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Colour and contrast

Colour sets the mood and guides the eye — but it must never be the only way information is conveyed, and it must stay readable for everyone.

Aequitas is built on a calm green palette, associated with stability and well-being. But a palette is only as good as its contrast: low-contrast text is the single most common accessibility failure on the web, so every text and background pair here is checked against WCAG ratios.

The contrast rules

  • Normal text needs 4.5:1, and large text 3:1 (WCAG 1.4.3, AA). “Large” means ≥ 18pt, or ≥ 14pt bold (~24px / ~18.5px bold).
  • Non-text contrast 3:1 (WCAG 1.4.11) — button edges, input outlines, focus rings and meaningful icons must stand out too, not just text.
  • 7:1 meets AAA (WCAG 1.4.6), the enhanced level — which our high-contrast mode aims for.
WCAG 1.4.3 requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (AA); 7:1 meets AAA. White text on these greens passes, is borderline, then fails. Source: W3C WCAG 2.2.

Never colour alone

Around 1 in 12 men (up to ~8% in Northern European populations, ~4.5% globally) and 1 in 200 women have some colour-vision deficiency — most commonly red-green. So information is never carried by colour by itself (WCAG 1.4.1): success and error states use an icon and a label, active navigation adds weight and an underline, and the balance is a labelled live region.

WCAG 1.4.1 (Use of Color): never signal meaning with colour alone. On the left, only hue distinguishes the states — invisible to many colour-blind users. On the right, an icon and label carry the meaning too. Source: W3C WCAG 2.2.

How it was checked

The palette was validated with contrast-checking and colour-blindness simulation tools — the WebAIM Contrast Checker, TPGi’s Colour Contrast Analyser, and simulators like Color Oracle — and both a light and a full dark theme are provided so users can pick what is comfortable in their environment.

Sources: W3C WCAG 2.2 (SC 1.4.1, 1.4.3, 1.4.6, 1.4.11); WebAIM Million 2025; Colorblind.io statistics; TPGi & WebAIM tooling.