Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:37 — 2.5MB)

Colour is not something I have spoken about before on my daily audio tips. However it is something I have blogged about in the past.

Colour is an amazingly controversial subjects and the causes many design projects to be delayed. The reason for this is that colour is so subjective. Our opinions about colour can be influenced by things such as:

• Childhood experiences.
• Cultural influences.
• How we physically perceive colour.
• The medium through which we are viewing colour.

In this audio tip I share some ways to deal with colour. I mention subjects like:

• Colour theory.
• Colour testing.
• Books on colour including the superb Colour image scale.
• Colour palette creators.

Making decisions about colour needs to be more than a personal opinion. Good colour choices are based on solid theory or/and tested thoroughly with the chosen target audience.

So many books so little time! One of the books at the top of my ‘must read’ list is Aaron Walter’s ‘Designing for Emotion’.

I finally got around to reading the sample chapter on A List Apart and it has only increased my desire to find the time to read the book. The whole thing really resonated with me.

A paragraph that particularly made me smile was:

If your website were a person, who would it be? Is it serious, buttoned up, all business, yet trustworthy and capable? Is it a wise-cracking buddy that makes even mundane tasks fun?

It made me smile because we ask every client that question and without fail it causes an interesting discussion. Our reason for asking this question is perfectly explained by Aaron:

Let’s think of our designs not as a facade for interaction, but as people with whom our audience can have an inspired conversation. Products are people, too.

Aaron takes the idea a step further and proposes we produce personas for our site. He gives a great example from his own experience with MailChimp and provides a template any of us can use.

Some worry about the idea of injecting personality into their sites. They fear it may alienate some of their audience. This is certainly possible but as Aaron says:

Keep in mind that when you emphasize personality in the user experience, some people won’t like it. That’s okay, though. Personalities clash, and in the case of businesses, it can actually be a good thing. If people don’t understand your personality, chances are they’re not the right customer for you.