Does Your Brand Disappear for 8% of Your Audience?
If one in every dozen people who encounter your brand literally can’t see what makes it distinct — would you notice?
Roughly 8% of men and 0.5% of women experience some form of color blindness, most often red-green deficiency. That means your beautiful logo, carefully crafted charts, or color-coded calls to action might look entirely different to a portion of your audience. And for brands that trade on clarity, trust, or accessibility, that’s not a small issue: it’s a credibility gap.
What color blindness really means
Color blindness doesn’t mean people see in black and white. It means they see some hues differently or not at all.
Deuteranopia and protanopia (the most common types) make reds and greens appear muted, brownish, or nearly identical.
Tritanopia blurs the line between blues and yellows.
To someone with one of these conditions, a red “donate now” button might look dull gray. A green “approved” checkmark could blend into the background. A bright, energetic brand palette could look flat and confusing.
When color contrast defines your identity
Let’s take two examples where red isn’t just a color — it’s an identity.
Indiana University and AARP both anchor their brands in red. For IU, it’s crimson — Pantone 201, the color of banners, sweatshirts, and decades of tradition. For AARP, it’s a vivid, energetic red that conveys momentum and confidence.
Red, though, is exactly where most forms of color blindness live. For audiences with red-green deficiencies, reds can fade toward brown or gray, especially when placed against warm backgrounds. IU’s historic palette of crimson and cream once risked that problem: beautiful to some eyes, low-contrast to others.
A few years ago, IU’s brand designers recognized this and made a thoughtful evolution. Their refreshed guidelines introduced the line “white is the new cream.” By leaning on crisp white backgrounds instead of the old cream, they preserved the warmth of crimson while dramatically improving readability and contrast — a subtle but significant accessibility win.
AARP takes a similar approach. Its red is brighter and paired with deep charcoal, black, or bright white, creating a high-contrast system that stays strong across digital and print. Both brands show that accessibility doesn’t dilute identity — it sharpens it. When color is treated as part of communication rather than decoration, your brand becomes clearer, stronger, and more trustworthy.
The danger of designing in a vacuum
Most brand palettes are chosen in full color on well-lit monitors by people with typical vision. The result? A visual identity that may look great to the designer but unintentionally alienates others.
For mission-driven organizations — universities, healthcare providers, nonprofits — that gap undercuts their credibility. If your materials are hard to read, your message can’t be trusted. If your buttons blend into the background, your calls to action fail.
The irony is that accessibility improves design for everyone. High-contrast colors, clear labels, and multiple visual cues aren’t just inclusive — they’re effective.
How to make sure your brand shows up for everyone
Test your palette. Run your logo and key layouts through a color-blind simulator like Coblis or Stark. See what your audience actually sees.
Never rely on color alone. Use icons, texture, or text to reinforce meaning. If green means “go,” add a checkmark. If red means “alert,” include a symbol.
Check your contrast. Use WebAIM’s contrast checker to ensure text meets the WCAG 2.1 minimums (4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text).
Design for value, not hue. Make sure your logo and layouts still make sense in grayscale. If it works in black and white, it will likely work for color-blind users too.
Treat accessibility as brand strategy. Accessible design isn’t about compliance — it’s about clarity. It’s how your organization shows respect for the people you’re trying to reach.
Accessibility is good business
When your brand shows up clearly for everyone, it doesn’t just look better — it works better. You reach more people. You build trust. You strengthen your reputation as a brand that pays attention.
That’s what accessibility really is: not a checkbox, but a hallmark of competence.
If your colors disappear for 8% of your audience, the fix isn’t cosmetic. It’s strategic.
