Color Contrast (WCAG AA)
WCAG AA color contrast requires text to maintain at least 4.5:1 contrast ratio against its background (3:1 for large text 18pt+ or 14pt+ bold) — a baseline accessibility requirement and a usability best-practice.
In context
Low-contrast text harms accessibility (users with low vision, ageing eyes, or in bright sunlight cannot read it), engagement (everyone scans low-contrast content less carefully), and SEO indirectly (Google's quality systems weight readability). Audit with browser dev tools, axe DevTools, or Lighthouse accessibility audits. The frequent-offender pattern in Canadian designs is grey-on-grey body text and brand-colour CTAs that look on-brand but fail contrast.
A Toronto agency's site failed WCAG AA on hero subhead text (#888 on white = 3.5:1); darkening to #555 (7:1) improved both accessibility scores and time-on-page measurably.
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