Color Contrast & Meaning Overview

Color Contrast & Meaning Self-Paced Micro-Course

Color Contrast

& Meaning Overview

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  1. Examples of Good & Bad Contrast
  2. Control Your Contrast with the Color Tools in MS Word
  3. Color & Meaning
  4. Checking Color Contrast
  5. Summary 

 

Color Contrast?

Color contrast is required for accessibility to ensure that the meaning of the message stands out from the background of the message- literally.

While there may be no accounting for taste, there is a measurable standard for adequate color contrast, provided by our friends at the W3C through the WCAG 2.0. W3C provides a helpful resource that goes into additional detail about color contrast. Links to an external site. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WCAG 2.0 success criteria 1.4.3 (AA) requires a color contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for all text excluding the following exceptions:

  • Large Text: Large-scale text and images of large-scale text have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1.
  • Incidental: Text or images of text that are part of an active user interface component, that are pure decoration, that are not visible to anyone, or that are part of a picture that contains significant other visual content, have no contrast requirement.
  • Logotypes: Text that is part of a logo or brand name has no minimum contrast requirement.

 

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

  • Identify sufficient contrast between foreground and the background.
  • Explain why color as the only visual means of conveying information is inaccessible.