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JOE GILLESPIE TALKS ABOUT COLOR
Colour psychology is not what you would call an exact science and certainly isn't universal. Like other aspects of visual communication there are degrees to which colours affect the senses.
Certain colours have universal meaning and are built-in to our brains from birth. Warm and cold colours have the same associations for everybody - and for animals that see colours. The association is obviously fire, water, ice and things in our environment.
Certain other colours or colour combinations mean danger - black and yellow stripes are associated with stinging insects and have a high visibility, so you get the same combonations on the fronts of heavy vehicles and traffic signals.
Any colour or colour scheme that relates to nature has a fairly specific meaning, but can be local. The colour of nature is quite different in Ireland and Arizona.
Mnemonic. These colours trigger memories or are evocative of something that we have learned in the past. These are not universal and change from one person to another and from one culture to the next. In England, a certain indigo colour along with white conjures up images of chocolate because Cadbury's chocolate has been sold in such wrappings for many years. Green and Yellow on a packet of potato crisps (chips) signifies Cheese and Onion flavour - usually. These are not logical associations, but learned ones, and have cost somebody a lot of money to put in place.
Cultural. These have been taught to us too. In some countries, red, white and blue is loved, and in others, it is hated (I'm talking Ireland again if you haven't figured). The meanings of black and white can be totally reversed from one country to the next.
An individual's reaction to a colour, or combination of colours, relates to their particular associations. Using colour as a means of subliminal communication *is* possible, but only to a fairly restricted audience. Used correctly, colour can be very powerful, but think of it in terms of using a rifle rather than a shotgun.
...and on Contrast
Maria, as far as computer displays are concerned, extremes in contrast are tiring on the eyes and ultimately harder to read. Black type on a white background has two adverse effects. Firstly the large expanse of white produces glare which constricts the pupils. The glare also causes an edge' effect on each character where it 'burn's into the strokes and
gives the illusion of making the type a lighter weight than it actually is. I have examples of this at http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/wpd0600.htm
- The backlight compensation feature on automatic cameras adjust for this same effect.
Reversed-out type (on a computer screen, television or cinema) has the opposite effect. White out of black is very popular for cinema titles, the edge effect works the opposite way this time. The black background cause the pupils to open slightly (depending on ambient light) so the white has more relative intensity and burns outwards making the type seem
bolder than it should be.
I can't point you at any current research on the Web but I was involved in some in the '70s and '80s where different monitor colour combinations were tested for readability with people who were heavy VDU users. Black on white had one of the poorest scores, white out of black didn't do too well either but green out of black was good as was amber out of black and
white out of dark blue. You will no-doubt be aware of the number of such displays when you get outside the modern Mac/Windows environments, especially in 'critical' situations such as military and air traffic control.
The good old, boring, black on pale grey that you still get on many academic sites is actually very good for readability as is the 'white on blue' option in Microsoft Word. The modern 'fashion' for black on white type on computer screens can be blamed on the WYSIWYG disciplines of DTP introduced in the mid '80s by Apple but a Mac with a 1.8 gamma has a lower screen contrast than a typical office PC.
A friend who only uses PCs is always bemused at how much 'brighter' his screens are than those on my Macs and even scoffs as though 'brighter is better'. On my NT box, I have the same Mitsubishi Diamond Pro that he uses but it is much darker than his - because mine is colour calibrated with Colorific and set to a gamma of 2.2. Colour calibrating a monitor reduces contrast and brightness to bring it closer to the reflective light situation you get with paper. Unfortunately, this is not typical and most PC monitors will be on 'full blast' - hence the need to reduce the contrast with your typography.
Joe
W e b P a g e D e s i g n f o r D e s i g n e r s
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TIPS FROM JOE GILLESPIE
Maria: Joe, there are some problems creating singer
online-portfolios that I have noticed while surfing. The first
one is that stage photographs are difficult to take because of
the lighting and movement. Thus the photos are already not as
clear as one would wish.
Joe: The same could be said of many sports, photographs,
but movement can add to a picture artistically. If you keep the
pictures small, then lack of clarity is less of an issue. Try
to give an 'impression' of a performance using a collage of formal
static shots and ones from a live performance.
Maria: One wishes to present as many "faces"
as possible. One publicity photo, photos of the singer in many
different roles. So how does one integrate lots of photos in
a site. What works, what doesn't?
Joe: You have to act as an art editor and choose pictures
that are not just illustrative, but communicate and aspect of
the work. You should use dramatic mixture of pictures of different
sizes and styles rather than lots of the same thing.
Maria: We wind up with an online layout of the paper
stuff we send out, which is typically just white-paged lists
of the following:Repertoire, Performing Schedule, Resume, Press
Releases. , Etc.How immensely boring! Perfect example: my own
personal "opera singer site" is, where I still solve
the navigation problem with simple links.
Joe: There is nothing wrong with simplicity. The greatest
mistake that some people make is in trying to be *too* clever
when it is clearly beyond their capabilities.
Maria: Companies use logos ... what do we do? How does
one present oneself without doing the obvious "selling,"
which I find so crass? How do we make site content interesting
and not fall back into "she/he sang here and he/she sang
there" thing?
Joe: Personality! Something that every person (and
every logo) should have. Try to find the inner person and don't
just present the facade. i.e., when not singing arias, Mr. X
enjoys cooking Italian food and mountain bike riding -- photos.
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Busy webdesign guru Joe Gillespie was willing to discuss
some problems inherent in creating a singer website. Many thanks!
Joe Gillespie - WPDFD
Joe Gillespie is a graphic designer working in London UK. He
started off in traditional print and advertising design and got
his first taste of computers and programming back in the 1980s.
With experience in both design and
the more technical side, he changed course from print design
to multimedia and videographics about 1988 and got involved with
web design in its embryonic stage in the early '90s.
Over the past few years, He has produced
many CD-ROM and on-line projects for Apple Computer, Canon, Microsoft,
Sony, The Daily Telegraph, Video Logic and other leading companies.
Every site designer can benefit from surfing Joe Gillespie's
site, WPDFD
(Web Page Design for Designers), for basic and advanced website
design tips, but I asked him questions pertaining to problems
inherent in creating an opera singer website.
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