Color is an important feature that helps communicate mood, tone, and critical information. Primary, secondary, and accent colors can be strategically selected to help support app usability. 

Accessible Color Options

Contrast ratios are used to represent how different one color is from another, commonly written as 1:1 or 21:1. According to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the contrast ratio between a color and its background ranges from 1-21 based on its luminance or intensity of light emitted. The greater the difference in the two numbers, the greater difference in relative luminance between both colors.

Contrast Ratios

While color is a powerful tool, it's also good to incorporate other design elements to help express the same amount of information for those who cannot see differences in color. Elements such as strokes, indicators, patterns, texture, or additional text can help describe actions and content to communicate important states.

Accounting for Colorblindness with Other Visual Cues

Besides from text size, color also plays an important role in text legibility. Important things to consider are:
- Text backgrounds
- Text types

Text Legibility

Utilizing different colors and contrasts can help improve your user's ability to see, interpret, interact, and understand your app's contents. This is extremely helpful for those with low vision or colorblindness.

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- Assistive Technology
- Information Hierarchy
- Color and Contrast
- Accessible Layout
- Writing and Accessibility Text
- Imagery
- Sound and Motion

Elements of Accessible Design

Material Design Documentation

Organizing your information in a way that's intuitive helps users easily navigate through your app and help determine what's important. Information can be emphasized through things like color, shape, text, and motion to add clarity.

Information Hierarchy

Color and Contrast

It's important to consider how your app scales content and responds to various devices and user inputs. These greatly influence the ability for your user to interpret and interact with your design.

Accessible Layout

It is important to structure your contents in a way that utilizes accessibility text or, text that is used by screen reader accessibility software. Screen readers are able to read aloud the on-screen text as well as assorted elements (ie. buttons), including both visible and non-visible alternative text.

Writing and Accessibility Text

Different image types will have different accessibility guidelines and different contexts on where it's appropriate to apply these guidelines.
- Decorative images
- Informative images
- Functional images

Types of Imagery

Sound and motion can be incredibly helpful for users to help navigate through your page with or without a screen reader. However, accessibility for screen readers should still be considered when implementing these elements.

Sound and Motion

When using standard platform controls and semantic HTML, apps will automatically contain the markup and code needed to work with a platform's assistive technology. By meeting each platform's accessibility standards and supporting its assistive technology (ie. shortcuts, structure), you can give users an efficient experience. You can test your design with the platform's accessibility settings turned on - this should be done both during and after implementation.

Implementing Elements of Accessible Design

Devices that help maintain or improve the functional capabilities and/or independence of individuals with disabilities.

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