People often use colors in their documents in the wrong ways. Many students think that bright colors should be used in a document when they want to attract someone’s eye to a place on the page. Colors alone, however, should be used in synch with white space, font size, type and placement of whatever it is you want someone to be attracted to. Furthermore, just because something is filled with a bright color does not mean that it is eye-catching or attractive. True, bright colors will quickly draw the eye there, but use colors in a way that will make the eye stay there, not glance away in disgust.

When using colors, you should be aware of the following things:

Correct color combinations

This should be obvious, just like you don’t wear plaids with polka-dots you don’t use colors that don’t go with each other. Some people, as stated before, will use a bright flashy color to attract the eye, but then mistakenly also use a soothing color for the item that they want to attract people to. The colors won’t match, and the graphic, page, or whatever, will end up looking unprofessional. This is especially true when choosing the color of font.

When choosing the color font to use, be aware of how the font will stand out, or contrast, against whatever it is that it is being written to. The font must contrast highly against whatever is behind it in order to be easily seen and viewed by a reader. The most obvious and striking is the black font against the white background. This is easy to see and read. If I were to use another color, however, say green, you would hardly be able to see the font at all. If I were to use this color, with another background, though, like

A lot of people believe that different colors make what they are saying stand out more, but you can see from the above that this belief is untrue. Be aware of every design element on the page, including the color of the font and the page itself. When it comes to graphics, try to analyze what the reader will find important in the message you are trying to convey. For example, if you were designing a road sign to warn of a dangerous curve (figure 1), you would want something that would catch the driver’s eye, while allowing them to clearly see the message you wanted to communicate. While it is important that they see the sign in the first place, it is equally important that they see your message.

The image on the left is far less effective than the one on the right, because while it is eye catching, the message does not contrast well with the background and it is, therefore, hard to see. The image on the right it like traditional road signs seen in the U.S. Notice that it is eye catching, but it also displays the message that you want it to display “curves ahead.” A driver can see both the sign, and the message it conveys.

How much color to use

At the very least, always remember that when using color, you can quickly begin using too much without even knowing it. This applies to both how many items you use color on, and how many different colors you use. Look at most advertisements that use color. Notice that they really only use a few different colors in their images, not the whole spectrum. Likewise, use color sparingly when designing a document. This will make the use of color more effective.

For technical, professional and business communication help in the Las Cruces, NM area, visit Lanier Infomedia. 

Last update: 27-03-2009 13:39