Does WCAG Contrast Apply to Logos and Decorative Text?
No. WCAG 1.4.3 exempts text that is part of a logo or brand name, and it exempts incidental text: decoration, text inside a picture that carries other visual content, invisible text, and text in an inactive control. Body copy, labels, buttons, and links still need 4.5:1, or 3:1 at large sizes.
The exemption is narrow. It covers the logo itself and text that no one needs to read. It does not cover a low-contrast tagline under the logo or a pale button label that a user must click.
The two exceptions in Success Criterion 1.4.3
WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 list two exceptions to the minimum contrast rule:
- Incidental. The text is pure decoration, it is not visible to anyone, it is part of a picture that contains significant other visual content, or it belongs to an inactive user-interface component.
- Logotypes. Text that is part of a logo or brand name has no minimum contrast requirement.
What stays covered
- The site name written as text in the header, when it is not the logo image itself.
- A tagline, slogan, or product name next to the logo.
- Button labels, form labels, placeholders, menu items, and link text.
- Text baked into a hero image when that text carries the message and the image is not decorative.
A grey-on-grey "Sign up" button is not exempt because the label is inside a component. Only the disabled state is exempt, and only while the control is actually inactive.
Why the logo rule exists
A brand mark is fixed artwork. Changing its colors to reach 4.5:1 would break brand guidelines and trademark consistency. WCAG accepts that trade-off for the mark itself, and only for the mark.
How to test the rest of the page
- List every text and background pair a user must read.
- Remove the pairs that are true logotypes or pure decoration.
- Check the rest at 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for text 24px or larger, or 18.66px and bold.
- Check borders, icons, and focus rings at 3:1 under Success Criterion 1.4.11.
Check a pair now
The color contrast checker reports the ratio for one foreground and one background. The contrast matrix checker scores every pair in a palette, and the WCAG contrast ratio explainer gives the formula and thresholds.