Think Deeper About Using Colors on the Web - A Fruitful Explanation
A colorful website, as opposed to a black and white one, is usually designed to visually stimulate the senses. The use of color is also seen as a way to subtly accent the static content of a web page, and is commonly crafted to appease visitors, potentially converting them into customers.
Although a perfectly executed color scheme can do wonders for a website, a color scheme that is poorly planned can result in a drastic decrease in a visitor-to-customer conversion ratio, possibly due to an almost instinctive exit from the site.
Is there a reason for this second-nature retreat? Does the simple use of color really affect whether we stay, or go? The answer might be closer than you think.
Ned Kock, a professor at Texas A&M International University who is well-known for his work relating the fields of evolutionary psychology and how humans interact with modern-day technology, has proposed a theory that may explain why humans prefer the use of certain colors on a webpage over those of black and white.
In a paper published in 2009, titled "Information Systems Theorizing Based on Evolutionary Psychology," Kock theorizes that the way we view, respond, and react to the colors displayed on a webpage may be linked to the behavior of our hominid ancestors.
Based on Darwin's natural selection theory, Kock argues that humans are alive today because of the actions of our more than two million-year-old hominid predecessors. Kock states that at some point in our evolutionary process, hominids began to forage for brightly colored fruits because these fruits contained vitamins and minerals that helped fend off disease. The hominids that were able to locate and consume the most nutritious fruits received the nutrients needed to survive.
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