Accessible Design & Making Your Brand Work for Everyone

We believe every brand should be seen – and understood – by everyone. That’s why accessibility is central to everything we create. From websites to printed materials, we design with the needs of all users in mind, including whether they have low vision, color blindness, or other challenges that affect how they experience your brand. Accessibility is a reflection of your brand’s commitment to inclusivity and connection.

Over the past 30 years, we’ve helped brands from local Montana businesses to national nonprofits bring their ideas to life in ways that resonate. Your choice of color palette communicates who you are, what you value, and establishes credibility, but it also determines whether your audience can actually engage with you. A beautiful design that can’t be read or navigated is a missed opportunity.

Contrast is King

Think of contrast like volume. If your text and background colors are too similar, your message comes across as a whisper. If they’re too far apart, it might feel like you’re shouting. The sweet spot is high enough contrast that content is easy to read, but balanced enough that it still feels on-brand.

Web standards, like the WCAG guidelines, recommend specific contrast ratios to make sure type is legible for people with low vision, color blindness, or even just those reading on a sunny patio with screen glare.

Clearer text equals longer engagement, lower bounce rates, and a better brand impression.

Not to mention that roughly 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women worldwide are color blind. If your brand colors aren’t distinguishable to these users, key calls-to-action or important information could be invisible – an experience that undermines trust and opportunity. Designing inclusively ensures your brand can reach more people, in more contexts, without compromising creativity.

Consistency Across Touchpoints

Many brands excel online but forget about print or physical spaces. That lime-green sign might look perfect in a digital mockup, but at 35 mph on the road, it’s unreadable. By applying accessibility principles across every touchpoint – web, print, and environmental graphics – you create a seamless, legible experience that reinforces your brand and connects with your audience wherever they encounter it.

Where Color and Contrast Come to Life

At Gecko, we don’t just talk about accessibility and color contrast — we design with it from the start. Every project teaches us something new about how color can work harder for our clients (and their audiences).

For example:

• Missoula Public Health (new brand) – We used a vibrant, energetic palette to reflect MPH’s mission and community wellness. However, when it came to text applications on the web and in print, some of these vibrant colors didn’t meet accessibility standards for legibility. To solve this, we developed a secondary palette specifically for text, ensuring every headline, button, and paragraph could be read clearly without altering the logo or core brand colors. This approach allowed the brand to stay vibrant and recognizable while keeping all content accessible and user-friendly.
• The Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (existing brand) – came to us with an established seal, but the text on the seal was so small that it wasn’t legible across digital or print applications. To solve this, we created a logo lockup whereby the crest/seal became the primary visual mark, complemented by a larger wordmark placed next to it. This maintained the integrity of their original logo while ensuring the tribal name was completely legible and accessible. 
• Kidney Cancer Association (website only) – In a space filled with heavy topics and dense data, color was key to guiding users through complex content. We used contrast not just for accessibility, but as a visual roadmap — brighter accents highlighted calls to action, while muted backgrounds helped the eye rest between information-heavy sections. The result? A site that feels hopeful, not overwhelming.

Each of these projects underscores the same truth: great color choices aren’t just about looking sharp. They’re about communication that works — across devices, lighting conditions, and audiences.

The Bottom Line

Your color palette is one of your most powerful brand tools—but only if people can actually see it and interact with it. At Gecko, we help brands harness color strategically and inclusively, creating experiences that work as hard as you do. Because good design isn’t just about looking good—it’s about making meaningful connections, building trust, and ensuring your message lands every time.