Design for screen: Colour experiments

Initial Ideas:

Upon developing a colour scheme for the site I initially looked at taking influence from the doors to room 136 (see figure 1). However although this experimentation was contextually relevant I felt it made the site look too similar to UAL as I want the site to stand alone and speak for the creative community the students create for themselves whilst studying there. This lead to other colour experimentations (see figure 2) mainly focusing on bold and bright colours, however I feel research into colour theory will help refine a colour.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Colour Theory:

Red can be a very powerful and overwhelming colour at times symbolising power and passion. it can also be very versatile with bright red being very energetic and dark shades being more elegant and powerful. The use of red in the above experimentations is very energetic and engage, however may distract and clash with the images of students work that will appear on the site. 

Orange is also a bright and engaging colour symbolising change and movement. Furthermore orange tends to command attention in a more subtly manner than red which can be quite overpowering. The connotations of orange with change a movement relate closely to the concept of the site which is based on providing a stepping stone into industry for students and aiding the students progression into industry making it very appropriate for the site. Therefor I plan to experiment with the use of orange further as the shades above work well however could be edited further to be more engaging without overpowering the viewer.  

Green represents growth and new beginnings which would fit well within the site however it also has connotations with jealous and lack of experience which is the opposite impression I wan to portray within the site. Despite greens balancing and calming influence I feel its not as appropriate when compared to orange.

Blue is commonly used to represent responsibility and calmness however these associations rely heavily on the shade, with dark blues being associated with corporations and light blues giving a calming influence. Consequently I feel the association with corporations would distract from the community element trying to be portrayed within the site  

After researching colour theory I've experimented with the use of orange throughout the site. Upon receiving feedback on the initial experiments (see figure 3) it was suggested to try a grey background (see figure 4) which allowed the orange to stand out more compared to previous experiments without distracting from the students work. Personally I feel figure 5 is the most successful as it creates a contrast without overpowering the orange or the work as other experiments in figure 4 where either too dark making the text difficult to read. 

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5