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Color, Theme, Mood, and MessageColor functions on many levels. It is endowed with cultural and literal meanings. Color resonates with emotion and logic. Humans have both conscious and subconscious reactions to color. As a result, careful and judicious use of color on the World Wide Web is required. Color can be separated into different categories. Among the most basic categories is warm and cool. Warm colors include red, yellow, and orange. Cool colors include blue, purple, and green. Use of either of these color categories can help determine the feel “feel” of a site. Color also has representational elements to it. For instance, if we ask a group of people to name colors that they think of when they hear the word “forest,” they are likely to respond with green, brown, and gray. However, in the autumn they might also add orange and yellow to their list. It is no surprise to discover that grocery stores often decorate in shades of green, tan, and yellow. These colors are often associated with food. Aside from eggplant and some grapes, there are few examples of purple food, so that color is rarely seen in grocery décor. |
Cool and warm colors |
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Other colors convey more direct messages. Many colors are associated with countries. The “Old Red, White, and Blue” usually refers to the flag of the United States. On the other hand, green has extremely strong associations with Ireland. |
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Until the mid-1960s, automobiles on the Formula One racing circuit were painted in national colors. Italian cars were red, English cars were a particular shade called British Racing Green, French cars were blue, and German race cars were silver. |
 British Racing Car |
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| The cultural significance of color is particularly interesting. How we react to color and how we interpret it is often based on our cultural background. For instance, in Western culture, white is often used to represent purity and is thus the traditional color for wedding dresses. But in some countries wearing a white wedding dress would be considered a serious breech of etiquette. |
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| An excellent example of how color use is, in part, culturally oriented can be observed by how red is used around the world. |  |
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| In some Asian countries is red considered a good luck color. It is used on many important buildings, especially temples and shrines. |  Japanese Temple |
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| In Western culture red is a color used for warning purposes. Red is the color for stop signs and markings signifying a dangerous area. It is also used as an alert color. Workers performing a hazardous task wear it. Red is a common color for highway construction safety vests and life jackets. |  Workers wearing red safety vests |
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| In the United States and Canada red is the traditional color for barns and other farm out buildings. |  Red barn |
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| Red is so strongly associated with London double-decker busses that the origin of the photograph on the right would be instantly recognized all over the world. |  London Bus |
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| At the same time, a car with red paint is recognized all over the world as being “sporty.” |  Sporty red car |
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| Click here to go to the next page, Color Schemes | ||||||||||||
Site prepared by Roger
Lipera |
