Colors & E-learning | Why RGB matters?

E-learning offers a great deal of information when the learner is exposed to content that is informative, interactive, and engaging. E-learning content relies on visual aesthetics because the communication is virtual. Visual aesthetics engages audience and makes the learning process participative. This is where “Colors” factor their crucial role in the process of e-learning.

Color has an extensive impact on how your learners perceive learning. Impact which is assertive, emotional, and sensory.

In context of e-learning, it is necessary to understand the scientific color models and their psychological implications on human brain that tend to actuate the learning experience of a learner

Choose warm colors for better understanding

Certain colors reduce stress level while others challenge our Grey cells through visual stimulation. Visual stimulation encourages visual thinking and limits impassiveness.

Warm Colors emit energy and vibrancy. Yellow, red, and orange are the examples of warm colors.

1. Red

Color red has the longest wavelength and it’s found on the end of visible spectrum of light. It is commonly used to visualize energy and exuberance. This color can be best used to instigate audience to call for action.

• Use red color to draw attention towards important concepts

• Accentuate text and navigation menus with red.

• Avoid heavy usage, otherwise it will be more of a distraction than attention.

You can use red for healthcare, fashion, entertainment, and food.

2. Orange

Orange is another warm and intense color which can be found beside red on the light spectrum. Use it in places where you need vibrancy and mental stimulation. It can also help you solicit confidence and strength. Orange is more balanced than red and hence it doesn’t have the overwhelming effects of red.

It mostly works well as a background color and not as text color since it is too light and is difficult to read. It is the best color to evoke emotions.

• Use orange to make your content more exciting and less boring. It will help you give a friendly and inviting feeling.

• Use orange to stimulate focus and concentration in highly technical topics.

You can utilize orange in technology, entertainment, food, and childcare topics.

3. Yellow

This is a color, which helps you set a very optimistic mood. Hues of yellow can be used to encourage creativity and create a sense of happiness and freshness.

• Yellow is a fast moving color and can have a blinding effect.

• Use yellow only to highlight the important elements in a design.

Mix yellow with neutral shades or black for technical content.

Use cool colors in backgrounds for a soothing impression

Cooler colors are soothing. You can use cooler hues to show feedback and results so that the learner doesn’t panic and remains calm.

1. Blue

Blue is the color of calm and sincerity. It can also signify simplicity, clarity, efficiency, safety, openness, concentration, reliability. The shade of blue is said to be beneficial for both the body and mind.

While creating E-learning courses, it would be good to use this color when:

• You want the course to seem logical and inviting.
• Reduce anxiety while explaining a complicated subject.
• Suggesting precision when speaking of high-end products.

Combine blue with warmer shades like orange for a vibrant and cheerful mood.

2. Purple

Purple is a secondary color made with a combination of red and blue. Which is why it gets the traits of both colors; energy from red and stability from blue. It is a color of romance, luxury and mystery. You can use this color for soft-skill courses.

Different shades of purple can help you:

• Promote problem solving, intuition, and creative ability.
• Convey luxury or quality.
• Evoke feelings of mysteriousness, spirituality, and observation.

Using purple with other primary colors can set a mood of energy, stimulation, and calmness. You can also pair it with delicate green for a soothing combination.

3. Green

You can find hues of green on anything nature-related. The relaxing effect of green on eyes makes it a preferred choice for environmental subjects. Green means growth, tranquility, and freshness.

You can use green for courses related to health, well-being, fitness, mind and body, finance, safety.

If the course demands a lot of reading then green is the best color because it boosts learner’s reading ability.

Use green to if you’re looking to:

• Strike a perfect balance and harmony in your design.

• Bring out the benefits or advantages of selected products or features.

• Reflect feelings of freshness and honesty.

• Darker shades of green are commonly associated with finance and safety, so it’s a good color to use for courses on those topics.

Use a combination green and yellow to evoke happiness

It is necessary to emphasize the psychological aspects of colors for better results. Avoiding awful combinations is just as important.

For an instance, to endorse the message of danger, green is certainly an inapt choice & to promote environment, color red is a big no!

Guiding principles for quality learning content

1. Use color to direct attention  

Use color science and color meanings to make better color choices for enhanced stimulation and engagement.

2. Use strong colors strategically

When and if you use strong and bright colors, try to use them over neutral background tones. Colors should be bold, not bright (which are hard to read) and solids.

3. Improve readability with color

You can enhance readability of text by appropriate use of colors. The course screens must have contrasting chromatic colors in the text and background.

• Black on white is the easiest to read, on paper, and on computer screens.
• Hard colors (red, orange and yellow) are more visible and tend to make objects look larger and closer. They are easier to focus upon.
• Soft colors (violet, blue and green) are less visible and tend to make objects look smaller and further away. They aren’t as easy to focus upon.

4. Enhance Learning and Improve Comprehension

Colors have a direct effect on retention. Your learners can remember colors better than verbal or textual cues alone.

Color Matters backs the fact that colors aid in retention and comprehension.

Use color in the courses wherever possible. Color coding the important aspects of the lessons can also help the learners recall highlights of the topics easily.

Understanding the significance of colors for retention and comprehension is easy. Just look at the following sentence.

You will emphasize on this sentence because it’s bold and of a different color. 

The formatting and appearance of the sentence makes it notable and easier to remember.

Looking for something progressive and custom for your E-learning solution? We can help.