Systems and methods for automatically scoring a group of design elements

1. A computer implemented method including:

accessing design data defining one or more design elements of a design;

determining a set of target elements, the set of target elements including one or more of the design elements;

determining a set of fragments, the set of fragments including one or more primary fragments and one or more background fragments, each primary fragment being a fragment that is directly associated with a design element in the set of target elements, each secondary fragment being a fragment that is a background fragment to a primary fragment;

calculating, by a processing unit, a set of fragment contrast scores, the set of fragment contrast scores including a fragment contrast score for each primary fragment in the set of fragments;

calculating an overall score for the set of target elements based on the set of fragment contrast scores;

comparing the overall score to a threshold score to determine whether a warning condition exists; and

in response to determining that a warning condition exists, generating a warning, wherein generating the warning includes visually distinguishing the one or more elements in the set of target elements.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the fragment contrast score for a selected primary fragment includes:

calculating a set of fragment pair contrast scores for the selected primary fragment, the set of fragment pair contrast scores for the selected primary fragment including a fragment pair contrast score in respect of each fragment that is a background fragment to the selected primary fragment; and

calculating the fragment contrast score for a selected primary fragment based on the set of fragment pair contrast scores calculated for the selected primary fragment.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein calculating the fragment contrast score for a selected primary fragment includes combining the set of fragment pair contrast scores for the selected primary fragment in a way that gives additional weight to a worst fragment pair contrast score in the set of fragment pair contrast scores for the selected primary fragment.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein calculating the fragment pair contrast score for a particular pair of fragments that includes a foreground fragment and a background fragment includes calculating the fragment pair contrast score based on a distance between a colour space value of the foreground fragment and a colour space value of the background fragment.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the set of fragment contrast scores includes:

calculating one or more text fragment contrast scores, each text fragment contrast score being a fragment contrast score in respect of a text fragment; and

calculating one or more non-text fragment contrast scores, each non-text fragment contrast score being a fragment contrast score in respect of a non-text fragment, and wherein

calculating the overall contrast score includes applying a heavier weighting to the one or more text fragment contrast scores than to the one or more non-text fragment contrast scores.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5 , wherein calculating a text fragment contrast score for a selected text fragment includes calculating a legibility penalty.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further including:

calculating a combined vector graphic luminance score; and

calculating the overall score for the set of target elements based on the combined vector graphic luminance score.

8. A computer processing system including:

a processing unit;

a display; and

a non-transient computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to perform a method including

accessing design data defining one or more design elements of a design;

determining a set of target elements, the set of target elements including one or more of the design elements;

determining a set of fragments, the set of fragments including one or more primary fragments and one or more background fragments, each primary fragment being a fragment that is directly associated with a design element in the set of target elements, each secondary fragment being a fragment that is a background fragment to a primary fragment;

calculating, by a processing unit, a set of fragment contrast scores, the set of fragment contrast scores including a fragment contrast score for each primary fragment in the set of fragments;

calculating an overall score for the set of target elements based on the set of fragment contrast scores;

comparing the overall score to a threshold score to determine whether a warning condition exists; and

in response to determining that a warning condition exists, generating a warning, wherein generating the warning includes visually distinguishing the one or more elements in the set of target elements.

9. The computer processing system of claim 8 , wherein calculating the fragment contrast score for a selected primary fragment includes:

calculating a set of fragment pair contrast scores for the selected primary fragment, the set of fragment pair contrast scores for the selected primary fragment including a fragment pair contrast score in respect of each fragment that is a background fragment to the selected primary fragment; and

calculating the fragment contrast score for a selected primary fragment based on the set of fragment pair contrast scores calculated for the selected primary fragment.

10. The computer processing system of claim 9 , wherein calculating the fragment pair contrast score for a particular pair of fragments that includes a foreground fragment and a background fragment includes calculating the fragment pair contrast score based on a distance between a colour space value of the foreground fragment and a colour space value of the background fragment.

11. The computer processing system of claim 8 , wherein calculating the set of fragment contrast scores includes:

calculating one or more text fragment contrast scores, each text fragment contrast score being a fragment contrast score in respect of a text fragment; and

calculating one or more non-text fragment contrast scores, each non-text fragment contrast score being a fragment contrast score in respect of a non-text fragment, and wherein

calculating the overall contrast score includes applying a heavier weighting to the one or more text fragment contrast scores than to the one or more non-text fragment contrast scores.

12. The computer processing system of claim 11 , wherein calculating a text fragment contrast score for a selected text fragment includes calculating a legibility penalty.

13. The computer processing system of claim 8 , further including:

calculating a combined vector graphic luminance score; and

calculating the overall score for the set of target elements based on the combined vector graphic luminance score.

14. A non-transient storage medium storing instructions executable by processing unit to cause the processing unit to perform a method including

accessing design data defining one or more design elements of a design;

determining a set of target elements, the set of target elements including one or more of the design elements;

determining a set of fragments, the set of fragments including one or more primary fragments and one or more background fragments, each primary fragment being a fragment that is directly associated with a design element in the set of target elements, each secondary fragment being a fragment that is a background fragment to a primary fragment;

calculating, by a processing unit, a set of fragment contrast scores, the set of fragment contrast scores including a fragment contrast score for each primary fragment in the set of fragments;

calculating an overall score for the set of target elements based on the set of fragment contrast scores;

comparing the overall score to a threshold score to determine whether a warning condition exists; and

in response to determining that a warning condition exists, generating a warning, wherein generating the warning includes visually distinguishing the one or more elements in the set of target elements.