Contrast and color play an important part in whether your design will meet accessibility standards.

Sure, you want to choose colors for your design that look good together and create visual interest, but you also want to make sure that readers with visual impairments or disabilities can see and understand your design.

Choosing the Right Colors

When selecting colors for your design, aim for combinations that are both visually engaging and accessible.

Your colors should:

• Complement each other naturally.

• Tell a clear visual story that supports your content or data.

• Provide enough contrast so all text and visuals remain visible.

To get started, you can explore different types of color schemes using a color wheel, including:

• Monochromatic: one hue in varying shades and tones.

• Analogous: colors next to each other on the color wheel.

• Complementary: colors opposite each other on the wheel.

• Contrasting: strong visual difference between hues.

🖼️ Below is a sample of primary, secondary, and tertiary color wheels that show how different color relationships work together.

Designing with Accessible Contrast

Contrast measures how bright or dark one color appears compared to another. It determines whether text, icons, and shapes stand out clearly.

For example:

• High contrast: black text on a white background — easy to read.

• Low contrast: yellow text on a white background — difficult to read.

Low-contrast text or elements can make designs inaccessible, especially for users with low vision or color blindness.

Tips for Creating Better Contrast

✅ Use dark colors on a light background, or light colors on a dark background.
✅ Keep backgrounds simple and solid to make overlaid elements stand out.
✅ Run Venngage’s Accessibility Checker to test contrast ratios and get improvement suggestions.

Checking and Adjusting Contrast in Venngage

Available on Free, Premium, Business, and Enterprise plans.

Venngage’s Accessibility Checker helps you quickly identify contrast issues and see which elements need adjustment.

To check color contrast:

1. In the Editor, open your design.

2. Click File on the top toolbar, select Accessibility, then click Check accessibility.

   

3. Under the Color Contrast section, review any elements that don’t meet WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards.

   

4. The panel will highlight elements that fail contrast checks and suggest improvements for accessibility compliance.

   

5. Click an element (like text or an icon) to adjust its color or background until it passes the required contrast ratio.

6. Once you’ve made changes, click “Rescan Document” in the Accessibility panel to check your updates and confirm your design meets accessibility standards.

   

Final Tip

Strong color contrast improves not just accessibility—but also design clarity and visual impact. With Venngage’s Accessibility Checker, you can confidently create designs that look great and meet accessibility standards.

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