A stranger at a bus stop in Denver pointed at my poster and said 'I can't read that,' and I think about it every single day | Color Contrast Checks

Mila Morgan · 2026-09-18T20:15:04.121974+00:00

I was standing there with a stack of flyers for a show I booked at a little venue on Colfax. Black text on a dark maroon background. I thought it looked moody and cool. This woman, maybe 60s, taps my arm and points at the date. She goes 'honey, I can't read a single word of that.' Not mean about it. Just true. I flipped it over and the back was white with plain black type. She read it in two seconds and said 'see, that one works.' I reprinted 200 flyers that night. Cost me $60 I didn't have. But three people at the show mentioned they saw the flyer, which never happened with my old ones. Here's my thing: I see designers online bragging about dark mode palettes with gray on darker gray and I want to ask them who they think is reading it. Do you test your stuff on an actual old person, or just your own eyes on a nice monitor?

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A stranger at a bus stop in Denver pointed at my poster and said 'I can't read that,' and I think about it every single day | Color Contrast Checks - The Design Community Hub