icograma.com

What It Is

Icograma currently focuses on IPAX: an experimental scoring model for color systems and accessibility. Rather than treating color as a single “text/background” pair, it aims to support systematic color decisions across brand guidelines, Design Systems, interfaces, charts, themes, typography, and multi-device scenarios.

Core Capabilities and Design Approach

At the core of IPAX is a five-point rating system that translates WCAG, APCA, ergonomics research, and design principles into a more intuitive measure of design quality. Scores from X to 3 lean more toward compliance assessment, while 4 to 5 emphasize long-term reading stability and professional design quality. Compared with traditional contrast tools, IPAX additionally considers factors such as halation, glare, and chromatic fatigue, which helps explain cases where a design has “high contrast but feels uncomfortable.” Its structural approach uses Ink and Paper to define system boundaries, with Accents operating within that range and Extended Ink/Paper used for controlled expansion. This helps avoid the combinatorial explosion of checking every possible color pair in complex design systems.

Pricing, Licensing, and Compatibility

The captured content does not disclose pricing, paid plans, licensing terms, copyright terms, or payment methods. Available tools include IPAX Sandbox, Font Sizer, and Design Lab. The Sandbox is marked as experimental and desktop version only, and includes Color Audit and Color Contrast Matrix. No information was found about export formats, APIs, Figma/Sketch integration, team collaboration, or version management.

Pros and Cons

The strengths are its clear methodology and its ability to shift accessibility from end-stage auditing into the design process. It also emphasizes comfort, fatigue, and contextual differences beyond basic compliance, making it a useful reference for teams working on complex design systems. The drawbacks are also evident: the article explicitly describes it as a work in progress, and as of the time referenced, its penalty coefficients were still being experimentally fine-tuned. “Color System” is also noted as not being a widely established term at present, so enterprise adoption would require additional training and validation.

Who It’s For and Access from China

IPAX is better suited to UX designers, accessibility specialists, design system leads, and information design researchers for evaluating color systems, planning light/dark modes, and discussing readability. The source content does not provide information about access from China, so network availability and payment usability cannot be determined. If it is unavailable, alternatives include WCAG/APCA calculators, Stark, Able, Contrast, or Figma accessibility plugins.