Colour is powerful and important communication tool

Colour is powerful and important communication tool, & it is tied to religious, cultural, political & social influences.

By stopping to consider what each colour represents & is linked to in real world we can make informed design decisions that ensure we appeal to our target audience.

Most of us have favourite colour or prefer some colours over others.And This is because can affect our moods so we surround ourselves in the colours that have positive impact on our mood.

We will start from red and Red can boost your energy, and yellow often makes people feel happier, & blue is proven to bring down blood pressure & slow your heart rate which is why it is often an associated with being relaxing. And If you combine the happiness of yellow & relaxing feel of blue you get green, very pleasing colour for many people.

And Mental health units are known to use pastel tones on their walls so that patients feel calm, happy, & relaxed. Walls that are beige with pink tint combined with mint green floors are popular combination as it is said to create soothing, harmonious and calm area. At other end of spectrum, literally, schools tend to user bright colours & that appeal to children.

And When choosing colours for your next design it is important to consider how they will combine & sit with the other elements on page and what impact that will have on mood of your audience.

Wassily Kandinsky was one of first pioneers of colour theory. A renowned Russian painter art theorist, he is often considered founder of abstract art. Kandinsky believed following colours communicate following qualities:

Different colours mean different things in the different places. And This is extremely important for designers to know because without awareness of cultural significance of a particular colour, you risk offending your entire target an audience.

And purple for example is colour of mourning in Thailand. And In western culture however, it is associated with royalty, &luxury, wealth & sometimes magic.And The brand colour for Thai Airways is purple. On first glance this seems like huge error on their part because as mentioned above, purple is colour of mourning in Thailand.

It is most likely however, that Thai Airways website is not aimed at locals but at tourists, therefore if westerners view site and see purple it will associate Thai Airways with values such as luxury and comfort.

In western cultures black is colour of mourning
In Japan however it is colour of honour, with white colour of mourning
Red in west represents danger, love, passion
In India it is colour of purity, in China it is colour of good luck and in South Africa it is colour of mourning
& yellow represents courage in Japan, mourning in Egypt & hope in the West
brown nature

We live in colourful world, world that acts as perfect inspirational trigger for design. The best thing about looking to environment for design solutions is that palette is always changing, from autumnal oranges to cold winter blues.And So where better to look than out of your window, take in colours & then apply them to your designs.

And Drawing inspiration from nature for your designs also makes you look at the world differently. And Normally we whiz by from place to place but you notice finer details & undiscovered gems when you an actually stop to take it in.

Individual political parties are the associated with one colour or another.And Depending on whom your audience is, this might prove to valuable information when designing.

The association between political parties & colours is not a new connection but it is often taken for granted. In UK for example following pairings exist:

Labour =Red colour
Conservative =Blue colour
Liberal Democrats =Yellow color
The Green Party =Green color
If colour is representative of political party then values & behaviours that party is known for can be suggested through use of this colour.

Red is often linked to socialism & communism
White has links to pacifism & the surrender flag. In contrast to this, black is colour that is used in conjunction with anarchism.and
Working class Nazism is associated with colour brown as the SA were known as the brownshirts
A design with one of these colours as dominant shade may well hint at a right wing or left wing preference or at extreme behaviours.

As with politics,the colours are representative of certain religions. And So as not to unintentionally offend anyone through to our designs, some examples of these colour religion associations are.

Green is considered to be holy colour of Islam
Judaism is represented by colour yellow
In the Hinduism, many gods have blue skin
White is linked to the peace across many religions
Again this may only be the necessary information if you are designing site that has specific links to religion but it also emphasises that thorough knowledge of your audience is fundamental part of design process.

Colour expert Faber Birren carried out the many studies into this area & in his book Color Psychology & ColorTherapy, he states that for both genders, blue & red “maintain high preference throughout life.He found that yellow is popular with children but as become move into an adulthood it shows less popularity. Birren found that with maturity comes greater liking for hues of shorter wave the length blue, and green, and purple than for hues of longer wave the length red, and orange, and yellow.

And Another factor that influences people’s colour preferences is that through out their life there will be the social & cultural changes & this can be directly impact on their favourite colours. & Some knowledge of what the colours certain age ranges prefer can valuable for designers. & If you were designing website for toy store or children’s TV channel, then knowing they prefer bright colours and yellow in the particular would help with your design decisions.

Likewise, if you designed website for a charity whereby the audience was to be older generation then blue, green or purple might be ideal, on based on Birren’s findings.

Colour is complex subject with many strands and it has power to subliminally convey values & stories. Please share your thoughts & opinions about colour, in comments below.