Spectrum Color Blind Assistant by Wishbone Apps offers up some very useful features for the color blind as well as those who are not.
The app is straightforward and a breeze to use. Upon running iSpectrum Color Blind Assistant the user is given the option to choose an existing photo from their library or to take a new one with the iPhone or iPod touch camera.
Once you have your desired photo a colour spectrum appears on the left side of the screen and crosshairs appears near the centre of your image. From here you can slide the crosshairs to the desired location or tap the screen in the spot you wish to examine. A very nice feature is available by tapping the crosshairs button at the top — the ability to move pixel by pixel. This is extremely useful for pinpointing that exact color you wish to check.
While I am not colourblind, I am a graphic and web designer and work with color everyday. I have found iSpectrum Color Blind Assistant to be extremely useful and with a few added features it could be perfect for collecting color samples from anywhere around.
Some features that would really make iSpectrum Color Blind Assistant much more useful are as follows. Currently the selected color is only given by its “crayon” name. The addition of CMYK, RGB and/or Hex values would be a great asset. This would allow the user to work straight from their device instead of having to import the photos to their desired image editing software to find these values. Another useful addition would be the ability to favorite or bookmark colors for easy reference.
Granted these additions seem most useful for designers, but the colorblind could benefit from them also. By bookmarking colors they commonly view different than others, with iSpectrum Color Blind Assistant users could create a personalized quick reference tool.
Overall iSpectrum Color Blind Assistant is a handy little app for $0.99. With the additions above it could be turned into a powerful tool.
