Comments on: Associating Colour With Interaction

By: This Week in Browsing | Brian Dusablon

This Week in Browsing | Brian Dusablon — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:37:12 +0000

[...] Interaction Colour Associations – Good stuff in the comments also. [...]

By: Mario Andrade

Mario Andrade — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:43:33 +0000

Interesting topic. You should have developed it a bit further.

Personally I don’t associate green to good and red to bad. I love tomatoes and firmly hate cabbages.

But society has made a pattern and using your traffic sign analogy green means confirm an action such as Go! and red means cancel or Stop!

Just like yellow or orange normally means caution and blue stands for quick information.

By: Links: colors matters! « Web Developer Blog (dot lt)

Links: colors matters! « Web Developer Blog (dot lt) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:07:45 +0000

[...] An article in Lee Munroe blog about colors (red means stop, green means go!) in user interface: http://www.leemunroe.com/interaction-colour-associations/ [...]

By: Jim Munro

Jim Munro — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:21:13 +0000

Certainly true that color makes a difference for usability. Aside from the accessibility issues there is a risk of (as in your safe example) his being used for “unintended purposes” as in opt-in lists with red=”Subscribe to Spam Newletter” and green=do not subscribe.

Color combined with positioning is a power duo when it comes to interaction/input. How many times have I cleared a form when I wanted to submit it? My bad for not reading, their bad for putting the clear button on the left, or is it the right?

By: James Boyce

James Boyce — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:25:21 +0000

@Semblance I totally agree Walkers really mess with my head also, although geographically I can’t agree that Cream Soda should be green!

What about RSS (should be orange), facebook (blue) and twitter (light blue) links?

By: Semblance

Semblance — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:58:46 +0000

Colour associations do differ around the world. A simple example/s, not web related, Cream Soda. I am originally from South Africa. Green is *the* Cream Soda colour… obviously! But in the UK, the only Cream Soda available has no colour. (I just can not drink it.) The other day I had a chat with an Australian that was talking about Cream Soda. So I asked her what is the colour. She said red! Red to me is strawberry flavour.

The same goes for Walkers crisps, which to me is wrong btw. Blue is suppose to be Salt and Vinegar and green should be Cheese and Onion.

To me it is what I got use to. And somehow I can not change that. But colour associations change to different parts of the world. A bit tricky I would say.

By: MikeNGarrett

MikeNGarrett — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:17:05 +0000

I agree with you, definitely.

The issues I’ve been having with color in interface design are with color schemes that don’t support the usual red, yellow and green, ie. Orange, blue and grey.

In that case, do you think it would help to have local associations? Maybe a bright blue would be a good action, a dark orange would be a bad one?

My point being, is it really the colors that are associated or is it the relative values of the colors that can give an element an inferred action?

By: Brian Lang

Brian Lang — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:06:14 +0000

For true accessibility, you must consider those that are colour blind. This means that you cannot rely on colour alone. Associate an icon with an action and only then colour it.

Also of note: I have seen electric light switches in North America where an LED on the switch is Green when the switch is off, and Red when it’s on. This seems to be backwards until you think about it. When the light is off, pressing the button marked with a green LED turns it on. When the light is on, pressing the button with a red LED turns it off. Makes sense when you think it through that way. The LED indicates what will happen when you press the switch. Not what the status of the switch is.

By: Chris Mahon

Chris Mahon — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:12:12 +0000

@lee my example was probably the worst I could come up with in hindsight hehe

Found this with a list of colour meanings for different cultures, not sure if they can all be applied to the web but worth taking a look:

http://www.everyjoe.com/articles/color-meanings-around-the-world/

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:53:13 +0000

I’m with Mike on his point about using colour and the implications for accessibility, but I think that we could argue that this is a progressive enhancement to be enjoyed by the roughly 92% (don’t quote Lee on this) non colour blind people.

The inclusion of colour, assuming the paradigm is valid in the users cultural rulebook, certainly adds a useful visual reference with probably an element of subconscious recognition. Providing it is combined with words and icons then my view is that it is a useful addition to any interface.