Now first and foremost, I want to talk about color theory. 1
This is so fundamental to not just digital design, but in fact design everywhere. Because of our retinas 2
innate ability to differentiate different frequencies of light waves, we're able to see different colors. 3
Of course, you know, you can get very philosophical about this whether it's my version of red is the same 4
as your version of red but it's well known that certain frequencies i.e. certain colors or certain shades 5
evokes different sentiments in people that are pretty much uniform. 6
So let's have a look at some of the various moods that are attributed to different colors and how you 7
can use different colors to achieve different ends. 8
So the first one we're going to look at is red and this is traditionally associated with love, energy, 9
intensity. 10
So you end up seeing a lot of car adverts that used red as one of their primary colors in the color 11
palette. 12
And the reason is it's meant to be exciting, it's meant to be fast and it conveys the intensity that 13
people look for in fast cars. 14
And also when you're looking at ads that are trying to sell you something relating to love, you see the 15
color red being used predominantly in that color palette. 16
So I think it's really helpful analyzing adverts because these are essentially really well-thought out 17
experiments in persuasion and manipulating human psychology. 18
Advertising agencies are essentially really really good at using their print ads or they're moving image 19
ads to persuade us to buy certain things. And they do that through different ways either by evoking certain 20
emotions within us or by suggesting to us the idea that we could be as happy and successful as the people 21
in the adverts 22
if only we just bought whatever it is that they were selling to us. 23
So I'll leave the ethics and laws aside for the philosophers, 24
but in terms of studying what works in design, adverts are really helpful for and helping us identify 25
some of those key factors. 26
So the next time that you see an ad try to see what techniques they're using or which design principles 27
they're using to either make their design look beautiful or try and see what emotion they're trying 28
to evoke in you. 29
So red sells to people on this idea of intensity, of love, of excitement. 30
Now let's look at the next color palette, yellow. And yellow tends to be used for things that try to convey 31
joy, happiness, intellect and it's also an incredibly attention grabbing column which is perhaps why if 32
you guys remember this advert made the news in the UK certainly about this protein shake company. 33
Now of course there's a lot of discussion regarding the message of this advert 34
but that's for somebody else to discuss. What I'm interested in is why did this particular ad attract 35
so many people's attention 36
and in the end criticism when there are so many other adverts that essentially have the same message? 37
And I believe part of that is their choice of color palette. The use of this bright shade of yellow is 38
incredibly attention grabbing. 39
It's like taking a huge fluorescent highlighter and highlighting the whole ad. 40
Now I remember seeing them when I was walking around in the London underground system and it was impossible 41
to not see it because of how attention grabbing that color is. 42
But remember, if you have an app with a background that is this kind of bright yellow because the color 43
is so intense, 44
people won't be able to stare at it for a very long time and you will get attention fatigue. 45
So this is something that is probably better used for attention grabbing purposes, so say for your app 46
icon designs or for your apps screenshot designs that go up on the App Store so that when that user 47
is scrolling through the App Store that your particular app grabs their attention and becomes the one 48
that they download. 49
In terms of the actual design for your app for the background or etc. this particular shade of yellow 50
is probably a bit too intense. 51
And then we've got various shades of green which tend to convey ideas of freshness, safety, growth. 52
So you see a lot of food related services using this in that branding 53
for example Amazonfresh. What else conveys freshness more than this grassy green color palette? 54
And it's also probably why all of these food bloggers managed convince millions of people into this green 55
juice craze. 56
I mean if you look at the thing it seems to be the very emblem of life and freshness itself even though 57
you might be like me and not much of a convert because it tastes absolutely gross, but you can see through 58
its color palette why it would appeal to health conscious people. 59
So choosing a color palette is not just about you know advertising and attention grabbing, 60
it's also about selling your product and appealing to certain instincts or desires that people have. 61
Next we're going to talk about blue which has traditionally always been about stability, trust, serenity. 62
And you know in fact when you think about anything that's related to medical or medicine or health, it 63
tends to be using a blue color palette. 64
So here's a tip that you might expect 65
from a design class. 66
But the next time that you go to a job interview, if you wanted to instantly come across as more trustworthy, 67
the tip from the designers is to wear a blue shirt. Without speaking, the color already speaks for you 68
and conveys this idea of stability and trust. 69
I mean just look at this guy. 70
I would give him a job even though he doesn't even have a face. 71
So equally when you're making a design that needs people to have faith and trust in you, then blue is 72
a good choice. 73
And finally we've got purple which is meant to evoke ideas of royalty, wealth, femininity. 74
So this is pretty much the color of choice for a lot of payday loan companies and especially those are 75
targeting women for some reason. 76
But actually it's a beautiful color palette and I wish that more people would use it for projects other 77
than payday loans. 78
So the next time that you're designing an app, the first thing to think about is what emotions them what 79
ideas are you trying to convey in the user and pick a color palette accordingly.