It is important, while designing something and adding text to it, that we keep in mind to make it accessible and easier to read, while also keeping the reader’s attention. In order to do so, we need to use colors that contrast well against each other, and we need to use fonts that make it easier for people to read.
Contrasting colors are colors that are easy to see and discern when put against each other, or even when they blend into a gradient. Typically, the contrast of two colors depend heavily on how opposing their values are, as well as the saturation of color. A general example of this would be black text against a white background (just like this text right now) – their values are polar opposites, and their saturation level works extremely well for differentiating text and background. Now, if the color of this text block would be white on yellow, then it would be a poor choice of color, as their values are very similar to each other, and it can be hard to read the text since there is no way to differentiate the text and background from one another.
Finding a text font that is easy to read is a vital thing to note when you’re adding text to a graphic, as people with dyslexia can find it difficult to read – sometimes people who don’t have dyslexia can find it hard to read! Sans serif fonts are fonts that are designed specifically with the intention of making easily readable text. For example: Arial is a sans serif font, compared to Times New Roman, which is a serif font with extra wind-dings at the edge of each lettering to give it a more fanciful look. Comic sans, for example, is a wonderful font to use (as often as many people slander it), as it is known to be a font that people find to be easier to read. It also helps if the font is in a bigger size, so that no one is straining their eyes to try and read the text even when they’re close to it (if billboards were to use small fonts for their signs, then no one would be able to understand what it was they were trying to advertise).
Overall, these specific design choices are important to factor in when creating something that can be easily accessible to everyone, not just people who struggle to read something less contrasting in colors, or who can’t read in serif fonts. If we make everything we create accessible, then it is something that anyone can use and consume with little issue.
