Many users, such as those with color blindness, have difficulty distinguishing one color from another. To ensure that all users can read text and distinguish one visual element from another, you should create sufficient contrast between elements.
To comply to Case Western Reserve University accessibility standards, the contrast ratio—the visual difference between two colors—must be at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
All text in Case Western Reserve online content must use the university brand colors, each of which separately meet the contrast ratio requirements for all text sizes. CWRU gray and blue should not be used together, as they do not pass color contrast with one as a background color. Instead, the use of CWRU gray or blue requires white as the additional color.
View Case Western Reserve brand color codes provided by University Marketing and Communications.
Testing
You can check for color contrast between two elements like text and the background using contrast checkers. Use the Color Contrast Checker from WebAIM to test the contrast between two colors using RGB hexadecimal color code. This tool provides the contrast ratio and shows if your text and background pass specific standards (Case Western Reserve sites comply to WCAG AA).