Color Theory – How Color Printing Enhances Readability

Businesses use print for more than just standard paper trails and work memos. Most businesses still use brochures, flyers, and pamphlets for their marketing; internal teams still use training manuals, sales guides and product and service catalogs. Some businesses might consider the cost-effective route of printing most of these documents in gray-scale or black and white. But, in most cases, a splash of color can make your prints stand out in the sea of materials your clients and team receive daily.

You might think, “do I really need to use color in my printing?” There are hundreds of studies that show how much color can impact one’s engagement and interest in looking at your prints. Especially when you want your document to be readable and something people will seek out, you don’t need to sacrifice color printing for the sake of cost-cutting. The right print management experts will let you get the impactful print you need without wasting money, by providing the right services and printers to do the work.

In this article, we’ll be highlighting how we can get people engaged with your printed documents through the basic understanding of color theory. Make them more excited by reading what’s on your papers through the help of color.

 

Color Theory and how it affects your work documents

Color theory is considered a science by many, especially in the creative and design space. Some might think it’s complicated, but color theory is not impossible to understand. You can use color to its utmost potential by keeping in mind its most basic core elements.

First and foremost, color theory is simply how colors interact through contrast, complementing each element involved, and how it vibrantly catches the eye to “pop” on the paper.

The key applications of color in print are:

• You create a document where colors complement each other.
• The contrast of the paper to the ink helps with reading the document.
• The use of color makes the key words and images in the document stand out and grab attention.

Color helps you define your brand, get your user’s attention, convey the right emotions. Color theory also helps you illustrate the flow and structure of the elements of your work document. These are the key influences of color when it comes to user engagement. In turn, color theory will help your audience read your printouts better.

Color theory helps you understand the psychology of your audience. Color theory also predicts how they will respond to the elements of your printed documents. For example, blue colors can convey reliability and strength. Green colors promote the idea of a healthy status, growth, and being natural. Orange colors can give you a tone of friendliness, accessibility, and confidence. Colors can bring about the emotion you want to express through your document. Through color, you can evoke a classy or casual feel, or present your service or products as high-end or affordable.

 

Engage your readers with a colorful experience

Color plays a role in making a document readable. Choosing the right colors that match your branding and attract readers is just part of the equation. You will need to make sure your document has a harmonious color scheme that can not only make your print look pretty at face-value, but also for the overall experience of reading the fine print.

What is a good user experience when it comes to reading documents? Colors cue in on important takeaways, such as your call-to-action, and keywords. Showing products in color also helps assess a product better and form a better opinion on whether it will be considered for purchase. Having contrasting colors can improve the readability of your text and keep people from stopping their reading mid-way.

Of course, your document should be well-written to complement the structure and placement of colors. You can highlight the headers with bright colors and colored key text-boxes can provide more insight into the message you are trying to convey and emphasize. These highlights also help those who read the documents remember the key takeaways better, as the colors highlight important ideas that stick around the mind for a while.

A lot can be accomplished by using color in your prints. Understanding how color can influence how people read your documents can be powerful, and help you create engaging documents that people will want to read and digest.

Talk to us at Novatech, and let us help you get started on your colorful journey with the right color printers in the business for your colored prints.