How to Use Color in Your Business Technology to Promote Employee Productivity

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April MillerSenior IT and Cybersecurity Writer for ReHack Magazine

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Your choice of colors in your technology can have a significant impact on the wellbeing of your employees and the overall performance of your business. Here's how.

Article 5 Minutes
How to Use Color in Your Business Technology to Promote Employee Productivity

Colors have a variety of different meanings, and they impact you in several ways. However, the impression of color shouldn’t just be about branding or advertising. It should also be about the color of your office space. With expansions in technology today, employers can incorporate color and make a significant impact on productivity.

Here’s how the use of color in technology can impact our moods.

How color use in technology can impact mood

Colors can create a productive, functional and aesthetically pleasing workplace environment. Something as simple as the color of office walls can make a significant difference in productivity. However, have you ever considered how technology can make an impact through color?

The psychological effects of color in the workplace are vital to consider when creating specific room temperatures and ambiance. When it comes to the environment, colors affect employees’ psychological and emotional responses.

Worthwhile color combinations

Vibrant colors such as red and purple can pump adrenaline and passion or intensity throughout our bodies. As a result, this can increase energy and performance levels because red is associated with the dangers of failure. Pale colors can introduce a calming effect, whereas yellows and greens can brighten up office workers.

Black can be an intense color, and you should only use it in moderation to create a powerful atmosphere.

Think of the development of a color scheme as science. You can use visual enhancements to match color responses to expected behaviors and attitudes within the workplace environment.

How computer screen colors impact eyes

It’s essential to avoid using strong, contrasting colors, as this can induce problems within the workspace. For example, the eyes have to learn how to tune out bright colors from a computer screen. Bright white or blue on a desktop can also be reflective and straining to the eye.

When it comes to emitting blue light, this color flickers more frequently than other colors like orange or red. As a result, the wavelengths of light can make your eyes respond differently, which can cause problems for the eyes. The flickering is responsible for eye fatigue, and wavelengths can cause retinal damage.

However, you can prevent these issues with a few simple tricks.

Beat eye strain with colors on monitor screens

When it comes to color combinations on computer screens, your eyes prefer black text on a white or slightly yellow background. It’s also essential to avoid low contrast between text and the background, so the eyes don’t have to work twice as hard.

Most monitors enable you to manually adjust the color temperature of your screen. It’s always best to use a warmer color temperature in dark rooms and cooler color temperatures in bright rooms. You can measure color temperatures in degrees of Kelvin, and the scale ranges from 1,000 to 10,000.

During the daylight hours, keeping your monitor screen at a cooler temperature of 6,000k can keep workers from feeling visually overstimulated. While working in the evenings, color temperatures should produce warmer lighting around 3,000k.

Choose your backgrounds and accents carefully

Just as you can use the color of your walls and furniture to affect employee efficiency and energy, you can utilize colors within the technology employees use in their day to day.

Look at the color of the desktop backgrounds preloaded onto your work computers. Instead of a dull grey background, try changing to a landscape background filled with vibrant green grass and yellow leaves, or consider the color of your computers’ taskbars. If you use Windows at your workplace, you can change the color of the taskbar at the bottom of the screen to a relaxing pale shade or an energizing deep red or purple.

From browser and email backgrounds to icon accent colors, you’ll find plenty of other places in the digital world to transform your business’ tech into an energizing, productive space.

Tailor the color of light bulbs to enhance productivity

There has been a trend of infusing colors in an office setting to the appropriate tasks at hand in recent years. However, there is one drawback to decorating with colors. For instance, if you decide to paint the walls of your office, you’ll find it challenging to shift colors as business switches gears.

Essentially, choosing one color over another can result in feelings of dullness. Plus, switching up the decor now and then becomes a chore. The simplest solution to this issue is to upgrade the lighting through modern technology.

Cool versus warm lighting or bright blue-white LEDs versus warmer yellow-white light incandescent bulbs all have their place in the office. The variations in white light can even affect employee productivity when customized within the office.

With the smart home industry evolving, programmable and controllable light bulbs are becoming more popular within the workplace. Through apps, Bluetooth connections, programmable systems and remote controls, these bulbs can produce thousands of color variation intensities.

The most significant benefit of these bulbs is that you can tailor the lighting to your preferences. For instance, blue can increase productivity; however, what if using that color doesn’t work with your overhead lights? You can choose any shade you prefer to display the perfect lighting for specific tasks with a smart bulb.

Keyboards colors: White vs. black

Keyboards have been the primary tool for computer interactions for the longest time. When your daily work consists of working on the computer, you spend lots of time using the keyboard. However, did you know that you could increase your productivity with the color of a keyboard?

Black and white keyboards mainly differ in aesthetics. White keyboards have a pleasant appearance, while black maintains a minimalist look. As for white keyboards, they always look fresh to the user and are pure and timeless.

Some people prefer white because it can be pleasing to the eye. White keyboards can even enhance the look of your workspace. However, white keyboards tend to get dirty very quickly. So, if you’re not too keen on upkeep, you may prefer a black keyboard instead.

Make a difference in the workplace through color

Colors in the workspace with business technology can have a surprising impact on happiness and productivity. They can help you to focus and stimulate more creativity. On the other hand, colors can also inspire you to produce innovative ideas. In conclusion, the mood you’re trying to evoke will dictate which colors you choose.

April Miller

April is a senior IT and cybersecurity writer for ReHack Magazine. She aims to make technical security topics easily accessible for a broad audience and is passionate about educating readers on how they can use their technology to make the most of their workplace.

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