Comments on Natural Selections: Colors Found in Nature and Interface Design

Krish Krish — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:08 GMT

Thanks Luke, Your article confirmed our thinking that colors selected from pictures, specially pictures of nature have a very special effect. We have managed to impliment color selection from pictures to web pages. You may view this at www.pic2color.com

Núria — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:34:11 GMT

I found your article really interesting, though while designing a website I usually use the coporate colours… yes, I can variate them, make them heller or darker, but I just can’t take a picture and decide what colours I’m going to use..

I mean, your idea is really nice and may work, but it also has its limits…

Anyway, thanks for the article, it was a nice read!

Anya — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:34:11 GMT

Thanks especially for the Dublin print-vs-web example is a perfect reminder of why your print and web teams should always be kept in sync with each other. The print design is a hundred times more engaging and inviting.

And Flag boy… This space is for commenting on the article and design ideas, so it’s not surprising that people aren’t commenting on your redesign of your commercial site.

Anya — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:34:11 GMT

And Flag guy… This space is for commenting on the article and design ideas, so it’s not surprising that people aren’t commenting on your redesign of your commercial site.

Jeffrey Hicks — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:41:31 GMT

Update on sales improvement from implimenting natural color ideas. Sales have gone up about 9%. This is good considering that sales are usually slowing abou this time of year.

I guess I was hoping for a little more feedback on my choice of natural colors for a flag and banner website.

Let me know. http://flagandbanner.com

Luke Wroblewski — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:51:42 GMT

Thanks for the comments… on the topic of background colors… Cool colors (blues, greens) work well as backgrounds because they recede. Have a small room in your house that you’d like to make seem bigger… use a light blue. Got a big room you’d like to make more cozy… go with a warm color like red (warm colors come forward.) Color psychology also plays a role here. We associate blues with the sky and oceans (lots of depth in both), hence its calming effect and associations with depth and dependability.

Some color characteristics:

Red: Vibrant, passionate, love, war. A very strong and attention-grabbing color, red is charged with emotions.

Violet: Regal, sacred, sensual. In deep shades, violet is luxurious. When lightly tinted, it is aromatic and spiritual.

Blue: Cool, dependable, sophisticated, sky, water. Blue is full of depth, constant yet dynamic.

Green: Fresh, relaxing, earth. Green is very balanced and calm, a natural color.

Yellow: Sun, energy, warmth. Yellow is welcoming and full of life, a happy color.

Orange: Strong, vital, hot. Orange is the warmest of colors, a healing and playful hue.

carlos — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:34:11 GMT

Interesting and thought provoking article. It would be even better if, when comparing natural-color designs to traditional ones, you kept the layout the same. When making a comparison, it’s never a good idea to change another relevant variable.

Aside from that, I agree that natural colors enhance the navigation experience. I particularly enjoyed the comparison of HP’s, IBM’s, Dell’s and Microsoft’s website… spooky, huh?

Thanks,

Carlos.

Mark Fusco — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:34:11 GMT

What an amazing contrast in the Dublin color example you show in Fig 7 and their website.

It’s interesting that their tagline reads “it’s about time,” but a visit to their site sends the message – to me anyway – that there’s anything but time with all the busy flash animated ads and content boxes all squeezed together.

If there is one site that could benefit from implementing natural colors and landscapes, that would be it.

Jeffrey Hicks — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:41:31 GMT

It took a little bit of time.

I have redone a $120,000 / year website.

Let me know what you think.

http://FlagAndBanner.com

Jason L — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:34:11 GMT

I am so glad that you have brought this issue to the table. You can’t go wrong with the colors of nature, it is such a great place to start for influence on a design. The blues of the web have become so redundant, yet I must admit that they have there place when necessary and when used tastefully. Websites have so much potential with the proper color harmony.

eileen — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:51:41 GMT

Great article. I have been using stock photos to create color combinations for years but I never really thought about how it is nature’s way to tell us what works and what doesnt.

Fredy — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:34:10 GMT

Hi Luke,

I really enjoyed your article. Been looking into the topic of colour use for a few years now, and one thing I found was that surprisingly, Purple, is one colour that hardly appears in nature. I can think of a flower or two and maybe a sunset, but it is one colour that isn’t as abundant as others. :)

Frederick van Amstel — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:41:31 GMT

*excuse my english*

Gray is all over softwares interface for many years because of the default color of Windows. The default background color for web pages of the fisrt browser was gray too. Today, light gray is very common being background for texts (see right column at B&A).

Do you think the background color change of the new Windows XP to light yellow will influence the web pages design?

I think so.

jake — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:34:10 GMT

This is a great article. Finding color combos is always fun in places like nature. Although not exactly nature I once used the color combo of OJ in a water bottle. The blue in the label was a good match for the brand of OJ and I used it on a site.

subimage — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:51:41 GMT

Really awesome article. I’ve done this type of thing before with other photos (of the dollar, cars, etc), but never really thought about using nature photographs to come up with color schemes. I’ve gotta try this one on my next project! :)