Can a 1933 color bible pass 2026 accessibility rules? We tested all 348 of Sanzo Wada's combinations against WCAG
A Figures Bureau study · Last verified 2026-07-16 · every number recomputed at build time
Sanzo Wada assembled his six-volume A Dictionary of Color Combinations in 1933 — sixty-six years before the first Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. We joined the two: every one of the 348 historical plates, scored with the exact WCAG 2.x relative-luminance formula used by accessibility auditors today. The result is a map of where 1930s aesthetic taste and modern legibility agree — and where they collide.
Where 348 plates land on the WCAG ladder
| Best text pairing in the plate | Plates | Share |
|---|---|---|
| AAA — a pairing ≥ 7:1 (enhanced contrast) | 60 | 17% |
| AA — best pairing 4.5:1–7:1 (normal text) | 75 | 22% |
| AA-large only — best pairing 3:1–4.5:1 | 67 | 19% |
| Fails all text levels — best pairing < 3:1 | 146 | 42% |
More colors, more chances: AA pass rate by combination size
- 2-color plates: 28 of 120 pass AA (23%)
- 3-color plates: 48 of 120 pass AA (40%)
- 4-color plates: 59 of 108 pass AA (55%)
The most legible plates of 1933
| Combination | Best pairing | Contrast |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow & Black | Yellow on Black | 15.93:1 |
| Carmine & Yellow +2 | Yellow on Black | 15.93:1 |
| Sulpher Yellow & Black | Sulpher Yellow on Black | 15.67:1 |
| Raw Sienna & Lemon Yellow +2 | Lemon Yellow on Black | 15.25:1 |
| Cream Yellow & Yellow +2 | Yellow on Dull Violet Black | 15.09:1 |
…and the plates that defeat any text
| Light Porcelain Green & Olympic Blue | Light Porcelain Green on Olympic Blue | 1.01:1 |
| Grenadine Pink & Sea Green | Grenadine Pink on Sea Green | 1.02:1 |
| English Red & Cerulian Blue | English Red on Cerulian Blue | 1.03:1 |
| Eosine Pink & Citrine | Eosine Pink on Citrine | 1.05:1 |
| Madder Brown & Violet Blue | Madder Brown on Violet Blue | 1.06:1 |
Test any pairing yourself with our free contrast checker, or read the companion study: what the same 348 plates reveal about 1930s design taste.
Download the data
The full computed analysis (per-level pass rates, size split, pairwise rates, extremes) as a single CSV. Free, CORS-enabled, CC-BY-4.0 — reuse with a link.
- sanzo-wada-wcag-contrast.csv — this study's computed tables
- palettes.csv — all 348 plates (hex, names, hue, moods)
- Full data + API hub →
Cite this study
<a href="https://colorcombinations.org/data/sanzo-wada-wcag-contrast/">Data Study: Sanzo Wada's 1933 Color Combinations vs Modern WCAG Contrast</a>. The Dictionary of Color Combinations, colorcombinations.org. [Data Study: Sanzo Wada's 1933 Color Combinations vs Modern WCAG Contrast](https://colorcombinations.org/data/sanzo-wada-wcag-contrast/). The Dictionary of Color Combinations, colorcombinations.org. [url]https://colorcombinations.org/data/sanzo-wada-wcag-contrast/[/url] — Data Study: Sanzo Wada's 1933 Color Combinations vs Modern WCAG Contrast, colorcombinations.org Methodology
For each of the 348 combinations in the community reconstruction of Sanzo Wada's 1933 A Dictionary of Color Combinations (mattdesl/dictionary-of-colour-combinations, MIT-licensed), we computed the WCAG 2.x contrast ratio of every pair of colors inside the plate using the W3C relative-luminance formula, then scored the plate by its best pairing — the most generous reading, since a designer would set text in the plate's highest-contrast pair. Thresholds are the standard's own: 4.5:1 (AA, normal text), 3:1 (AA, large text), 7:1 (AAA). One honest caveat, stated plainly: Wada composed decorative harmonies, not text systems — WCAG is a modern lens on a historical document, not a criticism of it. All figures recompute from source data on every build.
Data + analysis: colorcombinations.org, CC-BY-4.0. A Figures Bureau study. Explore the plates: collections · palettes · contrast checker.