Watched a presentation at the city library and realized my contrast was off

I was at a community meeting last Tuesday in the main hall downtown. The speaker had these light gray slides with white text and I literally couldn't read any of it from row 6. The projector made it even worse, washed everything out. That moment made me pull out my phone and check my own designs against the WCAG contrast ratios. I found out my go-to color combo of pale blue and white was only a 2.8 to 1 ratio instead of the 4.5 it should be. Has anyone else had a real-world experience that made you rethink your color choices?

2 comments

2 Comments

logansullivan12d ago

Honestly, it sounds like the issue was more with the projector and the room lighting than your actual color choices. Most people aren't walking around with a color contrast checker, they just want to read the text. Unless you're designing for a visually impaired audience specifically, that 4.5 ratio might be overkill for everyday stuff.

fiona_lewis3712d ago

Yeah exactly! People get way too caught up in those strict rules like they're building a government website or something. For a quick slideshow or a poster you're throwing together, if it looks readable to you and a couple friends, that's probably good enough. I've seen so many "accessible" designs that end up looking boring and washed out because someone was obsessing over a number instead of just using common sense. And honestly, most folks are just glancing at stuff on their phones in bright sunlight anyway, not sitting in a dark room with calibrated eyes.