Roughly 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some form of color vision deficiency. When your chart uses the wrong colors, entire data series merge together and your insights become noise. Here are the exact color blind safe colors, palettes, and techniques professionals use.
What Colors Are Color Blind Friendly?
Color blind friendly colors are those that remain visually distinct to people with all types of color vision deficiency. The safest colors are blue (#0072B2), orange (#E69F00), vermillion (#D55E00), reddish purple (#CC79A7), and bluish green (#009E73) — these come from the Wong palette and stay distinguishable across protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia.
The default palettes in Excel, Google Charts, and most visualization tools were not designed for color blindness. They use reds and greens that become nearly identical for 8% of men. Even some "accessible" palettes only address one CVD type. True accessibility means choosing colors that work across all three major types.
Color Blind Colors to Avoid
Before picking a palette, know which color combinations fail. These pairs are the most commonly confused:
| Color Pair | Fails For | Use Instead |
|---|---|---|
| Red + Green | Protanopia, Deuteranopia (~8% of men) | Blue + Orange |
| Green + Brown | Protanopia, Deuteranopia | Blue + Vermillion |
| Blue + Purple | Tritanopia | Blue + Orange |
| Yellow + Light Green | Deuteranopia, Tritanopia | Yellow + Dark Blue |
| Red + Orange | Protanopia | Blue + Orange |
| Light Blue + Light Pink | Multiple types at low saturation | Dark Blue + Vermillion |
The simplest rule: never pair colors that are on opposite sides of the same confusion line on the color wheel. Red-green and blue-yellow are the two main confusion axes. You can test any color combination with our color blindness simulator.
Proven Color Blindness Friendly Palettes
IBM Design Colorblind Safe Palette
Designed and tested by IBM's accessibility team for use across all visualization types:
Works for protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia, and normal vision.
Wong Colorblind Safe Palette
Published in Nature Methods, designed specifically for scientific visualization:
8-color palette tested extensively in academic publishing.
Tol Qualitative Palette
Paul Tol's palette, optimized for maximum distinctiveness:
Excellent for charts with many data series.
Beyond Colors: Additional Accessibility Techniques
Even the best color blindness friendly chart colors should be supplemented with other visual cues. Here's how:
Patterns & Textures
Use different fill patterns (solid, striped, dotted, hatched) alongside colors. Each data series becomes distinguishable even in grayscale or for users with severe CVD.
Line Styles
For line charts, vary dash patterns (solid, dashed, dotted) and line thickness. Combined with color, this creates unmistakable differentiation.
Direct Labels
Place labels directly on chart elements rather than relying on color-matched legends. This eliminates the need to match colors entirely.
Data Point Shapes
Use different shapes for scatter plots and line charts: circles, squares, triangles, diamonds. Each shape is distinct regardless of color.
Chart-Specific Guidelines
Bar and Column Charts
- Limit to 4-6 colors when possible. More than that strains distinguishability for everyone.
- Use value labels on or near bars to reduce reliance on legend matching.
- Consider grayscale for simple comparisons—variations in brightness work for all users.
Pie Charts
- Direct labeling is essential. Don't make users match pie slice colors to a distant legend.
- Pull out key slices to add positional differentiation.
- Consider alternatives: Bar charts often communicate the same data more accessibly.
Line Charts
- Vary line styles (solid, dashed, dotted) in addition to colors.
- Use different marker shapes at data points.
- Label lines directly at the end or alongside the data.
Heat Maps and Gradients
- Use single-hue gradients (light to dark blue) rather than diverging color scales.
- Avoid red-green gradients entirely. Blue-yellow or purple-orange work better.
- Include value labels where space permits.
Testing Your Chart Palettes
Before publishing any data visualization, test it across all major CVD types:
- Upload a screenshot to our Color Blindness Simulator
- Check each CVD type: Protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia, and achromatopsia
- Verify distinguishability: Can you tell all data series apart in each simulation?
- Test the palette alone: Use the Palette Generator to verify your color choices before building charts
Frequently Asked Questions
What colors are color blind friendly?
The safest colors for color blind users are blue (#0072B2), orange (#E69F00), vermillion (#D55E00), reddish purple (#CC79A7), bluish green (#009E73), and black (#000000). This is the Wong palette, used by Nature and major scientific publishers. These colors stay distinguishable across protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia.
What is the best color blind friendly palette?
The Wong palette (8 colors) is the gold standard for scientific and business use. For more data series, the Tol qualitative palette offers up to 12 distinguishable colors. IBM's colorblind safe palette is another strong option with 5 high-contrast colors designed for digital interfaces.
What colors should you avoid for color blind users?
Avoid pairing red with green, green with brown, blue with purple, and yellow with light green. These are the most commonly confused color pairs. The standard red-green traffic light scheme is the single most problematic pattern in data visualization.
How do I make a pie chart color blind friendly?
Use a colorblind-safe palette, add direct labels on each slice (not just a legend), include percentage values, and consider using pattern fills. Better yet, replace pie charts with bar charts — they are inherently more readable for all users including those with CVD.
Are there color blind friendly color wheels?
Standard color wheels are not designed for color blindness. However, you can use tools like our color blind palette generator to create custom palettes. The confusion lines on a color wheel (red-green axis for protanopia/deuteranopia, blue-yellow axis for tritanopia) show which hues merge together.
Test Your Data Visualizations
Upload your charts and see exactly how they appear to users with color vision deficiency.
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