One day while I was interning at a major technology company, I turned on my computer to discover that about half of my program icons had disappeared on my home screen, but were still visible in high contrast mode. I asked another employee to take a look at the screen, and quickly realized that the programs themselves hadn’t disappeared, but the colors of the icons had changed overnight and blended into my computer’s wallpaper- there were blue icons against a blue background, which provided poor contrast. Since that incident, I’ve learned a lot about choosing wallpapers and backgrounds with low vision, and today will be sharing some of my favorite tips for choosing wallpapers and backgrounds for phones, tablets, and computers.
Solid black background/default high contrast mode
High contrast mode is a display feature in Windows 10 and Windows 11 that removes non-essential display graphics and formatting, allowing users to select color schemes for their device’s display, text, links, and similar items. By default, high contrast mode has no wallpaper/background image on the home screen and uses a solid black screen, while preserving the colors/appearance of icons.
Related links
- How To Use High Contrast in Windows 10 and Windows 11
- Choosing High Contrast Color Schemes For Low Vision
- Black Or White: Choosing Dark Mode For Low Vision
Solid color background
Solid color backgrounds are simple and can be a great option for users with low vision that prefer a more minimalist design. I recommend choosing a color that is different from the mouse pointer/cursor and common desktop icons so that these items are easy to locate on the screen. Since my mouse pointer is turquoise, I would avoid shades of teal, green, and aqua so that my mouse pointer wouldn’t blend in.
Related links
- Mouse Pointers and Low Vision
- How To Make Text Cursors Easier To See In Windows
- How To Customize Icons In Windows 10
- How To Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows
Visual organizer background
A visual organizer background/wallpaper is divided into sections, so users can drag icons to different areas of the screen for easier access. Some visual organizers have labels or other visual elements such as a calendar, while others are colored shapes or lines on a simple background. Users can search for a visual organizer wallpaper online or make their own in an app like Microsoft PowerPoint, PicsArt, or another art app.
Related links
- How To Create Accessible PowerPoints
- Using PicsArt To Simulate Vision Impairment
- How To Write Alt Text For Color Palettes
High resolution image/high resolution art with distinct colors
When choosing an image or digital art online, I recommend choosing the highest resolution possible or a resolution that closely matches the device display for best results. One way to make this easier when searching for online image is to long press or right-click on the image in the web browser and select “search for this image” to view the image in multiple resolutions. Again, it’s important to make sure the colors of the image are not similar to the colors of desktop icons or the mouse pointer/cursor.
Related links
- Computer Mice and Mouse Alternatives For Low Vision
- Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Keyboards
- How To Create High Resolution Images For Users With Low Vision
- Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Computers
Wallpaper of the day from Microsoft
Bing Wallpapers/Wallpaper of the Day from Microsoft is a free app that allows users to view high resolution photos from Bing and set them as their device wallpaper, or have a new wallpaper automatically chosen every day. Images include animals, nature, architecture, cultural images, historical images, and many more. Bing Wallpapers is available for Windows, MacOS, and Android, and is also built into the Microsoft Launcher for Android. I have this feature enabled on Microsoft Launcher and love seeing new photos daily- especially when the photo of the day is a fun animal!
Related links
- How To Create A Custom Android Home Screen With Microsoft Launcher
- Explore the world one photo at a time | Bing Wallpaper (microsoft.com)
Choose art from a visually impaired artist
While art is typically considered a highly visual medium, there are many artists with low vision, visual impairments, and no usable vision who create unique and interesting works of art, as well as classic artists that lived with vision loss. Everyday Sight has a great list of blind/visually impaired painters, many of whom are still creating art today, and I’ve included my list of classic artists who were influenced by their visual impairments as well.
Related links
- 10 Incredible Blind Painters – Everyday Sight
- Ten Ways Vision Impairment Influenced Classic Artists
- Art Classes and Low Vision
- How Amazon Alexa Can Help You With Art
Commissioning an artist for custom wallpapers
There are several independent artists on Twitter, Tumblr, Fiverr, Etsy, and similar social media websites that offer inexpensive commissions for designing custom wallpapers and backgrounds for phones, tablets, and computers, including several disabled artists. Most commissions I’ve seen for wallpapers have been around $5-$10 for simple designs or color schemes, though prices vary depending on the artist. I recommend checking out hashtags like #DisabledArtist or browsing through commission tags on social media for more information.
Related links
- Tips For Creating Art For Visually Impaired Friends
- How To Write Alt Text For Amateur Art
- How To Write Image Descriptions For Cosplay
- How To Make Tumblr Themes Accessible For Low Vision
Other tips for choosing wallpapers and backgrounds with low vision
- Another great source for finding high resolution wallpaper and backgrounds is to search for free digital art for gallery walls or free digital poster prints, as these are typically at a high resolution for printing. Pinterest is a great resource!
- Want to avoid cropping an image on a phone/tablet? Create a custom sized canvas in PicsArt, Microsoft PowerPoint, or a similar app that matches the dimensions of the home screen, and add the image to the center, adjusting the image to stretch across the width of the canvas. This allows users to fit the image to the screen
- On iOS, the device’s pre-installed wallpapers come with both a light mode and a dark mode option, so the wallpaper will appear in a darker color scheme when dark mode is enabled
- Users can download custom themes for iOS, Windows, and Android that come with a few different options for backgrounds/wallpapers on their device’s app store
- A lot of fan art for popular movies, TV shows, anime, and books use different colors than common icons for applications and can be a great option for low vision users depending on the style. Again, I recommend checking hashtags on social media to find suitable art for this
