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Using
Backgrounds and Colour Effectively
- Colours
and backgrounds should be subtle. Colour should highlight, separate,
define and associate information, if it begins to compete with your
information for attention then it is too strong.
- Be aware
that colours may look different on your screen than they will in your
print. If you are concerned about colour consistency you can consult
a Pantone book (found at most printers) to pick your colour.
- Some
of your audience may be colour blind so make sure contrasts are high
between bars of graphs, lines on charts andbackgrounds and text. The
most common form of colour blindness effects red and green.
- If you
are having trouble choosing colours you may wish to consult the following
chart (pick only one colour from each section:
|
| Background
colour |
Title
bar |
Main
title text |
Highlight
boxes,
graph backgrounds |
| solid
cream |
navy
blue |
white |
pale
version of title bar colour |
| solid
beige |
forest
green |
cream |
white |
| pale
version of title colour |
olive
green |
white |
light
cream |
| any
of the above fading to white |
burgundy |
white |
light
beige |
| white |
rust |
white |
white |
| white |
plum |
white |
white |
|
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| Background
colours should always be light enough to use black for your main text. |
Avoid:
dark colours
if you wish to laminate; using too many colours, the rainbow effect will
compete with your content for attention; using holiday colours like christmas
red and green, extensive use of watermarks or busy patterns as backgrounds,
the often make text hard to read and create printing difficulties
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