By Sam Eady, Project Manager at Wrapped Agency
How can you tell if your digital materials are accessible, usable and compliant? One of the easiest places to start is colour contrast.
Colour contrast is the difference between the colour of important elements such as text, buttons, links, icons, and the background behind them. If that contrast is too low, content and navigation become much harder to read, recognise, and use.
And this does not just apply to websites. It also affects social media graphics, emails, digital brochures, presentations, adverts, and any other digital content people need to read or interact with.
This matters because accessibility is not just about compliance. It is about making sure people can engage with your content without unnecessary barriers.
Good colour contrast helps users read more easily, scan information more quickly, and identify important actions or next steps with less effort. This is especially important for people with visual impairments, colour vision deficiencies, or anyone trying to view content in less-than-ideal conditions.
On webpages specifically, this also applies to the parts people need to navigate or click on, like buttons, links, menus, and form fields. If those elements do not stand out clearly, users may struggle to move through a page or complete an action.
Colour contrast is also an important part of meeting accessibility expectations under frameworks like WCAG, which sit behind legislation such as the European Accessibility Act.
The good news is that this is one of the easiest things to check.
Start by reviewing your text, buttons, links, and key visual elements across your digital content against their backgrounds. You can then use simple contrast checker tools to test whether your colours meet recommended accessibility standards.
An example of good practice is following WCAG 2.1 AA level standards. This states colour contrast should be at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text. Don’t worry if you’re not sure how the ratios work, many free checker websites will have these numbers shown clearly, and some also have a simple indicator to show if you are meeting these standards.
Common failures include: gold or orange with white, red with black, and blue with grey.
In short, better colour contrast creates a better experience for everyone, and it is one of the quickest wins when improving digital accessibility.
