Creating Accessible Logos - 5 Tips

It's a super exciting time, you've just started a business and things are looking up. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get things done! One thing you must to correctly is make your logo and branding accessible. By not ensuring your branding is accessible you are in fact excluding approximately 15% of the World populations.

1. Contrast is key for perceivability

Setting the right contrast for your logo and branding will made a big difference. Using the high contrasting colour will help make your logo stand out but more importantly make it easier to desinguise to your customers. Although logos are exempt from the WCAG contrast guidelines this shouldn't mean you ignore them.

2. Don't over complicate things - Make sure it's understandable

It's ok to be creative and it's ok to want your branding and logo to be perfect and reflect you, however don't over complicate things. A clear simple accessible logo can be more effective than a logo that your customer simply do not understand. Remember specific colour have different meaning in how they make a potential customer feel. Try using the Colour Theory for Designers article to help you understand the meaning of colour.

3. Make dark mode work more operably for you

Dark mode has now become a thing... Most devices now use dark more or high contrast modes more frequently. Apple and Android devices not even feature schedules that are set to turn off blue light, warm the screen colour and invert colours such as black and white. This in turn means that if you are using a logo that relies on a dark background and you have not provided alternatives if will be harder to see. Perhaps try to create 2 logos whether each compliments both light and dark modes.

4. Font or not to Font that is the question?

Logo's don't always need to include font however in most cases font can add additional context and value. However it is also important to ensure that you pick a font that is clear, legible and easy for your customer to read. Using fonts that are thin, script or joined can cause issues with customers who rely of optical character recognition (OCR) software.

5. Thicker is better and more robust

Thick, carefully placed lines and block colour really does make a difference. You have to remember not everyone can see a logo 50M away on the side of a van! In fact 1 in 5 people will live with sight loss within their lifetime. Source RNIB. Not convinced? dont just take my word on this, check out 10 of the Worlds biggest brands and I am sure you'd agree they are striking bold and easy to see from a distance.