Accessible Use of Color

This help article provides a foundation for understanding why the use of color is important for digital accessibility, how to implement color appropriately, and where color might be relevant.

Why is Color Accessibility Important?

Color is a powerful tool that can make your content more visually dynamic and engaging; however, inappropriate use of color can create accessibility barriers in your content. Users with low vision, blindness, and colorblindness may have difficulty accessing content that relies solely on color, or content with insufficient contrast from background elements.

How Do I Use Color Accessibly?

Don't rely solely on color to convey information: 

Color alone should not be used to convey information or visually emphasize content. This ensures that users with low vision, blindness, and color blindness can easily engage with text-based content.

Ensure sufficient color contrast: 

According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), text and images should have a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text (defined as 18 point font, or bolded 14 point font), and 3:1 for graphical objects and user interface elements. Online color contrast checkers, such as WebAIM's Color Contrast Checker, can be used to evaluate color contrast.

Use patterns along with colors in graphs and charts: 

For charts and graphs, use patterns or labels in addition to color coding to ensure that the data is accessible to users with color vision deficiencies.

Where May I Utilize Color?

Please refer to the following resources to learn how to work with color in your content:

Microsoft Office

• Add, change, or delete the background color in Word

• Change the font color

• Change a theme and make it the default in Word or Excel

Google Apps

• Google Help for changing font and background color in a Doc

• Google Help for text and cell color changes in a Sheet

• Google Help for changing font and theme color in a Form

University Policy Connection

Using color appropriately is a critical step in complying with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 per Portland State University’s Digital Accessibility Policy. Please reference the following World Wide Web Consortium help articles for more information:

• Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)