Do Whales Poop? / ¿Las ballenas hacen popó?

Designing a color-blind friendly book

We’d like all our readers to know that we designed this book’s illustrations with a specific color palette that appealed and felt pleasant to deuteranope and protanope visions. There are some illustrated books for children that talk about color-blindness, but we didn’t find one that was created with solely the colors they see. We wanted to design a book that would appeal to these limited color visions and still be colorful enough for the other 92% (full-color seeing people) to enjoy. With the help of four male friends who have this kind of vision deficiency, Alina Galo tested different combinations and hues of blue and yellow plus black, to find a combination that was enjoyable for all of them.

I grew up with someone with protanopia (or deuteranopia, we never knew). My father and his brothers all had different color-vision deficiencies. My father couldn’t see red, green, purple or pink as full-color vision people could, and he even had a tough time telling apart dark shades of blue, brown or black. He had a hard time with everyday items like clothing, stoplights and signs, and his enjoyment of art and colored books was also limited. Thinking about this, and after seeing the world through his eyes with the help of the Chromatic-Vision Simulator, I decided to make this book with colors that he could’ve seen true-to-form, to honor his memory and to give other boys like him a book that was designed specially for their eyes.

What is color-blindness or color-vision deficiency?
Hint: it has nothing to do with anyone’s skin color

The dictionary’s definition of color-blindness describes human eyesight that is affected with partial or total inability to distinguish one or more chromatic colors, and it has to do with the cones inside the eye, which are sensitive to red, green and blue light.

It’s estimated that color-vision deficiency affects 8% of the world’s population, mostly male (XY) humans, due to the fact that the genetic deficiency is allocated in the X chromosome. The two most common types are Protanopia (red deficiency) and Deuteranopia (green deficiency); very few have Tritanopia (blue deficiency), Monochromatic (presence of only one color cone sight) or Achromatic (absence of all color sight). Even if two people are diagnosed with the same type of color-blindness, it’s possible that they don’t see colors the same way. There are tests available online or at specialized eyesight clinics to help you or someone you know find out if you/they have any kind of color-blindness.

The research process for this book taught me (the author) a lot not only about marine life, but also about color-vision deficiency. I even learned that it’s been studied and theorized that the great dutch impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh had some form of color-blindness! There are now special glasses that provide people with this vision ailment the opportunity to see full color, and time and time again it proves to be a life-changing experience.
My wish is that this book will encourage readers to think about the importance of caring for the ocean, the whales and the health of our environment, and also consider the fact that other people don’t have all senses in full function (eyesight, hearing, etc.) which means that they experience the same reality in a different way.