How to Work With Clients When Brand Colors Aren’t Accessible

After 25 years building websites, I’ve had this conversation countless times: “We love our brand colors, but they don’t pass WCAG contrast requirements. What do we do?”

It’s a genuinely difficult situation. Brand colors aren’t arbitrary—they’re often tied to organizational identity, recognition, and sometimes even founder passion. But when those colors fail contrast ratios, they create real barriers for users with visual impairments.

The good news? You don’t have to choose between brand identity and accessibility. Here are proven strategies from real projects.

Strategic Approaches for Inaccessible Brand Colors

1. Adjust Typography Instead of Color

One of our clients had an orange color they were known for—it’s in their logo, marketing materials, everywhere. The problem? When used with white text on buttons, the contrast ratio barely failed WCAG AA requirements.

The solution was simpler than expected: we used bolder, larger fonts for CTAs and buttons with that orange background. The increased font weight and size brought the contrast ratio above the 3:1 threshold for large text, and the brand’s signature orange stayed intact. No color changes required.

2. Create Accessible Variations for Digital Use

Another client had a well-recognized bright green used throughout their branding and logo. Beautiful color, terrible contrast for backgrounds where text is used.

We solved this by developing a slightly darker green specifically for areas needing to pass contrast requirements—headers, text blocks, interactive elements. Their logo and decorative elements kept the original bright green for brand recognition, while the darker variation handled the heavy lifting of actual readability.

The key was documenting both colors in their updated brand guide with clear use cases for each.

3. Use as Accent Colors Only

When brand colors can’t be modified and typography adjustments won’t work, reserve them for decorative elements—borders, icons, dividers, or backgrounds paired with high-contrast neutral text. Your brand remains visible without compromising readability.

4. Build Comprehensive Brand Color Matrices

This is the approach that prevents ongoing problems. One of our clients kept having issues where staff and contractors would create designs that failed contrast testing. The problem wasn’t the colors themselves—it was that designers didn’t understand which exact brand color combinations were acceptable.

We updated their brand guide with a grid showing all possible color combinations between their brand palette, along with the contrast ratio for each pairing. Designers could instantly see which combinations worked for large text, which worked for small text, and which failed entirely.

This transformed their brand guide from a color reference into an actual accessibility tool. No more failed designs, no more last-minute fixes, no more frustrated designers wondering why their work was being rejected.

Having the Brand Conversation

This is where client relationships get tested. Start by acknowledging the emotional investment in brand colors—don’t dismiss it. Many organizations have deep connections to their palette, whether it’s tied to a founder’s vision, years of market recognition, or cultural significance.

Then educate them on the risks: legal liability, user exclusion, and search ranking penalties. Frame accessibility as brand protection, not brand compromise.

Share that 15% of the global population has disabilities, representing a massive audience segment their current colors may be excluding. Inaccessible colors don’t just create legal risk—they actively prevent potential customers, donors, or constituents from engaging with their organization.

Most importantly, come prepared with solutions. Don’t just tell clients their colors fail—show them the accessible alternatives you’ve already researched. Bring mockups demonstrating how the adjustments look. This transforms a problem conversation into a partnership conversation.

The Brand Guide Update

Once you’ve agreed on accessible color strategies, document everything in an updated brand guide section specifically addressing digital accessibility:

• Approved color combinations with tested contrast ratios
• Typography specifications that enable borderline colors to pass
• Where each brand color can and cannot be used
• Complementary accessible colors for digital applications
• Color combination matrix showing all passing pairings
• Examples showing correct and incorrect implementations

This documentation protects both you and your client. It gives content creators and future developers clear guidance, preventing accessibility issues from creeping back into the site over time. It also eliminates the endless back-and-forth of “can I use this color here?”—the brand guide becomes the single source of truth.

Testing Your Approach

Tools like Insi’s color contrast analysis make testing these strategies straightforward. You can see exact contrast ratios, event for text over images, and verify that your solutions actually pass WCAG standards—not just theoretically, but as they’ll appear to real users with the specific typography and context you’re using.

The goal isn’t perfection in the first iteration. It’s creating a systematic approach that respects brand identity while prioritizing inclusive design.