r/ColorBlind Letter

Click here to get the details on our free player

Hello r/ColorBlind,

I’m honored to be able to share a completely new technology for those with Color Vision Deficiencies. It’s both a gift and an opportunity to do more. If you would please allow me to give you some of the backstory. It’s pretty special.

My name is Kristian Vaughn Poe. I’m not colorblind, but my son is. I’ve watched this forum for years and learned much from the consistent feedback and thoughtful responses; the depth of knowledge here is just mind-blowing. Even though there are often the same questions being asked and the same responses being given, there is still patience and respect. Thank you for helping people understand they are not alone and there is always a place to come for answers.

Did you know the genius who helped bring color and multimedia to email and the internet (known as the MIME standard) was a colorblind computer scientist?

His name is Nathaniel Borenstein (Protanopia/dichromat).

He tried every available assistive technology for the color blind throughout his life, and nothing helped. About a decade ago, he decided to turn to the science of computer vision for help. He teamed back up with another genius friend from the original CMU Andrew Project, Tom Neuendorffer, to invent and patent an entirely new programmatic way to experience color. They shared a dream of helping reduce early childhood colorblindness struggles with their technology. It was Nathaniel’s deteriorating health that kept it hidden for this long, and ultimately, his medical miracle that revitalized his health to bring it back out for us today.

Nathaniel and Tom unlocked the code to perceive more color by inventing visual algorithms that tap into the same phenomenon that allows us to see pictures as “moving.” Visual algorithms can transform colors that are challenging for colorblind individuals into perceivable hues, creating synthetic like colors that appear naturally visible using persistence of vision. This approach, termed Chronochromics, extends the traditional Color Phi Phenomenon by varying colors over time, enabling users to experience a broader spectrum of colors.

Over the past 2 years, a very small and “unfunded” group of technologists, interns, and color experts, fueled by their passion for doing something good for the world, have worked to provide the first alpha version of this technology. Today, we would like to invite you to try the ColorPhi Player for the first time publicly a colorphi.com

This version requires no registration and nothing to install. You will, however, need a Google account to login. This helps keep the robots out, and you won’t be contacted unless you sign up or reach out first.

Here are the concepts and simple instructions to help get you going.

Personalized Visual Algorithms are custom-designed computational processes that adapt visual outputs to an individual's unique perceptual needs, preferences, or physiological characteristics. These algorithms integrate data about a person’s visual system—such as color vision deficiencies, contrast sensitivity, or other perceptual traits—with advanced computer vision techniques to tailor visual information to maximize clarity and utility when needed.

Once you log in to the ColorPhi Player, you will see 8 buttons and a slider:

Demos – Scroll through our initial Demos that combine visual algorithms with images for specific tasks. Demos are the very first implementations of personalization.
Presets – Scroll through Visual Algorithms that are tuned for different types of CVD (Red, Green, Blue), changing the preset will change the algorithm what is being displayed
Images – Our initial set of images and Artist Gallery to help you experience ColorPhi in higher fidelity
Play/Pause – Stop and start the visual algorithms
Speed Slider – speeds up and slows down animations
Camera – use your front or rear camera to experience ColorPhi live (*Please note that we don’t have camera zoom released yet.)
ColorPhi Button – collapses and opens menu
More! – The hub for learning more and joining us on our journey
Logout – Does just that

We posted a video here.

Here are a few blog posts on our Demos to get you going:

In addition to providing free software to the CVD community, ColorPhi grants an open community license for noncommercial use of its patents to accelerate CVD research and innovation.

If you feel called to get involved and contribute, please consider joining the ColorPhi Collective. We need volunteer testers to help shape the next generation of algorithms and technologies. We will give you access to our advanced tools to create and share algorithms, screen capture, and upload images. We will work together to pioneer personalized visual algorithms for use in our everyday lives. And, we will be joined with color experts, neuroscientists, researchers, special guests, color artists, photographers, Designers, and people just like you experiencing color in an entirely new way.

We hope you have a “wow” moment and enjoy a gift of color with ColorPhi over this Thanksgiving holiday.

Only a few dozen people in the world have experienced it, and we are eager to get your expert feedback.

Thank You!