Do
- Use a good colour contrast between the foreground (text/icons) and background.
- Bear in mind users might be colour blind or have a colour deficiency so colours will not look the same for everyone.
- Ensure that colour is not the only way that information is communicated.
Do Not
- Use colour alone to present information.
- Use similar colours for the foreground and background.
Checking colour contrast
You can use the Colour Contract Analyser to check you foreground (text/icons) and background colours have enough contrast to be easily read.
- enter the HEX code if you know it, or
- choose on the RGB picker (or set the numbers), or
- use the dropper to choose the colour on your document
Things to remember
Use an alternative display on graphs and charts to present data, for example a different shape as well as a coloured line or a text alternative to see the results.
This example shows a colour coded pie chart alongside a text alternative for the results.
For a more detailed explanation please refer to the Microsoft guidelines on using colour.