Company colors don’t pass contrast guidelines.

Question

The company colors don't pass contrast guidelines, and the entire site is built on that color scheme. Are there any exceptions to this rule, and if so, what would you suggest?

Answer

Company logos do not need to meet accessibility criterion per WCAG 1.4.3 ("Text that is part of a logo or brand name has no contrast requirement"). However, if you have flexibility with the logo design and can make it pass contrast guidelines, that's a great thing to do.

All other text must meet the minimum contrast ratios. So you'll need to adjust the colors being used for text and backgrounds so that they meet the requirements. For AA, it is required that normal text has a ratio of at least 4.5:1 and 3:1 for large text. AAA requires 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Additionally AA requires that visual information used to identify UI components (i.e., controls) are to have a 3:1 contrast ratio against adjacent colors.

To learn more take a look at our Q&A for techniques on how-to check contrast ratios.

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