UX Design Tips for Beginners- The Contrast & Color

David
Albert Shepherd updated on 2023-03-23 14:48:53
contrasting colours

90% of the world's population spends their life on the internet. It would not be wrong to say that the internet has changed our way of thinking and lifestyle. Those who are making their living online must know very well how important it is to create a UX design. There are a lot of factors that matter in a UX design, but specifically, here we are discussing the UX color.

Before you jump into the color and contrast of the UX design, read out what is meant by an accessible UX design and why it matters.

What does it mean to design for accessibility?

What is accessibility, and why does it be so important? Accessibility is a practice about how useful and engaging your web, product, or service is. In simple words, accessibility is all about being able to access. The common myth of people regarding accessibility is that accessibility is about disability. But in reality, it all about universal design. By universal design, we mean that a design that benefits the whole world.

As you want to grow your business, so you need your website, product, or service to be seen by everyone. Here everyone can be anybody. You never know that the user is disabled or able. 15% of the world population is disabled. If you create your web that anybody can access, then believe us, it will be super beneficial for you. Because the more the audience rate, the better the results will be.

The common problem disables faces are,

  • Visual
  • Auditory
  • Mobility
  • Cognitive

So, are you confident that you know the formula of designing an accessible UX design? Or you want us to tell you the magic of spinning the wand and get the word done?

Below are the freaking tips that will surely help you in designing a UX design.


10 Tips to Create Accessible UX Design

These tips work best for beginner UX designers.

1.Define Your Audience

Set your first target who is going to read or watch your content? By arranging the demographics, it will be easier for you to set your rest needs. Of course, you want your content to fulfill all the requirements of a UX design. So before you invest your time in denting and painting the content, set your demographics.

Never make content specific for gender or age. Your users can be kids, teenagers, adults, or maybe elders. The best you can do for yourself and everyone is by creating an accessible UX design.


2.Learn to make accessibility part of your everyday designs

Make accessible UX color and design a part of your everyday UX designing. Your whole business depends on the user experience. The better product you provide them, the better response you get in return. By adding the accessible UX designing a part of your design, you will master the strategies and requirements.

Right now, you may be struggling to figure out the tips for UX design color and contrast. But once you keep it in your practice, you will definitely be a pro at it. Not only contrasting colors matter but keeping auditory and mobility's quality higher is also necessary.


3.Add Adequate Color Contrast

There is a possibility that some of your users may have eye issues like color blindness and others. While designing the theme, you have to be very careful in setting the contrasting colors. Nowadays, as per the increasing demand for accessible UX designs, the modern layouts are now very well-detailed. 

Subtle colors (light color fonts with light background) are okay for those who have 20/20 vision. While on the other hand, colorblind people will find it difficult to distinguish between the colors.

The best contrast color you can use for colorblind people is high contrast colors. This color contrast is perfect for people suffering from color blindness. Don't forget to use symbols and outliners to indicate your content.


4.Never Use only Colors to Define Something Informative

You know it very well that colorblind people can't distinguish between the colors. In those parts of content, where you are communicating or indicating something Hella important, never use light contrasting colors to target it. Instead, use some symbols and additional indicators to target the specific part.

You can add the title to the message for better engagement or use indicators such as patterns, underline, and text labels. When an error occurs, colors always deceive, but if you have used marks in your content, then your users can easily recognize the message. Always use blue color only when you are linking.

You can also use a trick to figure out the quality: convert the whole page in a greyscale and read it. If you are still able to understand everything clearly, then you can go ahead.


5.Font Weight, Color & Size

Wait a minute! Does determining the size, color, and weight of the fonts is necessary? Well, you may neglect it as a useless factor, but believe us, it is Hella important.

Thin and small fonts no doubt look cute and attractive. But if you look at this matter in terms of user experience, it is not that attractive as you may think of it. For vision defect users, it's hard to figure out the text.

The least font size you should use is 12 pt. The colorblind-friendly color and contrast you can use are orange/blue, brown/blue, or may red/blue. For CTA buttons (Call to Action), use only one color and don't repeat it in the content.


6.Use Alternative Text to Define Information

No matter how accurate you keep the color and contrast, some of your users will find it hard to understand the content. What to do now? Don't panic and read the next tip.

If your content comprises images, then add alternative text to it. Alternative text helps blind users to understand the information accurately. The picture you use in your content should be of warm colors.

If you don't add alternative text to your image, it will only look like an image. Keep the audience trapped in your content. Give your 100% to provide quality content.


7.Keep Things Simple Yet Killing

The simple you keep the design, the better result you will get. Too much use of symbols, announcements, and banners can spoil the user experience.

According to the rule of thumb, the simple to keep the design, the easier and attractive the design will look.

The best color contrast example you can have are monochromatic color palettes or analog color palettes. These color palettes are easy to be recognized by colorblind and vision defect users.


8.Don't Run After Sharpness and Saturation

Color, we hear and care about it a lot. From color theory to harmonization to saturation to sharpness, what do all these means, and why do we care?

When you sit down at your chair to design some sassy and classy UX designs, you must stare at the black artboard with color palettes on the side, like which one to choose man?!!

As you are designing an accessible UX design, running after saturation and sharpness will only waste your time and nothing more. High saturation and sharpness in UX color always spoil the quality of the page and product. 


9.Add Precise Markup to the Content

Titles with larger fonts and dark contrasting colors are easier to read and understand. Along with the large fonts, do use heading marks. Heading marks at the start of the content define the structure and hierarchy of the content.

While developing a site, it is necessary to use appropriate structural elements. The HTML carried out the communication between the browser and the content. The components of the page should be on an accessible tree. The accessible tree helps the blind readers to listen to the page by powering the screen readers.


10. What about Adding Audio to Your Content?

It is the last but least tip to create an accessible UX design. If your 80% concern is about the color and contrast of the page. Then you need to put your remaining 20% focus on the auditory and mobility of the web.

If you allow the visitors to listen to the content rather than reading it, it will help you gain high retention rates.

How awesome it would be for those readers traveling by train, busy mothers in the kitchen, and employees in their cabin. Plug-in your headphones and start listening to the content.


Conclusion

Never miss a single aspect in impressing your users.

It may sound hectic to find the best color contrast for UX designs, but practice for a while, and you will learn the strategy of the contrasting colors. While designing an accessible UX design, make sure to fulfill all the requirements.

Along with vision, auditory, cognitive, and mobility are also necessary factors. Give your 100% and create a super accessible UX design.