Use of Colours on Learning Material

 

Colours influence mood

I have heard about how colours influence our mood, our feelings and emotions. For that matter even donning different colours make us feel either happy, dull, confident and so on...

But lately, I have been reading about how colours can influence learning. Being in the training field has intrigued my interest in this topic.

Out of all the information we take in or comprehend, most of it is in form of visual material or visual cues. So the same goes for learning too. Research states that 65% of humans are visual learners. (According to the Social Science Research Network.) While learning, whatever information our brain is absorbing, is mostly through the sense of sight.

With the percentage of visual leaners being pretty large, we can definitely study more about how to enhance learning using this modality.

Everything which comes in the vision of the learner, at the time of learning, for him, that is his visual learning material. In this article, I shall specifically discuss how colours play a role in learning.

Colours elicit biological responses within individuals. As light waves move in varying lengths and each colour has a different wavelength. Deep research on the topic is done by US researcher Dr. Robert Gerard. 

Colours influence the look of Learning Material

Vibrant colours always are used to draw attention. As per generic rules of training, a trainer would use black of blue marker to write and red or green to highlight material. So why not the other way round? Because red or green, being brighter colours, can be distracting, if text is written in that ink. Also it becomes difficult for the participants to read that text.

Red signifies warmth, but also is a highly distracting colours because of the association it has with danger for any human being. Blue on the other hand is a calming and relaxing colour and has significantly good effects on learning and productivity. Green is an excellent colour to improve concentration and gives a soothing relief to the sight too. Scientists state that people who work in green offices have lower stress level and higher job satisfaction rates. 

Trainers must use the colour orange to uplift the mood, especially when the learners have low energy like during after lunch sessions. Whereas, yellow is considered to be the colour used to stimulate creativity and make people alert. 

Use of contrast colours and certain bright colours can direct attention when the trainees need to pay more attention to certain portions in the training material.

Use of Colours on Learning Material

It is also true that the more the colours used the more the vibrancy of the training content. However, if too many colours are used in certain material where it is supposed to be more formal, then it losses the formal look and feel of the content. That time, we need to stick to just 2-3 basic shades, what we call as a theme or corporate colours. In formal training environments, the use of colours should be done cautiously, as they can convey moods and feelings. Also, use of font colours in a formal email needs to be done cautiously. For example, the use of red ink would convey extreme drawing attention to something urgent or even anger.

While using colour on training material, one needs to also be aware that the legibility should not be traded for the aesthetical value. If the font of the text is in an attractive colour, however, is does not stand out with the background colour, then it does not solve the purpose.

Let us research more on this topic and keep exploring the fascinating subject of how the use of colour can make learning material a hit or a disaster.

Cheers!