Color Schemes
Todd Earles
I am looking for any information I can find about color schemes as
they apply to graphical user interfaces. For example, I would like
to have a dialog in my application where the user can choose from a
list of color schemes. The list may look somewhat like this:
southwestern
pastel
monochrome
bordeaux
designer
I have no problems implementing this kind of approach. The problem I
have, is figuring out the actual RGB values for the colors to use.
Any pointers to articles or books on this topic would be appreciated.
If you have applications that use attractive color schemes,
information about the actual color combinations used would also be
appreciated.
Thanks.
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email: to...@microware.com
Opinions expressed here are my own, and may not reflect the opinions
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Drew Olbrich
You should try really hard to avoid using color in user
interfaces. It should be all black and white, except where
color is important -- for example, when displaying a color image.
(Shades of gray are ok too.)
If you display color images or graphics (or any data) in
an application, and that application has fancy day-glo colors
all over the place, the application will clash with the
data. It's almost impossible for shades of gray to clash with
arbitrary colors.
Also, two of my friends are colorblind.
Pick up a copy of the Apple Human Interface Guidelines and
check out the section on color.
Drew Olbrich
po...@corner.asd.sgi.com
Stephen Page
>You should try really hard to avoid using color in user
>interfaces. It should be all black and white
Sigh. If only this were true.
From a HCI-purist point of view, you are probavly correct. There are plenty
of ways to produce emphasis on a decent workstation without using colour.
Unfortunately, the reality is different. For commercial products, no one
will buy it unless it has colours (and probably, these days, a few icon bars
as well -- again against the purist HCI view). For large-scale custom
developments, especially where major business change is involve, the users
will EXPECT colour, and feel that the management is letting them down if
colour is not provided. This applies to 3270 terminals as well as GUIs.
Sometimes the line on your usability specification called "Subjective user
satisfaction" will be blown if you have just black and white.
Drew Olbrich
I've been working on a "paint" application recently that features an
icon bar. Initially I wanted to use black & white icons, but in a few
cases they really needed color -- For example, icons that represent
color-selection tools. I decided that it was better to have the
icons all be in color (well, almost all) so that everything would
be balanced. However, borrowing from the Apple guidelines, all of my
icons have nice, high-contrast black outlines. I also tried to use
colors with low saturation, so the icons aren't distracting. It's all
nice and subdued.
Color is fine, in small amounts, when it's needed. What irks me is
when programmers realize that they can use color and then totally
freak out and use it everywhere, creating "angry fruit salad"
interfaces.
The same can be said of a lot of other stuff. For example, in 3D
computer graphics, most rendering packages support glossy specular
highlights. In a lot of cases, you'll see computer-generated images
with specular highlights on every available surface, just because
it's possible. Everything looks sick and drippy and artificial.
If you go outside and look around, you'll notice that only a small
handful of objects have specular highlights like that.
Just because an effect or attribute is readily available doesn't mean
it should be used all the time.
Drew Olbrich
po...@corner.asd.sgi.com
Mike Sellers
> In article to...@microware.com (Todd Earles) writes:
> > I am looking for any information I can find about color schemes as
>
> You should try really hard to avoid using color in user
> interfaces.
What!? (Do the folks at SGI (!) know you're posting this?)
Color can add quite a bit to the effectiveness of a product.
It is certainly possible to abuse the use of color, but that
doesn't mean that all uses of it are incorrect.
> It should be all black and white, except where
> color is important -- for example, when displaying a color image.
> (Shades of gray are ok too.)
I assume you must have a b&w TV at home and watch only old pre-color
movies too...
> If you display color images or graphics (or any data) in
> an application, and that application has fancy day-glo colors
> all over the place, the application will clash with the
> data. It's almost impossible for shades of gray to clash with
> arbitrary colors.
The original poster didn't mention using "day-glo" colors. It is
true that colors in the UI should be carefully chosen and in most
cases should be de-saturated so as to provide less of a visual
contrast (too many highly-saturated colors will increase the chance
of user confusion), but this doesn't mean they have to be de-saturated
to the point of being gray. Conservatively speaking, 3-5 separate
colors can be used safely on a display; in some cases more could be
used, but this does begin to run the risk of adding significantly
to the user's perceptual and cognitive load.
> Also, two of my friends are colorblind.
Approximately 9-15% (depending what source you consult) of the male
population has difficulty distinguishing one or more pairs of colors,
often (erroneously) termed "color blindness." Such conditions should
be taken into account, of course, when defining colors for a UI, but
this is no reason to shy away from using colors entirely.
> Pick up a copy of the Apple Human Interface Guidelines and
> check out the section on color.
But remember to *think* and use your own ideas too. Ultimately,
do what you think will work well, try it on potential users,
collect their feedback, and follow it ruthlessly. The design of
UIs is still so much an individual art that its principles cannot
be (or have not yet been) captured into one set of guidelines --
the dozens of current attempts notwithstanding.
For further information on color in general, look for anything
by Gerry Murch (now at Apple, I think), Aaron Marcus, and many
books on interior design.
> Drew Olbrich
--
Mike Sellers User Interface Team Leader
mi...@isgtec.com ISG Technologies, Toronto, Canada
"Actum ne agas" -- Do not do what has been done.
Furare tantum ab Optimis
Chris Pointon
In article to...@microware.com (Todd Earles) writes:
> I am looking for any information I can find about color schemes as
> they apply to graphical user interfaces. ...
Ignoring the ongoing debate as to the appropriateness of colour interfaces of
any form (which, by the way, I'm finding quite interesting), there is a useful
little book which you might like to have a look at.
A Book of Colors
by Shizenobu Kobayashi of the Nippon Color Design Research Institute
Published by Kodansha International
ISBN-0-87011-800-5
It presents a set of colour tables, complete with RGB values, which are
considered to have certain properties - utility, friendliness, warnings, etc.
etc. etc. Its a jolly good read for this sort of thing.
Chris.
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Kevin Crocker
>sdp...@andersen.co.uk (Stephen Page) writes:
>> po...@corner.asd.sgi.com (Drew Olbrich) writes:
>> >You should try really hard to avoid using color in user
>> >interfaces. It should be all black and white
>> Sigh. If only this were true.
>> From a HCI-purist point of view, you are probavly correct. There are plenty
>> of ways to produce emphasis on a decent workstation without using colour.
Color is one of the major human stimuli - don't we have more cones than
rods in our eyes?
Acknowledging that I'm not a good subject to test this type of theory
due to a vision impairment, but I receive most of my identifying
information through color (contrast/hue/saturation). When there is no
color information in whatever stimuli I'm receiving I receive less
information to the point where I can lose the essential thread of the
stimuli. I have learned through trial and error that I can
differentiate many more pieces of information when I can eliminate the
high part of the spectrum (ultraviolet down to deep blue) , however, I
get the best contrast on subdued hues with a deep black foreground.
Since I'm at the start of doing some research on learning styles, color
is an important aspect for visual learners. ANyone care to point out
some more references on visual cortex vs. color perception issue?
Kevin
--
Kevin "autark" Crocker (Athabasca University)
kev...@cs.AthabascaU.CA -or- ri...@cs.AthabascaU.CA
Jim Cathey
>>Color is fine, in small amounts, when it's needed. What irks me is
>
>Color is one of the major human stimuli - don't we have more cones than
>rods in our eyes?
Sticking your tongue into a light socket is also a major stimulus, but
not one that's usually considered a good idea. Too often the color schemes
I see on 'color-tunable' systems have just about that effect on me. Bleah.
Well done color is mostly subtle and subdued. 'Unimportant' information
(like inactive windows) fades into the background by de-coloring. Vivid
colors, if used at all, should be used in extremely small areas. Colored
doo-dads should have black line-art borders, because it just looks a lot
better. Window frames (for example) aren't really very important. No way
should they shout at you "Lookit ME! I've got COLORS, and BUTTONS, and
CORNERS, and THINGEYS and LINES and oh-by-the-way-here's-your-budjet-figures-
for-the-next-quarter." It's rarely done right, from what I've seen. The
PC and X-windows areas are by far the worst offenders. Apples guidelines
aren't a bad start on taming the problem.
I believe that a good color screen will also look good on a monochrome
screen. If it doesn't, then something's wrong with it.
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