User blog:Koenachtig/The Worms Wiki Color Palette

Boggy B recently mentioned he didn't really like the new brown color palette of this wiki. This made me do some research on color psychology, and I'd like to talk to you about that, and about possible new skins for this wiki. This blog post offers some information on color psychology including examples of other websited using this pinciple. If you're not interested, you can skip to the end of the blog post, I've placed a short summary of this blog post and of possible skins for this wiki there.

Color psychology
Could a certain color create a certain mood? Is it wise for webshops to make their 'buy'-button a certain color, so people are more likely to click it? Could the color of streetlights reduce crime in an area? These are examples or questions color psychology tries to find an answer to.

Some real-life examples of color psychology are: Although these examples don't directly have anything to do with websites, color psychology can be used for them.
 * The color of medication (pills) can change the effect is has on a patient (placebo effect). Blue colored pills are more likely to work as a depressant, while red or yellow pills are more likely to work as a stimulus.
 * Glasgow installed blue street lighting in certain areas in 2000, to reduce crime. The city reported a lower crime rate in those areas after installing these lights

Color psychology on websites
Color psychology has been applied to several websites. Warm colors (like red) can create a cozy feeling, but also anger and excitement.

Take blue, for example. It's a color of trust, transparency, calmness and peace. Where could you use this? PayPal, FaceBook, A bank, Another bank, Largest Dutch webshop. These websites want you to trust them and believe in their transparency.

What abou black? Black is luxury, luxury and exclusivity.

Green is thinking about the environment, for example.

Yellow is danger. It can be used to make people focus. Amazon uses this quite well. Making the buy-button yellow, to make it stand out, and creating a yellow-background for daily-deals to make the buyer feel like he should make a descision very quickly.

The Worms Wiki
How can we apply this knowledge to the Worms Wiki? The thing is, it's not simple. We can never fully predict what effect colors will have on people.

We might want want to use white to create a feeling of freedom and spaciousness. This is usually done with white (Google). Compare the Final Fantasy Wiki with the The Order Wiki. Which one looks more spacious? Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to say one of them is better than the other, I'm just trying to say that they both create a different feeling.

I'll try to list some feelings we might want to create on this wiki, to make sure we create the right feelings with new users: But those are just examples. If you have any other ideas, plump them into the comments below.
 * Happiness (yellow)
 * Competence (Blue)
 * High quality (Blue)
 * Purity (White)
 * Openness (White)

Let's create some real examples here. Please note, these are very rough examples.

White with blue, green for the edit-button to make it stand out (and make people more likely to click it). Click here. (Looks a little bit like Community Central, doesn't it?)

Black with red. As you can see, the edit-button stands out, which is good. Though I have to admit, it won't be my favorite. Click here. Variation with orange: Click here.

Blue with... blue. (Top bar (orange) should be blue as well). Click here.

Worm color anyone...? No...? Click here.

Green. Click here.

Conclusion
Color psychology is an important factor to remember for this wiki. We want people to read, edit and stay. If you have any ideas on what color palette to use, drop it in the comments below. I'll make sure to post a screenshot of that palette in action!

Cheers, Koenachtig (talk) 10:42, March 9, 2015 (UTC)