# Keep the color. Add the meaning.

An editorial checklist from PlaySolitaire / NM Media, September 2026. Not a conformance certificate.

1. **Name the information.** Is color identifying a category, status, series or rule? Write the meaning in plain words.
2. **Add a visible cue.** Repeat the distinction using labels, symbols, patterns or line styles. Explain unfamiliar symbols.
3. **Keep the cue close.** Connect the status to its object and the series label to its line.
4. **Check more than color.** Check contrast and text equivalents; try controls with a keyboard and test the real task.

## Examples

- Parcel 01: delivered, circle and check mark.
- Parcel 02: delayed, diamond and exclamation mark.
- Parcel 03: action needed, square and exclamation mark.
- Series A: solid line and circles. Series B: dashed line and diamonds. The chart values are invented.
- Conventional suits: spades and clubs are black; hearts and diamonds are red. Symbols distinguish suits that share a color.

## Limits

Replacing all colors with a single ink is an information-removal exercise. It removes lightness differences too. It is not grayscale conversion, a simulation of a vision condition, or a substitute for testing accessibility.

## Primary sources

- [W3C: Understanding 1.4.1 Use of Color](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/use-of-color.html)
- [W3C technique G111: Using color and pattern](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Techniques/general/G111)
- [W3C: Understanding 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/contrast-minimum.html)
- [W3C: Understanding 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/non-text-contrast.html)
- [W3C WAI: Complex Images tutorial](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/complex/)
- [WCAG 2.2: Relative luminance definition](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/#dfn-relative-luminance)