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. Therefore, you'll need to adjust the colors used for text and backgrounds to comply with these standards. For AA compliance, normal text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, and large text must have a ratio of 3:1 against the background. For AAA compliance, the requirements are a 7:1 ratio for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Additionally, AA compliance requires that visual information used to identify UI components (such as controls) must 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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