Text contrast best practices

Text contrast is one of the most important aspects of branding. It ensures that your content is easy to read for all users, including those who are vision impaired.

There are a few different ways to achieve good text contrast. The first is to use a light background with dark text. The second is to use a dark background with light text. Third is to use shapes, colours, and other visual cues to differentiate the text from the background.

Here's two examples for perspective:

Example

Example

No matter which colour palette you choose for your brand it's important to test your text contrast to ensure it meets the minimum WCAG requirements. You can use a tool like WebAIM's contrast checker to do this.

When it comes to text contrast the best approach is to experiment with the different colours within your brands colour palette and make sure your text is at a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.

While the minimum contrast ratio is important, it's also important to remember that the overall design can have a big impact on the readability of your text.

A few other factors to keep in mind include:

• The size of your text
• The weight of your text
• The colour of your text
• The background colour of your design

By keeping these factors in mind, you can create designs that are both visually appealing and easy to read.

Once you've found the perfect ratio add it to a document labelled brand kit.

A brand kit typically includes the logo, color palette, fonts and any other branding elements that are needed to create a cohesive, unified brand.

The idea is to have all the necessary information and assets in one place so they are easy to find when they are needed.

Generate a color palette and brand kit for free here. Not sure how to create a kit? Get in touch with us today for a free consultation call.