Before you approve a handout, check whether its meaning survives without colour. Print a grayscale copy at the intended size, then try the tasks a reader needs to complete. Can they identify their group, follow the instructions and understand the chart? If a colour is the only clue, add a clear label, number, pattern or other useful distinction.
Then make a second check for readability. Correct labels do not help if they are too faint or small on the page.
These checks are useful when people may print a PDF themselves, photocopy a sheet or receive a monochrome version. They also help you spot information that relies too heavily on colour in the original design.
Start with the reader's task
Write down what the handout needs to help someone do. A workshop sheet might tell people which room to visit. A business guide might compare two options. An event timetable might help visitors choose the next session.
Use those tasks to assess the design. “Does it look nice?” is too broad to reveal a missing instruction. “Can someone find the beginner session and its room?” gives you something concrete to check.
List any information currently carried by colour. Look for coloured headings, highlighted boxes, chart lines, shaded table rows and instructions such as “complete the green section”. Ask what happens if the reader cannot distinguish those colours.
W3C's web accessibility guidance recommends that colour should not be the only visual way to convey information. Text or another visible cue can carry the meaning too. That is a useful design principle for a handout, although WCAG is web guidance, not a universal print specification. W3C: use of colour.
Make a useful test copy
Keep the original file unchanged. Use the final PDF or the version intended for distribution, rather than a screenshot of the design.
Print a copy in grayscale, meaning shades of grey. Adobe Acrobat Reader offers a “Print in grayscale” option. Check page size and scaling as well, so the test does not quietly enlarge the text or shrink the whole page. Adobe: printing PDFs.
Grayscale and a strict black-or-white output are different treatments. If the intended device has a particular monochrome setting, check that setting too. Ask the person responsible for the final print what the proposed test represents.
For a sheet likely to be photocopied, try a copy through the intended copying route when practical. Record the file, size and settings used. If you have not made a physical test, describe a screen preview as a preview rather than calling the printed result checked.
An office test is useful evidence about that copy. It does not guarantee the result on every printer, paper or copier. The Centre for Excellence in Universal Design notes that papers react differently to ink. Discuss the actual production specification with the print provider when the finished result matters. CEUD: printing.
First pass: check whether the meaning survives
Put the colour version aside. Read only the monochrome copy and attempt the tasks you listed.
For each instruction, ask whether it identifies the right place without a colour name. “Use the blue box” needs another clue. “Complete Section B: your contact details” gives the reader something they can recognise in either version.
For a timetable, check that session names, rooms and group labels remain connected. A reader should not have to infer that two similar grey backgrounds represent different categories.
For a chart, check whether each series can be identified and followed. Direct labels can reduce repeated trips between a line and a legend. Different line styles or markers may help, but they must remain visible at the printed size. A complicated pattern is not useful if it makes the chart harder to read.
If the chart's important point is essential, state it clearly in the text too. A short explanation or a simple table may communicate it better than a dense graphic. The Department for Transport's document guidance recommends patterns and textures for charts and suggests checking them in grayscale. DfT: creating an accessible document.
You are checking information, not trying to make every design element different. A decorative colour can disappear without damaging the reader's task. A colour that identifies the correct room cannot.
A fictional workshop schedule shows the problem
Imagine a fictional workshop organiser preparing a one-page timetable. Beginner sessions have pale green backgrounds; experienced sessions have pale orange backgrounds. The instruction at the top says, “Choose the sessions in your colour.”
The colour version may seem obvious to its designer. On a grayscale copy, the backgrounds could look similar. The timetable also fails to tell a new reader which colour belongs to which group.
A stronger version names the groups. Each relevant session carries “Beginner” or “Experienced”, and the instruction says, “Choose sessions labelled for your group.” The colour can remain as an extra aid.
Now ask a precise question of the revised copy: can someone find a beginner session, its starting time and its room without referring to the colour original?
If the answer is still unclear, adding another shade of grey will not necessarily solve it. The session label may need to sit nearer the time or room. The problem is the relationship between the details, not simply the palette.
This is an invented example, not a report of a Time for Designs customer job or a test we have carried out.
Second pass: check whether the details can be read
Once the meaning is clear, inspect the physical copy at the distance someone will normally hold it. Do not judge small text only by zooming in on a screen.
Look for pale text, thin lines, small chart labels and words placed over pictures. Check whether a shaded box still separates a section clearly and whether its text remains distinct from the background.
Read headings, small notes and the next-step information. A prominent title may survive while a faint deadline or contact detail becomes difficult to see. Those small details can matter more to the reader than the decorative parts of the page.
If a detail is unclear, try a targeted change: darker text, more space, a simpler background, a clearer label or a larger useful chart area. Do not automatically make the whole document heavier or add boxes around everything.
For more on the reading order, the guide to poster design and typography explains how size, space and headings give a reader a way in. The same question matters here: what should the reader notice first?
Avoid treating a screen contrast score as proof that a printed sheet will be readable. The actual print, paper, size and reading conditions need their own assessment. These practical checks also do not establish that every reader's access needs have been met.
Choose one robust layout or a separate version
Often the simplest choice is one design that works in colour and monochrome. Keep useful colour, but make labels and structure carry the essential meaning. This reduces the number of versions to maintain.
A separate monochrome edition may be worth considering when photographs, charts or heavy backgrounds need substantial changes. Give it a clear filename and check that its words, figures and dates match the current colour edition.
Do not let a separate version become an older version by accident. A revised timetable in the colour file needs the same update in the monochrome file. Keep the two editions together and identify which files are approved for distribution.
Sometimes colour carries information that should not be reduced casually, such as a sheet teaching readers to recognise particular colours. In that case, define the intended use and discuss another way to explain the information. Do not label a stripped-down copy equivalent when it has lost the central purpose.
Ask someone to use it, then check the revision
Where possible, ask someone unfamiliar with the layout to attempt a few specific tasks from the monochrome copy. Avoid explaining the colour key while they work; that would supply the information the sheet should contain.
Note where they hesitate and what they misunderstand. A single successful check is evidence about that reader and copy, not a guarantee for everyone. If other formats or support are needed, a black-and-white version may be only part of the answer.
After changes, repeat the relevant checks on the revised final file. Confirm that you have not solved one problem by creating another, such as enlarging a chart until a footnote moves off the page.
Then use the print artwork checklist for the wider review before production. This guide's meaning-and-readability test complements those checks; it does not replace them.
What to bring when discussing the print
- The final file and its intended page size.
- How the sheet will be used, printed or copied.
- Any colours that carry essential information.
- The test copy and the problems you noticed, if available.
- The required quantity and date.
- Whether one layout or separate editions need to be prepared.
Our business printing page is a starting point for discussing the actual job. The paper, output and any proofing needed should be agreed for that use.
The useful test is whether someone can still make the right decision after the colour disappears. Check that meaning first, then make sure the details remain clear enough to read.