Colours and Fonts
Colours and typefaces are the two things most organisations want to change first.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Styling:
- Fonts — the available typefaces
Architect Panel → Configuration:
- Site Settings — appearance settings
Fonts: legibility first
A brand typeface chosen for headlines is often poor at fourteen pixels in a dense table. Test your font where it will actually be read — a form, a list of two hundred rows — not on a heading.
If it fails there, use it for headings and something plainer for body text. That is a normal and defensible arrangement.
Numbers need care
An application shows a lot of numbers in columns. A typeface whose digits vary in width makes columns ragged and harder to compare; one where the figure one and the letter l are indistinguishable causes real errors in references.
Check digits specifically — it is not something you notice in prose.
Do not shrink text to fit more in
Tempting on dense screens and it excludes people. If a screen needs smaller text to work, the screen has too much on it.
Colours: start with the smallest change
Header, primary buttons, links. That is usually enough to make the platform feel like yours, and it leaves the rest of the interface doing its job.
Check every state
A colour set for a button also affects it when hovered, focused and disabled. The states people forget are focus — which matters enormously for keyboard users — and disabled, which is frequently left at a contrast nobody can read.
The focus indicator must be visible
It is how somebody navigating by keyboard knows where they are. Styling that removes or weakens it makes the application unusable without a mouse, and it is one of the most common accessibility failures introduced by branding.
Do not rely on colour for meaning
The rule that recurs throughout the platform. Whatever palette you apply, anything conveying state needs a label or an icon alongside it.
Test with real content and real users
An empty form looks fine in any colour scheme. A form with validation errors, a long list, a table of numbers and a disabled button is where problems appear — and somebody other than you should look at it.
Roll out visibly
Tell people before you change how the system looks. A restyle arriving unannounced generates support calls from people who think something has broken.
Worked example
An organisation applies its typeface to headings only, keeping a plainer face for body text after the brand font proved hard to read in dense tables. Header and primary buttons take the brand colour; focus outlines are left prominent. The change was announced a week ahead and generated no support calls.
Recommendations
- Test the font in a dense table, not on a heading.
- Check digits for width and ambiguity.
- Never weaken the focus indicator.
- Announce a restyle before it lands.