themselves. I get into trouble here and there with colors, usually ask around if I am really in trouble.

I'm not color blind, but have claimed to be on occasion. It's an easy means to exit agonizing conversations with your client and a decorator on topics such as: what is the exact right shade of gold for the duvet cover? or what color candles would look better next to my jacuzzi? mauve or sea foam green?

In all seriousness, I think a lot of architects do the VAST majority of their design work (from conceptual sketches to construction documents) with no specific color in their minds. You might be thinking of how different materials look, if they are light or dark, textures, etc... but you are probably not focused on the exact colors for most of the process. I know that in most circumstances, my mind is thinking more in black, white, and gray tones when designing. Unless a specific color is somehow important to the project, a good design should be able to support different colors/materials successfully.

Then there is the whole construction drawings aspect. I don't know anyone who is thinking in color when doing something like a foundation plan.

Ironically the issues that might give you the most problems if you were color blind are the tools. Red vs. green pens and the different colors in CAD.

Yeah I figured that CAD would be a problem, I have only slightly used CAD but I know the different layers are differently colored and such so I worry about that.

spaceghost, holz.box- Do you have problems with CAD/Revit or any tools besides the actual picking colors part of design?

layer colors? you mean everything isn't drawn on the same layer?!? our layer standards don't really use red, so i have never really had an issue. what little standards we have, anyway...

for me the hardest part is picking up subtle shifts - it doesn't register, so when someone says, "this one is more red, isn't it" i tend to just nod my head and dream of working on a non-interiors project.

druf is also partly right, color is almost an afterthought at our firm. i'd prefer to only work in whites and charcoals/blacks. i avoid selection like the plague, and typically have been able to find a new graduate who is enthusiastic and naive to work on it.

One of my favourite (and imho, awesome) professors in college is colourblind, and he's on top of things digitally (his specialty revolves around the digital software, media and stuff, like he taught his classes on autocad, photoshop, renderings and etc).

I just discovered, one of the alumni's in my program is half colourblind...and kinda told me how its like...google it, and you can kinda see how the world might look...depends on the type of colour blindness they have some will see striking red, while others will just not see it and will easily mistake it with green.

and my highschool classmate was colourblind...but like my high school teacher noticed and even though, since childhood they've been taught the colours that they see.

point is, i don't think it can stop you from being a sucessful architect. might need some clarification sometimes...but nonetheless can be done.

I know of a colourblind landscape architect, who has had his wife/partner manage the presentation boards, and such. She has developed the aesthetic, and he has learnt to recognize when a image deviates from this standard. He doesn't need to "see" green as "green" as we know it. He just had to learn whatever colour he sees, and recognize it as "green" to everyone else...if that makes sense. I'm not colourblind, but my wardrobe my argue otherwise

In the past (ie at art school) I had a lot of trouble distinguishing colours.... it's not colour blindness, but as holz describes, it's more subtle. I worked every day for months with a graphic design instructor, and now I know that my colour perception is so much better than it used to be.

I guess I hadn't really thought of it, but 99% of my schoolwork (I work exclusively by hand at this point) is just black/grey/white. I know I think in terms of materials rather than colours, but the two are inseparable.

Anyway, there have been blind artists, deaf composers and musicians, etc.... its absolutely not a problem. I mean, just watch some of the Paralympics events and you'll be astounded at what some people are capable of. Colour blindness is absolutely nothing to worry about.

I have a pretty high perception of color that bothers me to no end. I will literally spend hours looking for one item in a certain shade of color to avoid the colors clashing, mismatching or otherwise looking out of place.

I frequently won't eat certain kinds of fruits and vegetables sometimes because the color appears off to me.

And black clothing is appalling. I will only wear black clothing if I can find the identical piece of clothing in white-- I batch die/color all of my white clothes I want to be black clothes, all from the same batch of color and all at the same time. That way, everything I own will be exactly the same shade of black.

I'm currently working on a project for color blind people. It is quite an interesting challenge and I want to make sure everything is accessible and understandable. I am interested to hear your experiences with fonts and what colors are best for color blind people to easily perceive information.