As discussed before colours in web design have strong impact on user's trust, satisfaction and resulting e-loyalty. This could be generalized for any kind of coloured graphical user interface - how pleasing it is to learn and use one and which effect it gives to the mind through eyes and perception. Certain combinations may result in illusions that when created on purpose can make great art but in the wrong place at the wrong time can decrease user's trust and lower the user experience level.
The authors of 'Techniques and Tools for Using Colour in Computer Interface Design' (Wright, Mosser-Wooley, Wooley. 1997) make distinction between two important parts for achieving successful colour interfaces - Human Visual System and Colour Display System - and give theoretical overview. This short paper includes several guidelines for selecting suitable background, foreground and text colours. Being more than 10 years old the ideas about colour combinations for successful web and interface design may not be fresh enough for applying in todays' projects, but the theory behind it is still valid. Not to mention the facts about anatomy of human visual system that origin from diversity of used literature dating back even as far as 20 or more years.
Very important aspect the authors (Wright et al. 1997) mention is certain colour combinations and organizations that create illusions as a result of the eyes' anatomy. While blue suits very well on the background, it is complicated to focus on the foreground as text or other small graphics. The sharp edges are lost when having side by side the colours differing only in the amount of blue and having the same level of green and red. Uneffectively chosen colours can cause eye fatigue, strain and stress.
Designers should help users develop mental models in order to better learn, understand and manipulate the system by taking use of colour effects on the mind. Wright et al (1997) suggest colour choice guidlines as follows: simplicity, consistency, clarity, and language of color. By simplicity they mean the number of different colours on the site to be used (human short term memory 7+/-2). Consistency counts for assigning meanings to colours, for different concepts different colours should be used. Clarity makes it easier and faster to interpret the meaning of elements, for example green for 'go' and red for 'warning' not vice versa. And last the intriguing language of colour - which mental models do people have in that certain cultural space and how does our brain translate the information coming through our eyes?
One aspect of colour appeal is the learnability and usability of the application, but much intriguing one to match the aimed audience, their already developed mental models and the right colour combinations and organization in order to influence them in desired way. Another theoretical base giving directions for further research in design of human-computer interaction field.
Reference:
Wright, Mosser-Wooley, Wooley. 1997
http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds3-3/color.html#4
The authors of 'Techniques and Tools for Using Colour in Computer Interface Design' (Wright, Mosser-Wooley, Wooley. 1997) make distinction between two important parts for achieving successful colour interfaces - Human Visual System and Colour Display System - and give theoretical overview. This short paper includes several guidelines for selecting suitable background, foreground and text colours. Being more than 10 years old the ideas about colour combinations for successful web and interface design may not be fresh enough for applying in todays' projects, but the theory behind it is still valid. Not to mention the facts about anatomy of human visual system that origin from diversity of used literature dating back even as far as 20 or more years.
Very important aspect the authors (Wright et al. 1997) mention is certain colour combinations and organizations that create illusions as a result of the eyes' anatomy. While blue suits very well on the background, it is complicated to focus on the foreground as text or other small graphics. The sharp edges are lost when having side by side the colours differing only in the amount of blue and having the same level of green and red. Uneffectively chosen colours can cause eye fatigue, strain and stress.
Designers should help users develop mental models in order to better learn, understand and manipulate the system by taking use of colour effects on the mind. Wright et al (1997) suggest colour choice guidlines as follows: simplicity, consistency, clarity, and language of color. By simplicity they mean the number of different colours on the site to be used (human short term memory 7+/-2). Consistency counts for assigning meanings to colours, for different concepts different colours should be used. Clarity makes it easier and faster to interpret the meaning of elements, for example green for 'go' and red for 'warning' not vice versa. And last the intriguing language of colour - which mental models do people have in that certain cultural space and how does our brain translate the information coming through our eyes?
One aspect of colour appeal is the learnability and usability of the application, but much intriguing one to match the aimed audience, their already developed mental models and the right colour combinations and organization in order to influence them in desired way. Another theoretical base giving directions for further research in design of human-computer interaction field.
Reference:
Wright, Mosser-Wooley, Wooley. 1997
http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds3-3/color.html#4
This conclusion reminded me of the white-on-black blogs, which are really stressful to read. It is true that too many effects and too many colours can cause stress and make users leave the page while the others leave us wandering for longer periods of time. I think that today's pop culture is oriented to bright and basic colours.
ReplyDeleteNow going on with social networking sites - when you look at Facebook, for example, it is plain blue and white with a hint of other colours in the icons. But it is popular - it is not the colours that appeal, but the content. On the other hand, it is simple and does not stress the eye. And people like to go there. I think that due to the applications there is a lot more colour on the page, and it does not need anymore. Probably when it would have been more colourful then together with user content it would make a stressful page that nobody wants to visit.
Surprise-surprise! Orkut is also light blue in background and has only colourful icons, a bit more varied tones than in Facebook, but mostly the same.
Rate.ee on the other hand has found the attraction for its users. Being (surprise-surprise!) light blue in background and with pink text, it offers a variation of payable skins which attract the users to show off their accounts.
Not surprisingly, initially Myspace is also in various tones of blue with a hint of pink (similar colour scheme to Rate.ee), but users can change their pages to different variations, thus letting them show off their content.
I kind of got carried away by discovering the colour schemes of social networking sites. And the dominating colour turned up mostly light blue in different variations. Interesting!
It is true that most communities we know use blue - also twitter, delicious, flickr.. I would say that the initiators of those have also dedicated some time on the decision. It appears to be most easy for eyes because of the light wavelength and psychologically well suited for different cultures.
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