UX and Psychology: What Colors Communicate in Design

When we think about UX design, color is rarely the first thing that comes to mind. It’s an element that is sometimes overlooked, perhaps dictated externally because it is defined by the company’s brand palette.

Yet color is a fundamental aspect not only of UI but also of UX, whether we are talking about a website or a mobile application. Color is a first layer of meaning, it conveys emotions to the user and shapes their attention and behavior.

In practice, the palette we choose doesn’t serve only a decorative purpose. It is a strategic tool. But how do we use color in design? And what does it mean?

Color and Design: Not Just in the Web World

Before the birth of the World Wide Web, color had been, and continues to be, an object of study across many human disciplines. It does not belong solely to design, but also to science, psychology and philosophy.

Starting with physicist Isaac Newton, who in 1672 demonstrated that light is the sum of the seven colors of the rainbow, up to the Bauhaus and Johannes Itten’s color theory. Itten theorized that some color combinations are harmonious, conveying balance and visual coherence, while others are contrasting, generating dynamism and attracting attention.

And we cannot forget the contribution of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The writer argued that color is much more than a mathematical calculation. It is an encounter between light and darkness. In his essay “Theory of Colours”, he assigned emotional connotations to each color: yellow for cheerfulness, orange for vitality and human warmth, blue as a symbol of calm melancholy and nostalgia, and so on.

The State of the Art: What We Know About Color Today

Today we are saturated with knowledge about color. From a physical standpoint, we know that color is the absorption or reflection of different wavelengths that make up white light. We understand the physiological perspective, which tells us that the cones in our retinas are sensitive to different wavelengths and thus differentiate between colors.

We have also developed different color models to describe how colors are created in art, printing and, adapting to our surroundings, when they are displayed as colored light on a black background, like on our screens.
We also know that different color schemes exist, meaning different ways of combining colors to achieve specific effects:

• Colors opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary and create strong contrast, highlighting an element.
• Analogous colors are adjacent on the wheel and therefore harmonious, creating cohesion and order.
• Triadic color schemes consist of three colors evenly spaced on the wheel and offer more variety than just complementary or analogous pairs. A four-color version also exists.
• Finally, monochromatic schemes convey extreme refinement and order, using different shades or saturations of a single color.

Choosing the Right Palette Is a Matter of Psychology

The impact of color on the human mind has been studied for centuries. Colors evoke different feelings, influenced by cultural and contextual factors. For example, in some African languages there is no lexical distinction between “blue” and “green,” which reduces the perceived distance between these colors. Or consider that in the West, white is associated with purity and traditionally used for wedding dresses, while in many Asian cultures it is the color of mourning.

But you don’t need to travel far to see how meanings change. Think about red. It is commonly associated with passion and love, but it’s also the color we use to highlight mistakes, both in real life (the classic red marks from a teacher) and in digital contexts (like a form field that was not filled out correctly).

The Association Between Colors and Emotions: A Convention

When designing a digital product, the chosen palette matters, usually consisting of a primary, a secondary and possibly a tertiary color. Imagine developing a guided meditation platform. In your mind, it likely appears in colors that evoke calm and balance, such as blue or green. You probably would not imagine it in red or yellow, which are warm, energetic colors suited to other uses.

To give words to what is usually a latent perception, the meaning of colors can be summarized as follows:

Knowing these associations helps you understand user expectations and use them to your advantage when shaping their experience.

Leveraging Color to Convey a Message

Being aware of how users perceive color means understanding from the outset how you want to influence their perception, starting from your digital product’s branding.

Warm colors, which convey energy and cheerfulness, are ideal for youth-oriented brands, social experiences or sports-related products. Some examples include:

• Tablo, whose logo color immediately conveys the social nature of the platform.
• McDonald’s, which historically combines yellow and red, evoking gastronomy and a playful tone suitable for fast food.
• Fonzies, the well-known cheese snack, uses the same color scheme. The pattern is widespread among salty snacks, like Pringles and Lay’s.
• Nickelodeon, the famous children’s TV channel, uses orange. Other brands in the same category also favor warm colors, like Boing (in red).

Conversely, productivity products or most B2B brands lean toward cool colors, which appear more professional and solid. Examples include:

• Microsoft Word and Excel, which use blue and green respectively, conveying productivity. Competitors follow similar color choices, such as Google’s equivalents and the LibreOffice suite.
• Most email clients use blue, such as Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook and Libero.

Of course, these schemes are not mandatory. Subverting expectations can be strategic, as long as it is done consciously.

From UI to UX: Making Color Functional

Beyond its psychological meaning, color has a functional role in web design. Choosing the right color is essential to orient users within a platform and guide them toward the correct actions.

Using Color to Communicate Meaning

There are conventions that lead us to associate colors with certain situations. The world around us teaches these cues, helping us know what to expect even before processing a message deeply.

If you open a website and see a yellow banner, even before reading it you sense that something requires your attention. A blue banner, on the other hand, would likely suggest a purely informational message.

Similarly, we would barely notice an error message if it were teal, but we would certainly notice it if it appeared in red. And we expect that a form was submitted successfully if a green confirmation appears.

Keeping meaning consistent with color ensures that users always understand what is happening without needing cognitive effort to interpret it.

Color and Accessibility: A Must

There are guidelines to follow to make a platform accessible. As discussed in another article about WCAG and accessibility, the Web Consortium (W3C) defines rules to improve usability for all users, including people with disabilities.

Color plays a crucial role because of text contrast. For text to be easily readable, both for users without visual impairments and for those with additional difficulties such as color blindness, it is necessary to use colors that contrast with each other.

But be careful: in this case, what matters is not chromatic contrast but luminance contrast. For example, red text on a green background, although chromatically opposite, is not necessarily easy to read because they are similar in tone. What matters for readability is the contrast between light and dark, like black text on white or vice versa.

At Mabiloft, we believe that every aspect matters, both in design and development. If you are considering developing a platform and want guidance on how to design a digital experience that communicates through color, we can help. Contact us for a no-obligation consultation.