Colour, in order: when babies see red, then blue, then green
Newborns see the world in light and dark, not colour; colour switches on in a known order — red first, then blue and yellow, then green, roughly over the first ~5–6 months. And…
Blog & notes
The public, plain-language version of our research and design decisions — for parents, caregivers, therapists, and educators. Every article is cited, labels its evidence, and defers to clinicians where it should.
15 articles
Faces first — and why your own photos make great contrast cards
Babies are wired to look at faces — so a bold, high-contrast version of your face (or a sibling, or the family pet) is one of the most engaging "cards" you can make. That's why…
The Goldilocks principle: matching pattern difficulty to the stage
A pattern that is too simple bores a baby, and one that is too fine or busy looks like grey mush — the sweet spot is something they can just make out, and it moves every few weeks…
How big should it be? A plain-language guide to sizing a contrast card
Getting the size right comes down to just two numbers — how well your child sees right now, and how far away the print will be — and one line of grade-school geometry does the…
How to use contrast cards: short, frequent, baby-led
A few short looks a day — on the order of 3–5 minutes — is plenty. Follow your baby's lead, rotate a few patterns, and talk about what they're seeing. More is not better.
Mounting patterns safely near a baby (and safe sleep)
The single rule that governs everything: nothing can fall on the baby, and the sleep surface stays clear. Patterns go on surfaces (ceiling, wall, the underside of a cabinet) —…
Bullseyes, checkerboards, stripes: the patterns babies prefer
Babies aren't looking at "nothing" — from the first days of life they look longer at bold patterns than at blank fields, and a few shapes (bullseyes and checkerboards especially)…
Print at 100%: why "Fit to Page" quietly ruins a correctly-sized card
The whole point of this tool is a pattern sized for your child's eyes at a real distance — and a single print-dialog setting, "Fit to Page," can silently shrink it. So print at…
Reading your baby's "I'm done" signals (engagement vs. overstimulation)
Your baby will tell you when a pattern is landing and when they've had enough. Engaged looks like fixating and stilling; done looks like looking away, turning, arching, or fussing…
Reading the evidence: established science, practitioner guidance, and opinion
Baby-vision advice online blurs three very different things: what research has established, what professionals commonly do, and someone's opinion. Every article here is labelled…
Why the same contrast card won't work on the ceiling and the changing table
A pattern that's perfect 30 cm from your baby's face is an invisible grey blur on the ceiling 2 m away — because the eye sees angles, not sizes. Same baby, farther surface → the…
See what your baby sees: simulating infant acuity in the preview
The generator can blur a preview to approximate what a young baby actually sees at the chosen distance — a quick, honest reminder of why the cards are so bold and so big.
Cards supplement, never replace, face-to-face time
The best early "visual stimulus" isn't a card — it's your face, up close, responding to your baby. High-contrast cards fill the other moments; they add to face-to-face time, they…
Tiling explained: a poster-sized contrast print from an ordinary home printer
For a print that hangs far away — a ceiling, the far wall of a cot — one sheet of paper is too small to hold a shape the eye can read. Tiling prints the image across several…
Turning a family photo into a high-contrast card
Upload a photo — a parent's face, a sibling, the family pet, a favourite cup — and the generator turns it, on your device, into a bold high-contrast card sized for the distance. A…
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