The Passion of the Red and the Intellect of the Blue - September 2000


So here I am with the second issue of "ReachOut". So here I am with the second issue of "ReachOut". Tomorrow I was pondering over the name and aim of the mag. What struck me was the promptness of the whole exercise. It took me all of 20-30 min to decide the aim and name of the mag. The aim behind the mag - "to share knowledge", makes the name appear appropriate.

With this issue I am starting two new columns: "Out of the Box" and "Quest Column". The first column will provide insights and promote thinking, which helps one's work to stand out from the clutter. Something which can brings a fresh approach to the way things is usually done. I started off with "Psychology of colours"- still a neglected field, which have come to the centre-stage after the explosion of the web. In the earlier age, we were entertained by our television and informed by our mono-coloured newspapers. People talked of putting things in " black and white".

Web has changed the rules of the game. As convergence of entertainment and information, web had put more tools in our hand to convey our message. Apart from communicating linguistically you can also communicate visually. In fact visual communication is primary as even before one reads the content he get to see your page, and it is within these fleeting moments that a site needs to send out a friendly message. A confusing message either in terms of colour, layout, font used or an unnecessary flashy look will find the surfer leaving the site with a bad experience. I have come across many a site where the page design and colours shout at you, but the content seem to whimper along. In spite of our not realizing, different colours have different psychological implications and affect our mood differently.

Did you know that colours also have personality? Red for instance, is generally exciting , cheerful, defiant and powerful. It is associated with heat, anger, passion, power, war and blood. Remember the Eveready ad that shouts: "Give me Red"; noticed the dominant colour used. The colour and the font both sent out visual cues of power and energy. Or for that matter do you know that blue is considered a happy colour; it stands for calmness, loyalty, security and tenderness. It is associated with intellectual appeal. Next time you see a male product advertisement watch out for colour blue.

Coming back to the way colours can be used on web, depends a lot on our understanding of the psychological implication and personality of colours. So a website on a outdoor activity can very appropriately use the yellow of the Sun, blue of the sky and green of the nature. One of the best users of colours and its implications is the advertising industry. The ad folks are quite good at manipulating human emotions and aspirations by using visual cues. That brings me to web advertising another emerging field, and which I will cover in my future issues. I think with enough food for thought, you can fire questions at me. I will try to answer them. Till then happy surfing.

Nazim Iqbal