the use of colour. overview zthe importance of colour zchanging use of colour zhow much does colour...
Post on 24-Dec-2015
214 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
The Use of Colour
Overview
The Importance of colourChanging use of colourHow much does colour matter?Designing in colourEnsuring the colours are right
Why is colour important?
Physical Implications 8% US / European users have colour
deficiency most commonly red-green colour blindness difficulties in colour differentiation impact of ageing population most important design consideration
Why is colour important?
Cultural Reasons certain colours may impact on emotions colours may have significance cultural bias culture not just national, also relates to
professionscustom and practice
Changing colour availability
Early apps (late 80s / early 90s) often designing in 16 colours importance of the palette
Later apps (mid 90s) 256 colours Mac to millions
Now millions and millions of colours for the average
PC
Colour currently
Colour previously so poor that its use was often clumsy
Web demands appropriate and effective use of colour more than any other domain
Few HW/SW constraintsColour permits differentiationCompeting with multimediaImplicit in the texts, somehow you’re expected
to know how to do it...
Designing in B&W
Still appropriate BUT before Hi-Fi prototypePreviously designing in B&W was done at
the electronic stage. No longer the caseDesign in B&W now means design on paperOnce on screen, colour is part of the
essential mix
Why are so many applications grey?
Justifications high clarity no eye-strain not as “stark” as B&W
The Truth Microsoft defaults to grey Design what you’re used to seeing
Is grey really that desirable?
History of the web…
How many websites are grey?
Black and white preferred for documents, otherwise users want COLOUR
When colour doesn’t matter much
When you’re dealing with systems developers… Functionality of extreme importance and if
it doesn’t work there will be no interface Internal checks on some aspect of the code
that will not affect interaction significantly Experimentation with something that you’re
really not sure about (research project)
Reduced Colour Designs
Not necessarily grey, just whatever colour palette you normally design on
Use defaults where possible (lazy, but expected and non-intrusive)
Use easy to read colours (stick to simple palette of colours) greys / bieges black / white few accent colours
When colour does matter
When the design is to be used with users and stakeholders Interface to be used as sales or marketing
tool High level executives will decide on project
viability and prototype will be used as determining factor
End users are to be involved
Designing in Colour
Vital to design for physical limitationsShould reflect user expectationsAdd-value to the interfaceShould improve usability / utilityNon-static nature of colourGuidelines MAY be out of date...
Colour Design
Follow guidelines Decide early in the lifecycle and stick
with itWhich colours and why?
Emotional impact of colours? Fashion? The Environment?
Ways of deciding the colour
Designing for the User, the Task and the Environment
Users - old / young / fashionable / conservative / specific expectations
Tasks - complex / difficult / information gathering / data entering / performance
Environment - social & cultural context / use factors / platform impact
Colour Problems
Colours that work well in the real world may fail in the virtual world…
Colours may just not workLearn with practice and over timeSurprising impact of adding coloursDo not continue with a colour scheme
that you feel is wrong…
Doing colour design
KEEP IT CHEAPdecide on colour spectrum
main colours accent colours colour constraints and requirements
create colour templatetry out a couple of “Key” screensmake some firm decisions and update
template
Colour Tweaking / Evaluation!
Worth itUsual people (person with most buy-in)
project manager product owner primary user
Can occur several times at different stages of lifecycle
Summary
Colour important aspect of design for many interfaces
Need to consider physical and cultural issues
Successful colour design is an ability that develops over time
Colour must be easy to modify in response to users (e.g. hi-fi prototypes)
top related