Every designer has been there. You land on a concept that sings confidently, bright, full of personality, and then, just as you start to love it, accessibility testing cuts it down. Orange fails on white. Yellow doesn’t meet contrast ratios. Purple goes muddy on screen. Suddenly, your energetic palette feels like a trap.
Share this post
There are certain colours that look brilliant in theory but falter in practice. For years, this was about print, the nightmare of Pantone swatches that didn’t quite match their CMYK or RGB conversions. The problem was consistency. Now, in a digital-first world, the problem is accessibility.
Accessibility isn’t about compliance, it’s about clarity, empathy and good design. When brands build accessibility into their DNA, they create experiences that work better for everyone, not just those with disabilities. High-contrast colours improve visibility in sunlight. Captions help in noisy environments. Clear structure and plain language make messages land faster. Designing for accessibility means designing for real life: for tired eyes, busy minds, small screens and unpredictable contexts. It’s not a limitation; it’s a refinement. Brands that embrace accessibility don’t just meet standards, they communicate with confidence, consistency and humanity.
Brightness and contrast ratios are the new battleground
Online accessibility standards (WCAG 2.2 and beyond) demand a minimum contrast ratio between text and background colours. The brighter or more saturated a hue, the harder it is to hit those numbers. It’s not about taste, it’s maths.
Oranges, yellows and light purples sit awkwardly in the middle of the luminance spectrum. They can be beautiful but rarely accessible without heavy contrast support or careful pairing. Push them too bright and they fail. Dial them back and they lose their energy.
When working on brands for charities, NHS Trusts and public organisations, colour carries weight. Bright tones often symbolise hope, warmth and optimism, things you don’t want to lose. But a palette that looks bold on a poster might be illegible in a web header, a button, or a mobile app.
Designers have to find creative ways around it:
- Pair luminous hues with deep grounding tones, i.e bright orange with charcoal grey, or sunshine yellow with midnight blue
- Use problematic colours as accents or illustrations, not for body copy or key UI elements
- Build palettes in context, not isolation, test them on digital mock-ups before committing
- Always run WCAG contrast checks, not just eye tests. And then do a test print! Measuring readability in print is not as easy as digital checks online.
The beauty of restraint
The best accessible palettes tend to have discipline built in. They rely on contrast, hierarchy and balance rather than noise and saturation. Accessibility doesn’t mean dull, it means intentional. Some of the strongest brands use restrained colour in clever ways: using motion, typography and tone to create energy, not just hue.
The new colour literacy
Modern branding isn’t just about emotional colour associations, red for passion, blue for trust, green for growth. It’s about functional empathy. Can every user, regardless of vision or device, actually see and read it?
That’s why colour testing has become a core part of our brand process at Ave. We build palettes that not only look strong but work hard, across print, digital, motion and physical environments. Because a colour that excludes isn’t doing its job, no matter how beautiful it looks on screen. If you want to test your brand colour palette, use our accessibility colour palette checker here.
Share this post
You may also find these things interesting because they are good
Nulla imperdiet mollis urna, ut rhoncus ante placerat eu. Nullam eu magna malesuada, euismod sapien ut, vestibulum dolor.
-
Council of Deans of Health brand identity and website
Council of Deans of Health brand identity and website The Council of Deans of Health represents the UK’s universities engaged in education and research for…
-
The Florey Clinic sexual health campaign
Turning sexual health stigma into confidence — say hello to “your friends with benefits” for The Florey Clinic.
-
Comic Book UK brand identity and website
A cool and confident brand that is set to engage investors and policymakers, while staying true to the creativity of the comic book world.
-
Shelter report on social housing – Brick by Brick
Brick by brick, calling for change: designing Shelter’s flagship report to confront the social rent crisis and demand urgent action
