I actually made this in MSPaint. Don't hate me. I have no drawing software on this computer, and I'm terrible with Inkscape. So I used paint.

I decided to make the image in the center a question mark rather than the traditional number to represent other people's confusion as to how it feels to be colorblind. I get asked all the time what it's like and honestly, it doesn't really affect me, aside from some awkward moments at the MoMA. I chose to make it difficult for me to see, not because I hate myself, but because the image as a whole represents other people being able to see my confusion.

To me it all just looks normal, because I'm used to it. I don't need to see the question mark, I know it's there.

The circles go from sparse and large to small and dense to represent narrowing of focus to see the image.

More logistically, I picked a few shades of pink and gray before starting, then semi-randomly colored the circles on the page. I clustered colors at some point, and made sure they were near other shades as much as I could. I tried my best to mirror my colorblind tests that I've taken before.

I mostly did this to make it easy on myself. By selecting the colors beforehand and setting up the question mark in blue, I could approach making the finished product one color at a time, and not worry about what color any individual circle was.

I do think I captured the experience pretty well, but more for myself than for others. I made a piece where people can clearly see what I have trouble seeing, which in words is what I was going for. My friend could see what it was like for me to have trouble seeing. It also has a different meaning for the viewer than it does for me. For me it's normal, but for the viewer they can see something new, just like for me struggling to see the shades of red was normal but for my friend it was new.

I learned about putting meaning behind a piece. I have a hard time connecting to pieces that rely entirely on meaning, but I liked making a painting that was special to me.

Next time I'd probably use something better than MS Paint.

Bonus: I also made these versions