‘Reasonable Colors’: Free, Open-Source Palettes To Make Your Designs Accessible

Image via Reasonable Colors

Despite having good intentions, designers and brands may still encounter blind spots when adapting their products and services to be more inclusive. Not accounting for the one in 12 men and one in 200 women around the world who deal with color vision deficiency could be one of them.

Fret not, because help is here. Matthew Howell of public-spirited design practice Reasonable Company has created ‘Reasonable Colors’, a suite of open-source colors aimed to help you mix and match accessible, high-contrast hues that are tasteful yet discernible by all eyes.

The system is open-source, licensed under the MIT license, allowing anyone to use the palettes in any of their projects. Making the guide accessible to all will inspire designers to build an accessible future.

The palettes have a uniform contrast and are designed to help creators meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, according to Howell. Recommended shades are drawn from the Lightness-Chroma-Hue (LCH) color space, said to be the most consistent and accessible model for UI.

Check it out here. The service will remain free for life, but those who wish to support its upkeep can also purchase Reasonable Colors art prints for US$36 a pop.

Image via Reasonable Colors

[via Reasonable Colors]