COLOR CONTRAST AND ADA COMPLIANCE

It is critically important that we use sufficiently-contrasting colors, so that our content's visibility is stark enough to distinguish by most people. Doing so helps us meet the minimum contrast ratios defined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

While most users appreciate text that they don't have to strain to read, for many viewers with low vision, low contrast vision, or color vision deficiency, the colors chosen for our brand identity can be the difference between legible and inaccessible material.

Because Red/Green color blindness is the most common, we must avoid green on red or red on green all together.

On the right you will see how the primary colors, green (PANTONE 356), Gold (PANTONE 123) and, functional color, Sherpa Blue (PANTONE 309) interact with each other. Most pass the test except gold on white and white on gold. This is enough reason to completely avoid these color combinations and consider the others instead.