Communicating Tip: Color Contrast is Important

Insightful information on how to better communicate with the audiences you serve—online and in print!

Contrasting colors help readers of all ages differentiate between letters and shapes.
 
People of all ages will appreciate it if you use complementary colors that are easy on the eye in all of your communications. Try to use dark colors for your main body text, and reversed out colors sparingly in headers and titles. When using a reversed out color (which is a light color, often white, on a dark background), always make sure that your background is dark enough for the text color to really pop!  Poor contrast can make your website or marketing pieces appear fuzzy and difficult for people to read.

Below are samples of good uses of contrasting colors:

Black text on a white background for  the main text is easy to read.  White text on very dark backgrounds for headers is pretty–yet still easy on the eye!

Reversed out text used sparingly on the dark background is interesting, and still easy to read.  The main body text is black on white, which will not be as tiring to the eye.