ABSTRACT

Color can attract attention, improve recognition, and organize information. Color can add another dimension to the two-dimensional surface of print without changing the shape of verbal, numeric, or pictorial content. Consider the use of color to show the imperative of certain words, elevation in topographic maps, brain activity in PET scans, drought in satellite images, or source in flow diagrams. Indeed, large, detailed images in color are the requisite front-end of the post-industrial information economy. Yet anyone who has struggled to discern poorly colored instructions on a medication package, web page, or lecture projection can attest to the need for guidelines to the use of color.