Color Blindness and Chromatic Barriers in Advertising Animation

Proposals for Inclusive Urban Visual Communication

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62161/sauc.v12.6181

Keywords:

Color blindness, Visual accessibility, Digital advertising, Advertising animation, Urban communication

Abstract

The growing presence of digital animation in advertising campaigns, across social media and urban displays, demands ensuring their visual accessibility for everyone, including people with color blindness, who constitute a significant percentage of the population.

This study analyzes the chromatic barriers that can hinder comprehension or reduce the message's impact for users with vision deficiencies. To do so, we analyzed campaigns on digital platforms and in urban spaces that incorporate animated elements.

The results show that the user experience of people with color blindness has been rarely considered, unlike in other design fields where visual accessibility is more developed. For this reason, we propose best practices for creating animated content, with the goal of moving toward an inclusive visual communication model. The aim is to incorporate universal design principles, in line with the recent European Accessibility Act, published in June 2025 (Level Access, 2024).

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Global Statistics ℹ️

Cumulative totals since publication
0
Views
0
Downloads
0
Total
Downloads by format:
PDF (Español (España)) 0 PDF 0

References

Adobe. (2024). Adobe Photoshop (versión 25.9). https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html

Adobe. (s. f.). Adobe Color: Contrast Checker. https://color.adobe.com/es/create/color-contrast-analyzer

Amidi, A. (2011). The art of Pixar: The complete color scripts and select art from 25 years of animation. Chronicle Books.

Animal Studios. (2019, 19 de diciembre). Spot de animación 3D | Movistar Junior [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/2lgPZGHNpzA

Animal Studios. (2025). Portfolio — Animación, ilustración & VFX. https://www.animalstudios.es/portfolio-animacion-ilustracion-vfx/

Antiu Xixona. (2020, 10 de diciembre). Queremos turrón 2020 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/NyyAXyHVUhU

Ayuntamiento de Bilbao. (2023, 17 de mayo). El Ayuntamiento lanza la campaña «Esta Navidad me pido Bilbao» para promocionar la ciudad en estas fechas especiales. http://bit.ly/4pt75ch

BCN Visuals. (2023). 3D anamorphic advertising / Out of home innovation. https://bcnvisuals.com/

Bhati, P., Hushain, J., Vishwakarma, K., Kant, K., Sani, A., Saxena, V., & Choudhary, Y. (2025). The impact of animated advertisements on consumer engagement in the digital age. Journal of Information Systems Engineering and Management, 10(23s). https://doi.org/10.52783/jisem.v10i23s.3811

Callao City Lights. (2023, 9 de marzo). Campañas 3D en Circuito Gran Vía [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn6V-07v_Is

Callao City Lights. (2024). Eventos, publicidad exterior digital y cine. https://callaocitylights.es/

Campos Baello, E. (2024). Capítulo 50. Heurísticas para la mejora de la accesibilidad para personas con CVD (deficiencia de la visión del color) en el diseño de color en videojuegos. En VV. AA., Prácticas artísticas y contextos contemporáneos (pp. 959–987). Dikinson S. L.

Campos Baello, E., & Santín Álvarez, E. (2025). Daltonismo y cine de animación: hacia una narrativa cromática accesible. Con A de Animación, 21. https://doi.org/10.4995/caa.2025.21704

CEN, CENELEC, & ETSI. (2021). EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2021 03): Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services. https://www.etsi.org/standards

Clece OOH. (2024). Publicidad exterior / DOOH / Intercambiadores Madrid. https://cleceooh.com/

DIBOOS. (2024). Libro Blanco de la Animación y VFX 2024. Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones – Spain Audiovisual Hub. https://spainaudiovisualhub.mineco.gob.es/es/sector/animacion/Paginas/libros-blancos.aspx

European Commission. (2025). European Accessibility Act (EAA) – Compliance guide. https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1202

European Parliament, & Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (European Accessibility Act). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ES/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882

García Ramos, F. (2019). Sobre la correlación de la forma y el color. Aplicación del cuestionario de Kandinsky (1923) a estudiantes universitarios de comunicación. Pensar la Publicidad, 13, 109–124. https://doi.org/10.5209/pepu.65022

Geddes, C. (2021). Thirty years of solving the wrong problem: How recolouring tools fail to address color blindness. Visible Language, 55(2), 39–65.

IAB Spain. (2025). Estudio anual de redes sociales 2025. https://iabspain.es/estudio/estudio-anual-de-redes-sociales-2025/

IAB Spain. (2025). Libro blanco de la atención publicitaria. https://iabspain.es/estudio/libro-blanco-atencion-publicitaria/

IAB Spain. (2025). Libro blanco DOOH. https://iabspain.es/estudio/libro-blanco-dooh/

InfoAdex. (2025). Estudio InfoAdex de la inversión publicitaria en España 2025. https://www.infoadex.es/home/estudio-infoadex-de-la-inversion-publicitaria-en-espana-2025/

Itten, J. (1961). The elements of color. París: Bouret.

Level Access. (2024). European Accessibility Act (EAA) compliance: Complete guide. https://www.levelaccess.com/resources/the-sixth-annual-state-of-digital-accessibility-report-2024-2025/

Monaco, F. (2022). Color blind accessibility manifesto. Communications of the ACM, 65(12), 7–9. https://doi.org/10.1145/3543881

National Eye Institute. (2025, 17 de septiembre). Color blindness. https://www.nei.nih.gov/espanol

Nielsen, J. (1994). Enhancing the explanatory power of usability heuristics. En Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’94) (pp. 152–158). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/191666.191729

Nullbrains. (2024, 27 de enero). Let’s Get Color Blind [Extensión de Chrome]. https://bit.ly/47UwlSG

O’Connor, Z. (2023). Traditional colour theory in design context: A focus on value. Color Research & Application, 48(6), 1175–1186. https://doi.org/10.1002/col.22920

Quiñones, D., & Rusu, C. (2017). How to develop usability heuristics: A systematic literature review. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 54, 89–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csi.2017.03.009

Schwarz, A. (s. f.). Goethe’s color triangle. https://dr-andreas-schwarz.de/en/goethes-color-triangle.html

Sirope. (2024). Agencia creativa en Bilbao. https://sirope.es/

Sirope Agencia Creativa. (2023, 13 de febrero). Bilbao Dendak | Esta Navidad, me pido Bilbao (30 s) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/jXGBU6GK-8E

The Mushroom Company. (2020). Antiu Xixona – Navidades. https://mushroom.es/antiu-xixona-navidades/

W3C. (2018). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/

Wu, Z. (2023). On the expression and application of color in the scene design of animated films. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 6(4), 33-38. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2023.060407

Published

2026-08-25

How to Cite

Campos Baello , E. (2026). Color Blindness and Chromatic Barriers in Advertising Animation: Proposals for Inclusive Urban Visual Communication. Street Art & Urban Creativity, 12(4), 301–318. https://doi.org/10.62161/sauc.v12.6181

Issue

Section

Research articles