Adjacent colours

Colour directly in contact with the colours of the graphic element, such as the background colour or any other colour in direct contact.

Example: in a "no entry" traffic sign, the red of the sign is the colour adjacent to the white line in the centre of the sign.

It is important to understand that criterion 2.3 on the contrast of graphic elements only evaluates non-text elements. When it comes to assessing the contrast of text, even if it is present in a graphic element, criterion 2.2 applies.

Not all colours in a graphic element need to be assessed. Only colours that convey information are concerned.

For example, in a pie chart, the contrast ratio between adjacent colours in each sector and between each colour and the background colour should be assessed if this is the only way to recover the information.

On the other hand, if a legend gives the values and all the useful information for each sector as a text, the criterion is no longer applicable, since the information is available by another means.