Insights: Red vs Green

As part of an ongoing series, I'm highlighting a series insights I discovered in
Information Visualization, Second Edition: Perception for Design

 

"An Asian student in my laboratory was working on an application to visualize changes in computer software. She chose to represent deleted entities with the color green and new entities with red. I suggested to her that red is normally used for a warning, while green symbolizes renewal, so perhaps the reverse coding would be more appropriate. She protested, explaining that green symbolizes death in China, while red symbolizes luck and good fortune. The use of color codes to indicate meaning is highly culture-specific." — page 16.

Comments

[Brandon Walkin]

The main issue I find with using red and green as sole object differentiators is that individuals with red-green color blindness won't be able to distinguish between the objects.

[Keith Lang]

Just saw your comment for the first time, Brandon. I totally agree — and in addition, color is secondary to shape for recognition speed.

I'll dig up the reference to the research if it's required.