Statistics (or tools) on screen calibration & readability

Question

Fairly straight forward question, but I could not find any answers to it. Are there any known statistics regarding screen calibration & readability?

Are there any colors to avoid where screen calibration can create readability issues?

I was looking at the monitors in our office, the 'design team' has perfectly calibrated monitors. However, while walking around I noticed that others not on the design team have badly calibrated monitors. I noticed that some designs were 'harder to read' because of these badly calibrated monitors.

The contrast ratio of the design is AA. But I have a feeling that the bad calibration reduced the visual contrast somewhat.

There are plenty of guides showing 'how to calibrate your screen' however I could not find anything regarding the effect of bad calibration on UI / Design.

Answer 1

While I don't have any statistics on hand, I do have some personal experience with this.

In the past I used to be really finicky about screen calibration but I learned that with the exception of photographers/video editors, perfect calibration is not that important.

I actually had a conversation with a world-class motion designer a few weeks ago and talked about this and he told me that he still uses a monitor from 2009 and never had problems.

So if a company has the budget to buy new and performant monitors that display colors with high-fidelity that go ahead. But it should not be a top priority.

Answer 2

To me, of more concern would be looking at just who your output is aimed at. For example, like me approx. 10% of the world's men are colour blind so a calibrated monitor is virtually useless. Another example is the worlds fastest growing disease Macular Degeneration which causes central sight loss of varying degrees. For sufferers contrast is key, however, every user finds different background colour, different typeface colour and different typefaces themselves aid or worsen their personal contrast.

Unless you are specifically designing for those with perfect vision I'd consider calibration perhaps not so important.

BTW all this was discovered when designing a new thermostat for older people.