Bridging the Gap Between Compliance and Design Quality

Key Insights

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  WCAG color contrast guidelines are outdated and sometimes promote poor design choices, like white on black causing visual strain for people with astigmatism.

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  Traditional color theory, based on a 200-year-old color wheel, is often at odds with modern accessibility needs and design quality.

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  Modern color models like Oklch and contrast scoring from APCA provide more precise assessments of accessible and ergonomic color combinations.

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  Santiago’s tool assigns scores from 1 to 5 to color combinations, balancing legal compliance with design quality to guide better choices.

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  Only a very limited set of colors work well against both black and white backgrounds, necessitating split color systems for accessibility.

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  Client resistance to changing brand color palettes for accessibility often stems from political and cultural attachment rather than technical limitations.

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  Presenting accessibility as enhancing brand usability for people over 40 or with common vision conditions can ease client pushback.

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  Responsive color systems that adapt colors across light, dark, and high-contrast modes can better serve diverse user needs.

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  Building accessible color systems is challenging but feasible if tools reduce the complexity and perceived risk of color adjustments.

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  Sustainable development of accessibility tools may require nonprofit structures and open-source licenses to attract funding and wider adoption.

Notable Quotes