Colors for our app

Vision changes

As we become older, our vision worsens. We need to keep this in mind because our target audience includes elderly people. Beginning around the age of 40 we are already seeing some issues with our sight. It might become harder to focus on text, hence the need for reading glasses. This is an issue to keep in mind when designing our app, we want to resolve this by using images or bigger text so that it becomes easier to read. We are planing to avoid redundant text. We also see issues with light. With aging our pupils will shrink, this will result in lower light sensitivity and the increased sensitivity to glare. We need to use warmer colors to reduce the brightness on the eye and make our app able to be used when the brightness of the screen is low to resolve this issue. However, one of the biggest issues is with contrast. The older we get, the less able we are able to make out of low contrast patterns. This is really important to keep in mind, some combinations can be really hard to see for elderly people. I'll show you how by providing an example. This image shows what elderly people may experience while reading or using an app. We must keep this in mind as we design our app.

color psychology

Colors can be an effective way to influence emotions and feelings. They may influence you without your knowledge. We can use this to influence those who use our app. Colors have a powerful ability to influence emotions. Every color has a unique effect on our minds. For example, blue has a calming and trustworthy effect on our minds. While blue may not be appropriate for our project, it may prove useful when using a more serious app. We can see PayPal using this trend because it is a banking app that must be trusted. Because blue influences those who use PayPal, it will have a positive impact on their customers. We also want to positively influence our people.

Here are some examples of how colors can be used in a fitness app for elderly people. First we need to sort out what kind of emotions we want to stimulate. For starting and doing the excersize we need to boost excitement, energy and strenght. We need to boost these emotions to get the most out of people. We hope by using these colors we are stimulating people to get more out of there work out. The reason of boosting emotions trough color is that is is seamless and that makes it powerfull. If you dont know that you are being influenced it has the best effect. Lets discuss some colors

RED:

Red is an interesting color because it increases excitement, activity, aggression, bravery, and youthfulness. People associate the color red with boldness, fire, competition, love, energy, speed, power, youth, and so much more. These emotions are useful when developing a fitness app, but even a different shade of red affects emotions and effectiveness. Lighter shades highlight the energetic qualities of red. Darker shades emphasize power. This makes red a powerful color and for us and an interesting option because Strava, a fitness app focused on running, uses the same colors.

ORANGE:

Orange is a warm color that is a combination of red and yellow, making it a good middle ground between the two. Orange is an interesting color for our project because it promotes emotions like playful, warm, friendly, social, gregarious, cheerful, vibrant, confident, and successful. As we can see, there is a good balance of red and yellow emotions. People associate the color orange with extroversion, adventure, celebration, courage, confidence, good health, friendship, and success. This makes it a suitable choice for our project because it triggers most of the emotions we wanted. It is not as aggressive as red, but it basically has the same effect. Deeper oranges are warmer, while lighter tints make it feel more like yellow. We should consider orange for our app because it stimulates the desired emotions.

YELLOW:

Yellow belongs in the same park as red because they are both warm colors. Yellow boosts emotions such as warmth, cheerfulness, happiness, energy, clarity, and attention, making it a good choice for us to look at. People associate the color or yellow with. Sunshine, creativity, imagination, hope, joy, the future, and spirituality. The various shades affect yellow in different ways, and bright sharp yellows can be tiring and cause headaches. Lighter shades appeal to the happiness aspect, reminding users of summer and the sun. Darker shades, such as gold, add weight. This makes yellow an interesting color option for our app.

GREEN:

Green is on the opposite side of the spectrum from red and yellow. Green is a colder color, which gives it a different effect. Green enhances emotions such as restful, natural, stable, healthy, and prosperity. This can make it a viable option, especially because it gives people a sense of good health. People associate color green with. Freshness, ecology, nature, health, balance, fertility, growth, renewal, healing, money, and good luck. This is interesting because it not only provides people with the feeling of being healthy, but also of being outside in nature, which may help elderly people feel less isolated. However, the shades of green also make people feel different. Pale greens are soothing. Dark greens can improve concentration. However, because we do not rely on concetration, it will have little impact on our project.

BLUE:

Blue is also a colder color, so it takes the same path as green, giving it a more calming effect. However, it is not comparable to green because they influnce other emotions. Blue enhances emotions like calm, security, peace, patience, loyalty, trust, and sadness. It has the same soothing effect as green, but it does not give people the feeling of being healthy. It gives people trust and peace, which are interesting emotions, but they are not beneficial to us. People associate the color blue with stability, protection, trust, loyalty, patience, perseverance, security, peace, loyalty, sadness and depression, and masculinity. This further confirms that blue gives people a sense of security, which is not important for us because we want people to start exercising. Pale blue is cooling and relaxing, but it should not be used inappropriately because it can make people feel sad and depressed. Indigo is useful in situations where fear prevents activity. Indigo may be useful for a cool-down exercise or if someone is afraid of exercising.

BLACK: Black is not a color but we can use this as the main tone for our app. However since old people tend to have issues when there isnt much light and black is the absence of light we are not very likely to sue it. Black boost emotions like Mysterious, elegant, sophisticated, worldly, powerful, strength, and intelligence. This makes black not that interesting for us since we want to make a simple app that everyone can understand. People associate the color black with Authority, sophistication, simplicity, protection, formality, elegance, night, power, and mystery. This is very intersting but not for our project since we do not desire people to associate our project with these emotions. If we tone the color black we get gray and white of which i will discuss the color white seperatly. Too much black can be frightening. Depressing unless used with other colors.

WHITE: White is not a color so it has the same purpose as black being a main tone to our app. White is a light tone which may cause it to glare. This means that you do not what to use the brightest types of screen with white. We do not have this issue so we can use white as much as wel like. White gives people the emotions of: fresh, pure, clear, easy, receptive, modern, neat, and precise. Since we are designing a simple app white is a nice main tone for our app. People associate white with Goodness, innocence, purity, cleanliness, calmness, freshness, healthiness, and precision. This further confirms that white is a good option for our app. However as i said Too bright white can produce eyestrain and headaches. Escpecially elderdly people are extra sensetive for this. So if we use white we need to be a little bit carefull whit it

Conclusion

We decided to go for

Source

https://eldertech.org/color-in-designing-technology-for-seniors/

https://decode.agency/article/choose-color-palette-for-apps/