What Are Accessible Colors?

Designers who want to create inclusive and accessible digital products must know everything about accessible colors. When you prioritize color accessibility, you’ll ensure that users with visual impairments or color blindness can easily distinguish elements on the screen.

Such prioritization leads to a better user experience for everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. 

This article will examine and explain the importance of accessible colors, how to choose color combinations for accessibility, and provide examples of companies prioritizing accessibility in their color choices, so keep reading!

Before we dive into the technicalities, let’s remind ourselves what accessibility is and why every good product designer always has accessibility in mind.

Accessibility refers to the design of digital products everyone can use, including people with diverse disabilities. Product designers should always design with accessibility in mind because it ensures that their designs are functional and accessible to a broader range of users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.

By designing with accessibility in mind, such as using accessible colors, product designers create more inclusive products that provide a better user experience for everyone. Accessibility also helps ensure their fundamental right – to access information and services.

But that’s not all. We can also look at designing for accessibility from a legal standpoint. Many countries have laws and regulations that require products and services to be accessible to all users, and failure to comply can result in legal action or hefty fines. By designing with accessibility in mind, product designers can avoid legal issues and, most importantly, create products that are accessible and inclusive for all users.

It’s mandatory to prioritize accessibility from the beginning of the design process and to continually test and improve the accessibility of their products throughout the development process.

Consider using patterns, textures, or icons in addition to color.

Colors can be a vital tool when designing with accessibility in mind. By using colors that are easily distinguishable and provide sufficient contrast, designers can create products usable by people with different color vision deficiencies, including color blindness. 

Here are some Supercharged tips for using accessible colors.

When selecting colors for text, buttons, and other design elements, ensure enough contrast between the foreground and background colors. That will help users with visual impairments distinguish between different elements on the page. WCAG guidelines recommend a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for small text and 3:1 for large text.

Some users may have difficulty distinguishing between specific colors. To ensure that all users can access important information, consider using patterns, textures, or icons in addition to color.

When selecting colors for your design, avoid using color combinations that may be difficult for users with color vision deficiencies to distinguish, such as red and green. Instead, choose easily distinguishable, accessible colors like blue and yellow.

Was there ever a Supercharged tip that didn’t involve testing? 🤭

There are several tools available that can help you test the accessibility of your designs. For example, color contrast checkers can help ensure that your design elements meet WCAG guidelines for contrast. You can also use simulation tools to see how your designs appear to users with different color vision deficiencies.

Using these strategies, you’ll create products accessible to a broader range of users, including those with color vision deficiencies. By prioritizing accessibility, product designers create more inclusive and usable products that benefit everyone.

While Google carefully crafts its color palettes. The app also provides detailed voice guidance

Twitter uses a dark shade of their brand’s color

Dwelling on theory for too long is never a good option, so let’s dive into a couple of real-life examples of accessible colors you can use in future design projects.

You can also use color-blind-friendly palettes, such as a blue-orange palette, a red-blue palette, and a yellow-purple palette. Let’s see which brands and products use accessible colors in their designs.

Google Maps is a navigation app you’ve all heard about. They have implemented several accessibility features, including high-contrast mode and the ability to customize colors to suit individual needs. The app also provides detailed voice guidance to help users with visual impairments navigate their surroundings.

Voice Dream Reader is a practical app that converts text into speech, making accessing written content more accessible for visually impaired users. The app uses high-contrast colors and provides customization options for font size and color to make it accessible to users with different needs.

And finally, Twitter has made accessibility a priority and has a dedicated accessibility team that works to make the platform more inclusive. The platform uses high-contrast colors and provides alternative text for images, among other features.

As a product designer, you’ll always have to remember that there are many color vision deficiencies; what works for one user may not work for another. It’s essential to test your designs with simulation tools and provide alternative ways of conveying important information, such as using patterns or textures and accessible colors.

ADA contrast refers to the contrast ratio requirements set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for digital content. The ADA is a US law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and applies to physical and digital spaces.

In digital content, the ADA requires that text and images have a minimum contrast ratio to ensure they are distinguishable for users with visual impairments or color blindness. The current standard for ADA contrast is a minimum ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18-point or 14-point bold).

Designers (and developers) can use various tools, such as ADA color contrast checkers or simulation tools, to test their designs and ensure they meet ADA contrast requirements. By prioritizing ADA contrast, designers can create digital content accessible to a broader range of users, including those with disabilities or visual impairments.

Stark is a great “stay in Figma” plugin for checking your colors, but there are also great tools for generating accessible color palettes before jumping into your favorite tool and adjusting them

Designing with accessibility in mind is challenging. But luckily for us, many tools can do the heavy lifting and improve our endeavors to improve the accessibility level of our designs.

WebAIM Color Contrast Checker – This tool allows you to test the contrast ratio between two colors to ensure they are distinguishable for visually impaired users.

Adobe Color – This tool allows you to create color palettes and test their accessibility using various color blindness simulations.

Stark – This plugin for Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD allows you to test the accessibility of your designs in real-time, including color contrast and color blindness simulations.

Accessible Color Generator – This tool generates accessible color combinations based on the WCAG 2.0 guidelines for color contrast.

Sim Daltonism – This app for macOS and iOS allows you to simulate different types of color blindness and test the accessibility of your designs.

If you need to start from the beginning and cover everything you need to know about accessible colors, numerous resources can help you. We highly suggest checking out the following:

With help from these tools and resources, product designers can ensure that their designs have accessible colors and are available for users with different abilities, eventually leading to a better user experience for everyone.

Product designers should adhere to accessible colors and accessibility in general because it ensures that their designs are inclusive and accessible to a broader range of users, including those with visual impairments or color blindness. 

By prioritizing color accessibility, designers can create digital products that provide a better user experience for everyone and avoid legal issues related to accessibility. Additionally, designing for accessibility is a fundamental right for all people and promotes inclusivity and diversity. It’s essential for building digital products that are usable, accessible, and inclusive for all users.

We hope this article helped you understand the importance of accessibility and accessible colors. However, if choosing the right color combinations for your UI projects still seems perplexing, we highly suggest checking out our Ultimate UI Colors Masterclass! This thorough and practical UI colors video course will help you elevate this essential skill to another level and enhance your designs forever. From theory to practical tasks – this Masterclass has it all.

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