Colour blind design

After writing a post for my blog on colour in planting schemes it seemed a natural progression to write advice on how to design for someone who is colour blind.If you are colour blind yourself then you will already know from experience what looks good and what doesn't but for those of us who aren't then it can be difficult to picture your world.Colour blindness affects around 1-20 men and around 1-200 women according to the BBC Health website.When designing for someone who is colour blind you must discover the form their colour blindness takes, it is in fact very rare for a person to have the severe form in which all colours appear as black and white or hues of grey.I am no expert but after completing a job for a gentleman that had a form of colour blindness this is my understanding after the research I have done.Protanomaly, a common form, affects the red pigment meaning that reds, oranges and yellows will appear duller and violets and purples will have a stronger green pigment than red making them actually appear blue.

Another slightly less common form, Deuteranomaly, does the same to green pigments meaning reds, oranges and yellows all appear slightly more red and therefor more vibrant.

Another form, Protanopia, that also affects the red, yellow and orange pigments. This will have more of an affect on design as reds are often seen as black or grey. This affects the red pigment in other colours causing yellow hues to show very little difference and blue hues are similarly affected. Green is seen as another hue of yellow and purple as another blue.An example of the effect on garden design will be when Pink flowers are seen as blue due to missing red pigment.

Deuteranopia affects the green pigment in the same way and therefor the person will see blues and reds with greens appearing as a hue of grey with tints of red and blue. Reds and oranges and yellows as hues of red.Therefor grass will appear as a grey with a slight red and blue tint.Designing a garden in this way can be challanging as a beautiful combination to you could to your client look awful and even clashing. After this type of design job I have never looked at foliage and flower colour in the same way. This was a by-post design and photos will be forwarded when the garden has matured a little but he seems happy with the outcome, I wonder what his neighbours think?
Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Landscape Juice Network to add comments!

Join Landscape Juice Network

Open forum activity

Tim Bucknall posted a discussion
What do people find is the best lawn turf?  I use Rolawn Medallion.  Sometimes it's excellent, sometimes less so (in particular it can contain AMG).  What have people found consistently good?Cheers
5 hours ago
Andrew Coates replied to Andrew Coates's discussion Hadn’t prepared for this
"Morning Peter.thankyou for your reply. The op delay was out of my hands unfortunately,admin in the hospitals had got lost,that's from last June unfortunately.so,moving forward, I'm not ,I'm still on a waiting list to see the surgeon,so in the…"
6 hours ago
John F replied to Peter sellers's discussion Stihl hsa40 review
"Seems good value Peter having Two batteries .
Suffering from bouts of tennis elbow it would have being ideal at the time , The lightest I could find was the Gtech weighing around 2.14 kg with battery in which enabled me to carry on working .
It's…"
8 hours ago
Peter sellers posted a discussion
Thought others may find this of use - suffering from health issues so bought Stihl HSA 40 battery hedge trimmer came as a kit with two AS2 batteries and charger for £174 inc vat ,weighs  just over 2kg which was the main factor.Being used to Echo…
8 hours ago
Peter sellers replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"Update - well took myself off to dealers to try the aforementioned Stihl HLA 40 and found it to be totally unbalanced front end heavy with the rubber sleeve for your supporting arm too far away from the trigger basically a design disaster. We know…"
11 hours ago
Andrew Coates and Max alam are now friends
23 hours ago
Fusion Media posted a blog post
KAR UK has announced the launch of its brand-new K-Series Hose Reel Trolley – a robust, British-built solution designed to meet the demands of modern turf care and industrial washdown applications.Handmade in the UK by a local manufacturing partner…
yesterday
Billybop replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"quite fancy that Stihl 150B looks good but £700 would only use it very occasionally on the jobs I have already (due to lack of time had to cut down on existing work and not really taking on new jobs) Had the HLA135 for a few seasons now which is a…"
yesterday
Sam Bainbridge replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"I use a tripod ladder with a stihl hs87t 40inch bar. Makes a far superior job than long reach I hate those bloody things horrible to use"
Sunday
Graham Taylor replied to Andrew Coates's discussion Hadn’t prepared for this
"That really is very sad to have to stop the work you must enjoy.  I'd be really upset and I'm 72!   Don't like to sound pessimistic but would it be an  idea to just pack up the gardening work for something less physically draining?  Might be wrong…"
Saturday
simon caine replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"I use the Sthil combi unit with the henchmen harness it's a excellent combination you can hedge cut all day with no fatigue "
Saturday
John F replied to Andrew Coates's discussion Hadn’t prepared for this
"Hi Andrew 
A simple approach would be to find the right domestic properties where you can job share and invoice the customer separately .
You are probably looking at the larger gated properties where you can multi task but allocate your individual…"
Saturday
Fusion Media posted a blog post
At Centurion Club in St Albans, course manager Andy Garland knows every inch of the golf course because he helped build it from the ground up. Today, as the club continues to host some of the biggest events in professional golf, Andy relies on…
Friday
Fusion Media posted a blog post
GroundsFest is delighted to announce an expanded partnership with the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI), which will see the organisation again become the exclusive sponsor of The Landscape Zone at GroundsFest 2026.The strengthened…
Friday
Richard Taylor posted a blog post
You’re invited to the biggest one-day “Live-and-Running” Ground Care and Turf Machinery show in the country on Wednesday 24th June in Buckinghamshire.See and compare machinery from over 40 manufacturers of mowers, turf care equipment, hand-held kit,…
Friday
Peter sellers replied to Peter sellers's discussion Cordless hedge cutter
"Telescopic, cordless Tim its only for light work. Probably end up with Stihl HLA 40 it does not have the motor at the handle end but only weighs 3.5kg with battery so may be ok. Apart from the Stihl 150  that Billybop suggested I can't see anything,…"
Thursday
More…

Turf

What do people find is the best lawn turf?  I use Rolawn Medallion.  Sometimes it's excellent, sometimes less so (in particular it can contain AMG).  What have people found consistently good?Cheers

Read more…
0 Replies
Views: 9

Stihl hsa40 review

Thought others may find this of use - suffering from health issues so bought Stihl HSA 40 battery hedge trimmer came as a kit with two AS2 batteries and charger for £174 inc vat ,weighs  just over 2kg which was the main factor.Being used to Echo…

Read more…
1 Reply · Reply by John F 8 hours ago
Views: 24

Cordless hedge cutter

Looking for cordless hedge cutter with the motor at the battery/handle end and telescopic . Find the ones with the motor at the blade end unbalanced, and before anyone says it - no the battery does not counter balance it well.  Not bothered on brand.

Read more…
8 Replies · Reply by Peter sellers 11 hours ago
Views: 319