COP3 Synergy

This research project has aimed to discover the impact that colour has on user interfaces, its subsequent effect on user experience design, and the extent to which any found effects are valid. 

The written essay element of the project focused on the physio- and psychological effects of colour, including its potential effects on emotions, moods and physical conditions e.g. blood pressure, adrenaline release etc., as well as the degree to which these effects are ingrained (a product of evolution) or learned (a product of culture), including the theory of evolutionary aesthetics, and the cultural differences in the perception of individual colours; as well as the way corporations employ colour to create particular personalities or reinforce product identities. 

A desktop application was designed in lieu of a mobile-situated environment to ensure my personal skills are developed equally in all device scales. A weather site/desktop app was chosen as the practical piece because of the inherent emotional link that people have to the weather - if the sky is grey, or if it is raining, people's moods tend to be intrinsically worse than if the sky is bright and the sun is shining. In order to assess the emotional impact that colour can have on UI design, the interface was designed in three different colourways which all informed the user that it would be raining all day. One colourway was designed with a number of different greys and dark whites to try and exacerbate the negative impact of rain on people's moods, a blue variant was designed to try and make people feel more relaxed and calmed by the rain (akin to a mindfulness app), and an experimental gold variant was also created to explore if particular product identities; specifically that of luxurious, precious products, could be emulated just through the use of a colour. 

In user testing, 95% of users agreed that the blue variant had a ‘calming’ appearance, 76% agreed that the gold version had a ‘luxurious’ appearance, and 72% agreed that the grey version had a ‘melancholy’ appearance. 

Though the methods of gathering data were imperfect (e.g. lack of variation in age and cultural representation), the overwhelmingly consistent data gathered offers a clear and present corroboration of the hypotheses. 

Beyond this, a set of interesting outliers regarding the grey concept offered an intriguing insight into the different ways in which individuals perceive different colours. Though going against the hypotheses, it served to reinforce the profound and occasionally varying impact colour can have. 

Colour has a highly significant role to play in user interface design, and can have a profound impact on how users feel when they interact with a product or service, as well as helping to create visual cues and hierarchy in order to help guide the users through said product, service or system.