Your product label may look clear on screen, in the artwork proof and on the packaging. But if the lettering does not achieve the required luminance contrast against its background, good graphic design alone may not be enough.
For manufacturers of agricultural and veterinary chemical products, label design is more than branding, packaging and fitting mandatory information into a limited space.
The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) establishes requirements for how information is presented on labels. One requirement that can easily disappear into the graphic design process is luminance contrast.
Under Section 3.5, Colour, of the APVMA’s label presentation and layout requirements:
There must be a luminance contrast of at least 30% between letters and background.
For manufacturers, that small sentence deserves attention.
Does your artwork actually achieve 30%?
A designer may specify white lettering on blue, black lettering on yellow or another combination that appears to have strong contrast.
That does not necessarily establish that the required luminance contrast has been achieved.
Colour and luminance are different characteristics. Two colours can be obviously different in hue while having a much smaller difference in luminance reflectance than their appearance initially suggests.
The APVMA does not simply require the colours to be different. It requires the printed letters to contrast distinctly against the background and sets a minimum luminance contrast of 30%.
That makes the requirement measurable.
For a manufacturer approving artwork for production, the relevant question therefore becomes more specific than:
Can I read this?
It should also include:
Does this lettering and background combination achieve the required luminance contrast?
The requirement can affect more than your main product name
Modern labels can contain numerous visual treatments.
The front of the container may have a strong, high-contrast product name, while other information appears in smaller panels, coloured boxes, tables, warning areas, or over graphic elements.
Contrast therefore needs to be considered across the label rather than judged from its most visually prominent section.
The APVMA states that light-coloured text should be used on dark backgrounds and dark text on light backgrounds. It also recommends well-contrasted colours with widely differing hues and an appreciable difference in value.
Avoid strongly saturated colour pairs for text and background.
This has practical implications when developing brand palettes and label templates. A corporate colour combination that works well for advertising or general packaging may not necessarily be suitable for every area containing regulated label information.
Be careful with photographs and multi-coloured backgrounds
There is another common design treatment that manufacturers should consider carefully.
Text over photography can look excellent in a packaging mock-up.
It can also create inconsistent contrast.
Consider white lettering positioned over an image of an animal, crop or landscape. One part of the lettering might sit over a dark section of the photograph and be clearly visible. Another part of the same sentence might cross a much lighter area.
The text colour has not changed, but its relationship with the background has.
The APVMA specifically addresses this problem. Text printed directly over pictorial or multi-coloured backgrounds may be difficult to read and should be avoided.
When necessary, place a plain background, preferably white, beneath the lettering to improve legibility.
For manufacturers, this is worth considering early in the artwork process. Adding a plain field behind text at the design stage is straightforward. Reworking approved packaging artwork later is considerably less convenient.
Don’t rely on the computer screen
A PDF proof can be deceptive.
Screen brightness, monitor calibration, viewing conditions and software settings can all influence the apparent difference between colours.
The same applies to a printed office proof. The printer, ink, paper and print settings may not reproduce the finished packaging accurately.
If a regulatory requirement specifies a measurable 30% luminance contrast, simply looking at the artwork and deciding that the colours appear different is not the same as verifying the requirement.
This is particularly relevant when artwork moves between the manufacturer, graphic designer, regulatory consultant, printer and packaging supplier.
Somewhere in that chain, responsibility for contrast should be clear.
Product substitutions can change the result
Manufacturers should also consider what happens when the approved design reaches production.
A change in substrate, ink, printing process, coating, or background colour may alter the finished label’s appearance.
Even relatively small production changes can matter where compliance depends on the relationship between two finished colours.
This is similar to a problem regularly encountered in building design. A drawing can specify two contrasting colours, but a later product substitution can change their actual luminance relationship.
The design intent remains. The finished result has changed.
Manufacturers should therefore consider whether the final production method maintains the required contrast, rather than treating the digital artwork as the end of the assessment.
Colour blindness also matters
The APVMA guidance specifically considers colour blindness when discussing label presentation.
It identifies combinations involving green, yellow, orange and red as potentially problematic and advises against red lettering on a green background or green lettering on a red background.
It also advises against placing colours such as red, green, brown, grey, and purple immediately adjacent to, or on top of, one another.
This is another reason not to treat colour difference as a substitute for luminance contrast.
A colour combination that appears distinctive to the designer may provide considerably less useful differentiation to someone with a colour vision deficiency.
Build luminance contrast into the label approval process
The simplest approach is to consider luminance contrast before artwork reaches final approval. Manufacturers could include it in the label-design and artwork-review process alongside other APVMA presentation requirements. Questions worth asking include:
- Does lettering achieve at least 30% luminance contrast against its actual background?
- Is important text positioned over photographs, patterns or changing colours?
- Are any strongly saturated colour combinations being used for text and background?
- Could colour-blind users have difficulty distinguishing the selected colours?
- Have changes to inks, substrates, coatings or printing processes altered the intended result?
- Is the assessment based only on how the artwork looks on a computer screen?
These are much easier questions to address before thousands of labels or containers have been produced.
A good-looking label still needs to perform
Manufacturers understandably invest heavily in branding and packaging. A label needs to identify the product, align with the company’s visual identity, and present a considerable amount of information in a restricted area.
The APVMA requirements add another consideration: the information must remain legible.
The 30% luminance contrast requirement provides a measurable benchmark between lettering and its background. Therefore, treat it as a technical component of label design rather than something left entirely to visual judgement.
Before approving the next label for production, review the colour combinations again.
They may look different. But have you confirmed the luminance contrast?
Please contact LumiLab to discuss your accessibility needs. Visit our website to learn more or call us on 1300 142 841.
Disclaimer: This publication provides general information only and does not constitute legal, certification or project-specific advice. Requirements may vary between projects and change over time. Always verify the current NCC, legislation and applicable Australian Standards, and obtain project-specific advice where required.
LumiLab guides, webpages, and articles discussing luminance contrast, accessibility, or optometry and ophthalmology are intended only for educational and informational purposes and do not constitute medical or professional advice. The information presented, including but not limited to text, graphics, images, and other material, is for informational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, medical diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician, optician, or other health care professional if you have questions about your eye health or vision.
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Reference: Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), Label presentation and layout, Section 3.5 – Colour, Australian Labelling Code.