HMI Color Study - Frogstarenergy

7/29/2019 HMI Color Study - Frogstarenergy

1/16

Home Automation Systems Integration HMI Development Color Study

IndustrialAutomation& Controls

Home Automation Projects About Us

Samples

Contact | Not Open for Business| Site Map

Home

Automation

Systems Integration

PLCProgramming

HMIDevelopment

Color

Study

SCADA and

Networking

Data Historian

Detailed 6-step Plan

Control Panel

Design andFabrication

Electrical Designand Layout

Additional Services

Standard Color Palette

(created by: Rick Hurdle)

Deuteranope Filter

(created by: Rick Hurdle)

Protanope Filter(created by: Rick Hurdle)

Color Study

What is a Color Study?

A Color Studyis ananalysis of the proposed

color combinations for anHMI to determine the

usability of those colors.

The most important thingto remember is that:

Co l o r s h o u l d n e v e r

b e u s e d a s t h e s o l e

m e a n s o f

c o n v e y i n g

i n f o r m a t i o n

How Our Eyes SeeColor

The subject of color

perception is verycomplex and is far outsidethe scope this web site.

Very briefly, the humaneye has two types of light

sensitive cells: rods andcones. The rods are most

useful during low lightcondition: they are

optimized for luminosity

Pgina 1 de 16Frogstar Energy - Color Study

http://frogstarenergy.com/html/colorStudy.html


2/16

Tritanope Filter

(created by: Rick Hurdle)rather than colorperception, and are better

at detecting motion. Thecones, however, areoptimized for normal

daylight. There are 3types of cones: each

sensitive to a different

wavelength of light(short, medium, andlong). Sometimes these

are referred to as blue,green and red receptors,but that is misleading

because each cone is:

Responsive overmost of the visible

spectrum.

1.

Mostsensitive in the

indigo, green, oryellow-orange

wavelengths.

2.

In some people, one ormore of these cone types

has a reducedsensitivity to light (or

may be missingaltogether), which causes




3/16

these people to perceivecolors differently than

people with normal cones.Roughly 8% of men and0.4% of women have

some sort of colordeficiency.

Types of ColorDeficiency

The most common types

of color deficiency are:

Deuteranopia - 1%

of males - no greencones

Deuteranamoly -

5% of males -reduced green cone

sensitivity

Protanopia - 1% ofmales - no red

(yellow-orange)cones

Protanamoly - 1%

of males - reducedred cone sensitivity

Tritanopia - very

rare - no blue(indigo) cones

Color Usage in an HMI

It is very common to see

colors used in an HMI toconvey information: A

motor might appear:

Green: running

Red: stopped

A valve might appear:

Green: open

Red: closed




4/16

A light panel mightappear:

Green: normal

Yellow: alarm

Red: shutdown

Or text might change

color based on any ofthese conditions.

The following screenshotsshow some typical HMI

conventions and how theymight appear to people

with different colordeficiencies. Pay

particular attention to

how colors are used toindicate the following:

Run status of motors

and equipment.

Valve position.

Type of productcarried in a pipeline

Alarm or shutdown

status.

Note that certaincombinations may work

with some types of colordeficiency but not withothers.




5/16

Original Screenshot

Deuteranope Simulation




6/16

Protanope Simulation

Tritanope Simulation (veryrare)




7/16

Screenshots from aColor-Optimized HMI

Application

This section shows 10

screenshots from anapplication that has been

optimized for people with

Deuteranopia,Deuteranamoly,

Protanopia, andProtanamoly. (It has not

been optimized forTritanopia, which is very

rare.) Each of the 10screenshots also shows

what that screen mightlook like to people with

different colordeficiencies. We haveadopted the following

conventions to make surethe meaning is never

dependent on color alone.

Conventions:

Equipment

On - green

Off - grey

Shutdown Valves

Open - green

Closed -blinking

red/white androtated 90

Conditions

Alarm - black

letters on ayellow

background

Safety - whiteletters on a red

background

AlarmSummary/History




8/16

Normal

Deuteranope

Unacknowleded

alarm - red

Acknowlededalarm - black

Alarm return -

blue

Historical Trend

Background -dark grey

Pen Colors -cyan, green,

yellow,magenta, red,

blue, white,black

Check Box

Black x on a

yellowbackground

Process Line Colors

As shown on

the Process

Lines screen

Process variables

Blue on a greywindow

Alarm History 1




9/16

Protanope

Tritanope

Normal

Deuteranope

Protanope

Tritanope

Chiller 1A




10/16

Normal

Deuteranope

Protanope

Tritanope

Chiller 1C

Oil Separation 1C




11/16

Normal

Deuteranope

Protanope

Tritanope

Normal

Deuteranope

OilStorage

1A




12/16

Protanope

Tritanope

Normal

Deuteranope

Protanope

Oil Storage 1C




13/16

Tritanope

Normal

Deuteranope

Protanope

Tritanope

Sales Gas 1A




14/16

Normal

Deuteranope

Protanope

Tritanope

Sales Gas 1C

Vapor RecoveryCompressor 1C




15/16

Normal

Deuteranope

Protanope

Tritanope

Normal

Deuteranope

VariableSpeed

Drives 1




16/16

Copyright Rick Hurdle 2007-2009 - All RightsReserved - Last Updated: 15 Jun 2009

Protanope

Tritanope


Documents

HMI Color Study - Frogstarenergy