2016
Beyond Color Blindness — Designing Game UIs for Everyday Vision Challenges
Post-Battle UX Optimization
for Clarity, Accessibility, and Social Proof
Overview
The visual UI problems exist in the game, but they are symptoms. The underlying issue is structural: the game's economy and progression design ato change that?
Overview
The visual UI problems exist in the game, but they are symptoms. The underlying issue is structural: the game's economy and progression design ato change that?
Overview
The visual UI problems exist in the game, but they are symptoms. The underlying issue is structural: the game's economy and progression design ato change that?
Overview
The visual UI problems exist in the game, but they are symptoms. The underlying issue is structural: the game's economy and progression design ato change that?
Post-Battle UX Optimization
for Clarity, Accessibility, and Social Proof
When we talk about accessibility in games, it’s usually about more serious vision impairments — blindness, low vision, or color blindness. These are important issues, and the industry has made real progress here. But accessibility isn’t only about edge cases. In reality, a huge part of the gaming audience deals with common vision conditions — nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism. Even players with corrected or “perfect” vision can struggle with UI when the text is small, contrast is low, or everything feels too tightly packed.
I've learnt to pay great attention to visual clarity while working on digital products. Font sizes, contrast ratios, and spacing are not "nice to have" elements; rather, they are essential components of a user-friendly interface. WCAG and other accessibility requirements make ensuring that interfaces are legible and useful across a range of devices and circumstances. Because of this, it frequently catches my attention when games, even ones that I genuinely like, don't adhere to these similar guidelines. And when that occurs, it leads to conflict that could have been prevented with a little more attention to how people actually see.
There are are some of the best games ever made — and yet even they show how visual clarity can still be improved. It’s not a failure — it’s a reminder. A reminder that even in great games, small design details like font size, spacing, or distance readability have a real impact on how players experience the game.
When UI Fails — Even for “Perfect Vision”
When we talk about accessibility in games, it’s usually about more serious vision impairments — blindness, low vision, or color blindness. These are important issues, and the industry has made real progress here. But accessibility isn’t only about edge cases. In reality, a huge part of the gaming audience deals with common vision conditions — nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism. Even players with corrected or “perfect” vision can struggle with UI when the text is small, contrast is low, or everything feels too tightly packed.
I've learnt to pay great attention to visual clarity while working on digital products. Font sizes, contrast ratios, and spacing are not "nice to have" elements; rather, they are essential components of a user-friendly interface. WCAG and other accessibility requirements make ensuring that interfaces are legible and useful across a range of devices and circumstances. Because of this, it frequently catches my attention when games, even ones that I genuinely like, don't adhere to these similar guidelines. And when that occurs, it leads to conflict that could have been prevented with a little more attention to how people actually see.
There are are some of the best games ever made — and yet even they show how visual clarity can still be improved. It’s not a failure — it’s a reminder. A reminder that even in great games, small design details like font size, spacing, or distance readability have a real impact on how players experience the game.
Overview
The visual UI problems exist in the game, but they are symptoms. The underlying issue is structural: the game's economy and progression design ato change that?
When UI Fails — Even for “Perfect Vision”
When we talk about accessibility in games, it’s usually about more serious vision impairments — blindness, low vision, or color blindness. These are important issues, and the industry has made real progress here. But accessibility isn’t only about edge cases. In reality, a huge part of the gaming audience deals with common vision conditions — nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism. Even players with corrected or “perfect” vision can struggle with UI when the text is small, contrast is low, or everything feels too tightly packed.
I've learnt to pay great attention to visual clarity while working on digital products. Font sizes, contrast ratios, and spacing are not "nice to have" elements; rather, they are essential components of a user-friendly interface. WCAG and other accessibility requirements make ensuring that interfaces are legible and useful across a range of devices and circumstances. Because of this, it frequently catches my attention when games, even ones that I genuinely like, don't adhere to these similar guidelines. And when that occurs, it leads to conflict that could have been prevented with a little more attention to how people actually see.
There are are some of the best games ever made — and yet even they show how visual clarity can still be improved. It’s not a failure — it’s a reminder. A reminder that even in great games, small design details like font size, spacing, or distance readability have a real impact on how players experience the game.
When UI Fails — Even for “Perfect Vision”
When we talk about accessibility in games, it’s usually about more serious vision impairments — blindness, low vision, or color blindness. These are important issues, and the industry has made real progress here. But accessibility isn’t only about edge cases. In reality, a huge part of the gaming audience deals with common vision conditions — nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism. Even players with corrected or “perfect” vision can struggle with UI when the text is small, contrast is low, or everything feels too tightly packed.
I've learnt to pay great attention to visual clarity while working on digital products. Font sizes, contrast ratios, and spacing are not "nice to have" elements; rather, they are essential components of a user-friendly interface. WCAG and other accessibility requirements make ensuring that interfaces are legible and useful across a range of devices and circumstances. Because of this, it frequently catches my attention when games, even ones that I genuinely like, don't adhere to these similar guidelines. And when that occurs, it leads to conflict that could have been prevented with a little more attention to how people actually see.
There are are some of the best games ever made — and yet even they show how visual clarity can still be improved. It’s not a failure — it’s a reminder. A reminder that even in great games, small design details like font size, spacing, or distance readability have a real impact on how players experience the game.
Note
Gamers with vision problems say in surveys that they get headaches, eye strain, and need to take breaks because their eyes are tired. A review of 38 studies found that almost 19% of student gamers have visual strain while or after game session.