Color and contrast

Color & Contrast

Color Spaces: Use OKLCH

Stop using HSL. Use OKLCH (or LCH) instead. It's perceptually uniform, meaning equal steps in lightness look equal—unlike HSL where 50% lightness in yellow looks bright while 50% in blue looks dark.

/* OKLCH: lightness (0-100%), chroma (0-0.4+), hue (0-360) */
--color-primary: oklch(60% 0.15 250);      /* Blue */
--color-primary-light: oklch(85% 0.08 250); /* Same hue, lighter */
--color-primary-dark: oklch(35% 0.12 250);  /* Same hue, darker */

Key insight: As you move toward white or black, reduce chroma (saturation). High chroma at extreme lightness looks garish. A light blue at 85% lightness needs ~0.08 chroma, not the 0.15 of your base color.

Building Functional Palettes

The Tinted Neutral Trap

Pure gray is dead. Add a subtle hint of your brand hue to all neutrals:

/* Dead grays */
--gray-100: oklch(95% 0 0);     /* No personality */
--gray-900: oklch(15% 0 0);

/* Warm-tinted grays (add brand warmth) */
--gray-100: oklch(95% 0.01 60);  /* Hint of warmth */
--gray-900: oklch(15% 0.01 60);

/* Cool-tinted grays (tech, professional) */
--gray-100: oklch(95% 0.01 250); /* Hint of blue */
--gray-900: oklch(15% 0.01 250);

The chroma is tiny (0.01) but perceptible. It creates subconscious cohesion between your brand color and your UI.

Palette Structure

A complete system needs:

Role	Purpose	Example
Primary	Brand, CTAs, key actions	1 color, 3-5 shades
Neutral	Text, backgrounds, borders	9-11 shade scale
Semantic	Success, error, warning, info	4 colors, 2-3 shades each
Surface	Cards, modals, overlays	2-3 elevation levels

Skip secondary/tertiary unless you need them. Most apps work fine with one accent color. Adding more creates decision fatigue and visual noise.

The 60-30-10 Rule (Applied Correctly)

This rule is about visual weight, not pixel count:

• 60%: Neutral backgrounds, white space, base surfaces
• 30%: Secondary colors—text, borders, inactive states
• 10%: Accent—CTAs, highlights, focus states

The common mistake: using the accent color everywhere because it's "the brand color." Accent colors work because they're rare. Overuse kills their power.

Contrast & Accessibility

WCAG Requirements

Content Type	AA Minimum	AAA Target
Body text	4.5:1	7:1
Large text (18px+ or 14px bold)	3:1	4.5:1
UI components, icons	3:1	4.5:1
Non-essential decorations	None	None

The gotcha: Placeholder text still needs 4.5:1. That light gray placeholder you see everywhere? Usually fails WCAG.

Dangerous Color Combinations

These commonly fail contrast or cause readability issues:

• Light gray text on white (the #1 accessibility fail)
• Gray text on any colored background—gray looks washed out and dead on color. Use a darker shade of the background color, or transparency
• Red text on green background (or vice versa)—8% of men can't distinguish these
• Blue text on red background (vibrates visually)
• Yellow text on white (almost always fails)
• Thin light text on images (unpredictable contrast)

Never Use Pure Gray or Pure Black

Pure gray (oklch(50% 0 0)) and pure black (#000) don't exist in nature—real shadows and surfaces always have a color cast. Even a chroma of 0.005-0.01 is enough to feel natural without being obviously tinted. (See tinted neutrals example above.)

Testing

Don't trust your eyes. Use tools:

• WebAIM Contrast Checker
• Browser DevTools → Rendering → Emulate vision deficiencies
• Polypane for real-time testing

Theming: Light & Dark Mode

Dark Mode Is Not Inverted Light Mode

You can't just swap colors. Dark mode requires different design decisions:

Light Mode	Dark Mode
Shadows for depth	Lighter surfaces for depth (no shadows)
Dark text on light	Light text on dark (reduce font weight)
Vibrant accents	Desaturate accents slightly
White backgrounds	Never pure black—use dark gray (oklch 12-18%)

/* Dark mode depth via surface color, not shadow */
:root[data-theme="dark"] {
  --surface-1: oklch(15% 0.01 250);
  --surface-2: oklch(20% 0.01 250);  /* "Higher" = lighter */
  --surface-3: oklch(25% 0.01 250);

  /* Reduce text weight slightly */
  --body-weight: 350;  /* Instead of 400 */
}

Token Hierarchy

Use two layers: primitive tokens (--blue-500) and semantic tokens (--color-primary: var(--blue-500)). For dark mode, only redefine the semantic layer—primitives stay the same.

Alpha Is A Design Smell

Heavy use of transparency (rgba, hsla) usually means an incomplete palette. Alpha creates unpredictable contrast, performance overhead, and inconsistency. Define explicit overlay colors for each context instead. Exception: focus rings and interactive states where see-through is needed.

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Avoid: Relying on color alone to convey information. Creating palettes without clear roles for each color. Using pure black (#000) for large areas. Skipping color blindness testing (8% of men affected).