Abstract
Colors have a huge impact on the look and feel of any product. When designing for people, color becomes a strong medium to communicate and a powerful tool for accessibility. We asked Alison Murphy, a designer at Pearson’s, “What does accessibility in design mean to you?”
“There is a great thing in universal design called the ‘curb-cut effect’ — essentially, by making something accessible to a certain audience, you often improve the experience for everybody,” she answered. “Color themes that work well for a vision challenged audience will work well for everyone!”
Accessibility comes with multiple advantages, the most prominent being the uniform access and interpretation of information unaffected by the limitations of the different types of audience.
Take healthcare systems for instance. Amidst the current pandemic situation, lack of minimum contrast ratio in the colors of healthcare apps and websites may hinder communication of important information on products or services for people with low vision, color-blindness, or aging. Accessibility enables the basic color contrast, so that everyone can read the complete information provided and leverage the relevant parts.
Designers sometimes get swayed by design trends, brand palettes, or their personal love for low contrast typography that makes them choose colors that are not legible for all. No aesthetic choice should ever come at the expense of accessibility. So, how do you pick colors that fit with your desired style, while also solving for color contrast? Well, now you can with Adobe Color.
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Kautuk Sahni