Text Accessibility Guidelines
To ensure your text meets CU Anschutz accessibility and brand standards, follow these guidelines for text formatting, visual style, and structure.
Font
Use clear, legible fonts with a minimum size of 14pt and recommended line spacing of 1.5 for readability.
- Official Typeface: Neue Helvetica
- Alternatives: Roboto, Source Sans Pro
Resource: Brand Standards: Colors & Fonts
Minimum Font Sizes
| Content Type | Minimum Font Size |
| Documents, eComms, PDFs, Print | 14pt |
| University Websites (Sitefinity) | 16px |
| Presentations (e.g., PowerPoint) | 18pt (body), 24pt (titles) |
| Regular Emails | 11-12pt |
Visual Style
Visual style includes italics, bolding, and underlines. Using visual style can enhance readability for sighted users, but never rely on visual style alone to convey meaning.
- Do: Pair visual styling with descriptive text. For example:
- Important Reminder: Register by the end of today
- Don't: Use underlines for emphasis. Underlines should be reserved for hyperlinked text to avoid confusion.
Resource: Visual Style (CU Boulder)
Color Contrast
Ensure a strong color contrast between text and background that meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards​.
- Do: Use the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker
- Don't: Use CU gold text on white (and vice versa) as this combination does not meet accessibility standards
Resource: Brand Standards: Colors & Fonts
Links
Use descriptive link text that clearly indicates the destination or purpose of the link.
- Do: CU Anschutz Homepage
- Don't: Click Here
- Don't: https://www.cuanschutz.edu/
Always underline links for visibility. Using a different color is optional for link text, but can be helpful.
Resource: Link Text (CU Boulder)
Headings
Use proper heading structure (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to organize content​ logically and support screen reader navigation.
Learn More: Headings (CU Boulder)