Why does everyone keep pairing dark blue text on black backgrounds?

I was browsing portfolio sites last night and spotted like 4 designers using navy blue body text on near-black backgrounds. My eyes started watering after 30 seconds of reading. The contrast ratio there is usually around 2:1 which is way below the 4.5:1 minimum for normal text. I actually pulled out my color contrast analyzer and checked one site that had a 1.8:1 ratio. Are people just not checking their designs against WCAG standards? How do you all handle telling a client their brand colors fail accessibility tests?

3 comments

3 Comments

noahw531mo ago

Tried showing them a grayscale version of their site. Changed their mind quick.

robinmason1mo agoMost Upvoted

Whoa, that's a great trick but I wonder if it only works because it catches them off guard! The grayscale approach strips away all the visual fluff and forces them to actually look at layout and navigation instead of just color. Would be interesting to test if the effect wears off once they know what's coming.

jennifer_fisher17d ago

Is it really that deep though? I mean yeah showing them grayscale might get them to shut up for a minute but these guys will find something else to complain about. Next week it's gonna be the font size or the button placement. You could hand them a perfect site and they'd still find a reason to nitpick. Been there done that.