Like death and taxes, there’s no escaping colour.

Colour – it’s not all black & white

AkzoNobel the world’s leading global paints and coatings company whose brands include Dulux unveiled Teal as the Colour of the Year in 2014. To quote from one review:

The top trend colour for 2014 perfectly combines the natural harmony of green with the tranquillity of blue. Reflecting the overriding trend of unlocking, this muted teal has a gentle character and is a favourite in the world of design. Deeper and more sophisticated than turquoise, teal has a subdued richness which is often used to describe tropical seas of shimmering bluish green.

This is all rather nice…and as my daughter had her room painted teal last year it’s great to inadvertently know she’s ‘on trend’.

Colours are all around us, many laden with degrees of meaning and significance. Some colour associations are more universal such as grey normally being associated with gloom. Other colour associations depend on culture such as…

Red in Egypt = Death

Red in China = Happiness

Red in India = Life

Colour can also convey different associations at a more micro level. For example – why are people more relaxed in green rooms? And why do weightlifters do their best in blue gyms?

So the meaning of colour is often dependent upon context.

Great UX needs the right colour palette

Given colour has a subconscious effect on our lives, an understanding of colour meanings in business gives an invaluable tool to get the best response to marketing and delivery efforts that help support a successful business.

This is also true when considering the impact of colour on the visual design of a brand’s website from a product and service perspective.  After all as great UX is all about achieving a potent mix of usability and appeal, colour can play a leading role within this.

Of course brand guidelines play a guiding role in what colours are in or out of scope. And colour wheels help choose contrasting and complimentary colour schemes. But if you do have leeway in the development of colour design then a solid understanding of the significance of colours must form a prerequisite part of your judgement.  

And it’s not just the association of colours that visual designers need to be aware of. They need to also think of their audience and the ‘impact’ colours have on their viewing of these too.

Studies have shown that as people become older they lose the ability to distinguish between colours as a part of the eye called the cone receptor becomes less capable of processing hues. This is particularly true for colours on the yellow-blue axis where what appears as uniquely green to younger observers will appear more yellowish to older viewers. 

I also discovered another interesting user study which established that 71% of respondents chose red as the colour that stands out the most (from a limited selection), while only 18% chose green. However before jumping to the conclusion that red should be used more so than green for say ‘call to action’ buttons the same study also showed that green is the colour people most associate with success, while most respondents chose red as the colour of failure. So the first principle is to understand the context of colour relative to your target audience. Then design.

So what does the colour of success look like for you? 

(Extract of a blog originally posted on the service design consultancy we are experience website - http://www.weareexperience.com/).