I think there was a time where people thought #FFFFFF backgrounds and #000000 text was boring. Probably influenced by http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/ htt

I think there was a time where people thought #FFFFFF backgrounds and #000000 text was boring. Probably influenced by http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/ http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/ which was being used as CSS minimalist best practice for some reason. And there were tools like https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/ https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/ where you can check whether your gray on gray meets accessibility guidelines. So designers would hug as close to accessibility guidelines as possible, as a show of skill. Then there were memes like this going around: https://www.boredpanda.com/designer-price-list-client-helps-digital-synopsis https://www.boredpanda.com/designer-price-list-client-helps-... So people decided to trust the designers to do their jobs and nobody brought up the obvious downsides of gray on gray. And if they did, the designer would point out that it meets WCAG AA requirements, which is safe for disabled people. Who is the PM to argue with the expert who knows their data?