How much contrast text needs, how to design for colour blindness, and why dark mode is more than flipping the colours, so everyone can read what you make.
Building a paletteContrast and accessibility
A brand palette works when every colour has a job. On screens, neutrals cover most of the page and your brand colour marks what people click. Here's where the 60-30-10 rule really comes from, how many colours you need, and why your brand colour may fail as text.
15 min read
Screens and printContrast and accessibility
Reversing your colours turns a blue brand mustard, and even automatic dark modes turn yellows muddy and purples pink. A good dark mode is a lightness job first: near-black backgrounds, off-white text, and every accent re-picked lighter until it reads. Here's why blues soften and reds can stay vivid, with a recipe for Figma and Canva.
13 min read
Contrast and accessibility
The 4.5:1 contrast rule rests on a 1988 office-monitor standard, an allowance for older eyes and a fixed guess about room lighting. It's right most of the time, it never forbids your brand colour, and it flatters you in one place: light text on dark backgrounds. Where the number came from, where it slips, and whether to switch to APCA.
18 min read
Contrast and accessibility
Colour-blindness filters show the most severe form, which only about a quarter of colour-blind people have. The check that works is one you already know: keep neighbouring colours at least 3:1 apart in contrast, and never let colour be the only clue. Here's why, which pairs really break, and the palette that holds up.
19 min read
How we see colourContrast and accessibility
Your eye judges every colour against what surrounds it, so the same hex looks lighter on a dark page and darker on a light one. Thin lines and small text do the opposite. Here's why, how big the shift is, why a contrast checker can't see it, and what to do.
18 min read