Using color in your work documents or presentations can help get your messages across. It is important to know when to use them and when not to use them though. So how do you know?
The first thing to determine is who the people are you are targeting with your document or presentation and what your purpose is. Is it for employees only or for an outside source?
Is the purpose to sell something or explain something with a bunch of information? What is the number of documents involved? Is there multimedia involved with the documents or presentation? What kind of results do you expect from your items?
Think about the audience that is going to see this document or presentation. Will your intended audience like more conservative colors or louder ones? If it is something serious, you should always go with black and white on paper. Think about the colors and ask for second opinions if you need them.
Think about where this document will be sent. If it is some kind of advertising proposal, you will want it to attract people and be impressive. If you have something going to accounting or lawyers, then you might want to tone it down a bit and stick with the normal stuff.
If it is something that is just going to be seen by the employees in your company you may just want to use black as the only color to minimize the use of other colors. This way you can save the colors for others things that really need them.
If you have a work document and really need to emphasize something, or have information stand out that is important, then color is good to use. An example of this could be safety information.
Some helpful tips for color are:
- Too much color or colored text will look sloppy and distract from the work.
- If you have white text on a background of black it is hard to read.
- Don’t overload documents with color pictures, icons, or other images.
- You should use color photos instead or drawings or illustrations.- If you use color the right way it can have a good impact with black text on white paper.
- If you have a color theme, you should be sure to stick with it until the end of the presentation or document.- A color chart or graph will get noticed more than black and white.
- Make sure there is a key to explain what the colors represent.
-Include captions under all pictures.
- Keep the fonts the same. If you want to use a different one, only use it for the headers.- Get a second opinion on everything you send out before the final decision to send it out is made.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Knowing the target audience is key, especially when culture oriented. Red, white, and blue might be great in the U.S.. In Iran, they may have a different perspective.