Accessible Social Media Graphics: A Practical Checklist

Accessible design means more people can read, understand and use your content. That includes people with low vision, colour blindness, hearing loss, or those simply viewing a screen in bright sunlight. Accessibility is also good marketing: clearer graphics work better for everyone.

Colour and contrast

• Use strong contrast between text and background. Light grey text on white is hard to read.
• Check combinations with a free contrast checker. For normal text, aim for the WCAG recommendation of at least 4.5:1.
• Never use colour alone to convey meaning, such as red for "wrong" and green for "right". Add icons or words.
• Be careful with text over photos. Add a solid or semi-transparent overlay behind text.

Our brand colour palette guide can help you pick colours with accessible pairings.

Text and typography

• Use readable font sizes. If you must squint on your phone, it is too small.
• Choose clear fonts over very decorative ones for body text.
• Avoid long paragraphs inside images. Put detail in the caption.
• Keep line spacing comfortable and avoid text in all capitals for long lines.
• Left-align multi-line text for easier reading.

See typography for brands for font pairing ideas.

Alt text

Most platforms let you add alt text to images. Write a short, specific description of what matters, for example "Bar chart showing website visits rising from January to June". Do not start with "image of". Skip decorative details. If the graphic contains text, repeat the key text.

Video and motion

• Add captions to videos. Many people watch without sound, and captions are essential for deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers.
• Avoid flashing content.
• Give viewers time to read on-screen text.
• Provide a transcript for longer videos.

Captions and hashtags

• Put key information in the caption as well as the image.
• Write multi-word hashtags in CamelCase, such as #DigitalMarketingTips, since screen readers can read them more clearly.
• Use emojis sparingly; screen readers read them aloud.

Quick checklist before posting

1. Can I read it at arm's length on my phone?
2. Does colour contrast pass a checker?
3. Is meaning conveyed without colour alone?
4. Is alt text added?
5. Are videos captioned?
6. Is the essential message in the caption too?

A hypothetical example

A fitness studio posts a pastel pink and white schedule graphic in thin font. After a check, they darken the text, enlarge it, add the class timings in the caption and include alt text. Members now read the schedule at a glance.

For websites, see our accessible web design basics, and for layout, social media post design tips.