Displays 32 (2011) 69–80

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Displays
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/displa

The impact of colour on Website appeal and users’ cognitive processes

Nathalie Bonnardel a,b,⇑, Annie Piolat a, Ludovic Le Bigot c
a
Aix-Marseille University, PsyCLE Center (E.A. 3273), 29 Avenue Robert Schuman, 13621 Aix-en-Provence, France
b
University Institute of France (IUF), France
c
University of Poitiers & CNRS, CeRCA (UMR 6234), 99 Avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86000 Poitiers, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: One of the challenges today in human–computer interaction is to design systems that are not only usable
Received 15 April 2010 but also appealing to users. In order to contribute to meet this challenge, our general objective in the
Received in revised form 22 November 2010 present study was to enhance current understanding of the perceptual features that favour users’ inter-
Accepted 7 December 2010
actions with Websites. This is a particularly important issue, as users’ first impressions when they land on
Available online 13 December 2010
a site determine whether or not they stay on it. We conducted two experimental studies, focusing on one
specific perceptual feature: Website colour. The first study investigated designers’ and users’ preferred
Keywords:
colours for a Web homepage. Although researchers generally flag up differences between designers
Colour appeal
Website design
and users, we found that the latter also had several favourite colours in common. On the basis of these
Navigation initial results, three colours were selected for a second study exploring colour in relation to an entire
User-centred design Website. The main originality of this second study lays in the fact that we used both subjective and objec-
tive measurements to gauge the impact of colour, analyzing not only users’ judgments but also their
Website navigation and the items of information they memorized. Results of this second study showed
that colours were a determining factor in the way that users interacted with the Website. Their influence
was also observed afterwards, when users were asked to exploit the information they had gleaned from
the Website. As such, these findings will have a practical value for Website designers.
Ó 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The importance of visual perception in human–computer
interaction (HCI) has long been acknowledged (e.g., [1]). In the
past, authors generally advocated a user-centred approach, putt-
ing forward ergonomic recommendations, or ‘‘golden rules’’
[1,2]. These recommendations tended to focus on users’ cogni-
tive and perceptual-motor abilities, rather than on what they
felt when interacting with a system. Now, however, humans
and their interactions with systems are increasingly being stud-
ied at three different levels: knowing, doing and feeling [3]. In
recent years, the ‘‘feeling’’ level has become a popular research
topic in cognitive science and the science of design, with ad-
vances in our understanding of feelings, affects and emotions
[4,5] having implications for the latter [6–8]. When developing
products or systems, designers have to come up with design
solutions that are both novel and adapted to their future users
[9,10]. This adaptation to future users must encompass several
complementary aspects. Usability is no longer the ultimate goal
⇑ Corresponding author at: University of Provence (Aix-Marseille University),
PsyCLE Center (E.A. 3273), 29 Avenue Robert Schuman, 13621 Aix-en-Provence,
France. Tel.: +33 4 42 95 37 40; fax: +33 4 42 95 37 20.
E-mail addresses: Nathalie.Bonnardel@univ-provence.fr (N. Bonnardel), Annie.
Piolat@univ-provence.fr (A. Piolat), ludovic.le.bigot@univ-poitiers.fr (L. Le Bigot).
for designers. New systems must also have an aesthetic value
and inject a little fun and pleasure into people’s lives [7,11].
In addition to their functional characteristics, interactive sys-
tems must be regarded as conveying feelings through visual
sensory modalities.
In the present study, we sought to enhance current understand-
ing of one perceptual feature, namely colour, in a type of interactive
system where aesthetics and attractiveness constitute a particular
challenge: the Website. Here, users’ initial feelings are crucial, as it
is during the first few seconds of interaction that users or ‘‘visitors’’
decide whether or not to continue navigating the Website [12–14].
Lindgaard et al. [15] showed that users’ first impressions are con-
structed in about 50 ms and appear to be stable over time. They al-
low users to develop an aesthetic impression of the Web page,
which influences their subsequent navigation. Since visitors’ pref-
erences are based on the Website’s aesthetic features [16,17], our
objective was to analyze one particular perceptual feature that
contributes considerably to first impressions: Website colour. Col-
ours have the potential to affect our perceptions, emotional reac-
tions and behavioural intentions [18]. However, little research
has been done on the impact of colours in Internet-based environ-
ments and only a handful of researchers have conducted studies on
this topic in recent years e.g., [19,20]. With a view to filling this
gap, the aim of our study was twofold:

0141-9382/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.displa.2010.12.002
70 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80
– identifying colours that Website designers and users find
appealing;
– determining whether some colours favour Website visitors’
navigation and cognitive processes.
To this end, we carried out two experimental studies. The first
one investigated the preferences expressed by designers and users
when they were shown Website homepages in 23 different col-
ours. The second one analyzed how the use of three different col-
ours (selected on the basis of the results from the first study) in
Website design influenced interactions between visitors and three
different versions of the same Website. We argued that the role of
colours is essential not only when accessing a site and navigating
it, but also after the actual interaction has come to an end and
users exploit the information they have just obtained from the site.
Before describing these studies, we present their theoretical frame-
work, in order to underline both the importance of perceptual and
aesthetic features (e.g., colours) in terms of the affects or emotions
they convey, and their influence on users’ interactions with
systems.
2. Emotions, aesthetics and colours
For years, researchers showed little or no interest in the possi-
ble links between emotion and cognition, and between usability
and users’ emotions and aesthetic feelings. Only recently have they
sought to draw these different threads together. We therefore be-
gin by briefly characterizing emotions and their relationship with
cognition, as well as their implications for product design (§2.1).
We then point out the relationships between aesthetic feelings
and users’ judgments (§2.2), as well as between one aesthetic fea-
ture in particular (product colour) and users’ preferences (§2.3).
2.1. Emotions, cognition and product design
The numerous papers on the subject of emotions offer divergent
points of view about emotional phenomena e.g., [21,5,22]. Scherer
[22] suggested distinguishing between various affective states and,
in particular, contrasting utilitarian emotions and aesthetic emo-
tions. These two kinds of emotion result from an appraisal of envi-
ronmental or proprioceptive information, but have different
functions. Utilitarian emotions, such as anger and fear, allow us
to adapt to events that may have major consequences for us as
individuals. These adaptive functions may consist in the prepara-
tion of actions (such as confrontation or escape) or the recupera-
tion and reorientation of work. In contrast, aesthetic emotions
are unrelated to the need to satisfy vital and mandatory needs.
For instance, a person can be impressed, admiring or fascinated.
These diffuse sensations differ considerably from utilitarian emo-
tions with regard to felt arousal and behaviour orientation.
Although emotion is not understood as well as cognition, both
of them can be regarded as information processing systems [23],
but with different functions and operating parameters. Cognition
allows us to interpret the world and make sense of it, whereas
emotions are more judgmental, assigning positive and negative va-
lences to the environment [6,7,5]. Advances in our understanding
of cognition and emotion suggest that each impacts the other.
Thus, several studies have shown that emotions and affects have
an impact on the cognitive functioning of individuals engaged in
complex tasks [24,21,25]. According to Norman [7] and
Csikszentmihalyi [26], emotions can even make us smart. For in-
stance, positive affects broaden our thought processes and seem
to enhance our creativity in finding design solutions [9]. Unlike
negative affects, positive affects make difficult tasks easier to
perform and make people more flexible and more tolerant of minor
difficulties [6].
These approaches have implications for the design of products
and interactive systems. In the field of HCI, a cognitive–affective
model of organizational communication has been developed by
Te’eni [27]. This author posits the notion that the communication
process, which comprises the communication medium (a Website
in the case of our study) and the message form (e.g., differences in
the colours used for a Website), has an impact on the user and on
whether the latter judges the communication to be appropriate. In
line with this model, Norman [7] claims that the image which
products present to the user, their attractiveness and the user’s
behaviour, all need to be considered. As such, the design of prod-
ucts or interactive systems should take three levels of processing
into account:
– visceral design, which refers primarily to the initial impact of
products and systems due to their appearance;
– behavioural design, which is about the experience of using a
product or system (the ‘‘look and feel’’) and which contributes
to its usability;
– reflective design, which is about the user’s subsequent opinion
and what the latter has to say about the product or system (e.g.,
how it makes him or her feel, the image it portrays or the mes-
sage it conveys).
Put in a slightly different way, we need to think about three
dimensions when designing products: (1) their attractiveness (or
appeal), which depends on visceral design, (2) their functional
and usable properties, which result from behavioural design, and
(3) their ‘‘prestige’’, which is related to reflective design. Nowa-
days, therefore, the aim of designers is to come up with products
or systems that are not only useful and usable, but which are also
thought to convey positive emotions and feelings through their
aesthetic features.
2.2. Aesthetics and users’ judgments
Many years ago, social scientists demonstrated the importance
of aesthetics in everyday life. For instance, a person’s physical
appearance influences other aspects of social interaction [28]. Sim-
ilarly, products’ aesthetic qualities are deemed to play an impor-
tant role in marketing strategies and the retail environment [29].
Only recently, however, has the relationship between system
aesthetics and users’ judgments been analyzed in the area of HCI
e.g., [30,31]. In particular, close correlations have been observed
between judgments of aesthetic quality and a priori perceptions
of usability, that is, perceptions formed before the system is actu-
ally used [32,31]. Tractinsky and colleagues [31] claimed that
‘‘what is beautiful is usable’’. For Hassenzahl [33], it is the ‘‘good-
ness’’ of a system that is the main issue, not its ‘‘beauty’’. According
to this author, goodness is judged on the basis of a combination of
impressions – hedonic identification, pragmatic values (e.g., per-
ceived usability) and mental effort (resulting from actual usability),
whereas beauty is determined solely by hedonic feelings.
According to Norman [6,7,34], attractive systems work better. They
are perceived as functioning better and lead to better user
performances.
In the context of Websites, Shenkman and Jönsson [17] exam-
ined visitors’ first impressions and found that the best predictor
of overall judgments by typical Website users was the impression
of beauty. For their part, Lavie and Tractinsky [35] analyzed users’
perception of Website aesthetics. They identified two main dimen-
sions: ‘‘classical aesthetics’’ and ‘‘expressive aesthetics’’. The classi-
cal aesthetics dimension emphasizes orderly and clear design, and
is closely related to certain of the design rules advocated by
 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80
usability experts. The expressive aesthetics dimension corresponds
to designers’ creativeness and originality, and to their ability to
break design conventions.
To supplement these results, Su-e et al. [36] analyzed the ‘‘high-
level’’ design elements used by professional designers to convey
different feelings to visitors and flagged up the importance of col-
ours, shapes and images. In a recent study, Cyr [19] found that
good visual design of a Website, which includes colours, resulted
in trust, loyalty and satisfaction.
In line with these observations, we argue that controlling the
aesthetic aspects of interactive systems, especially their colour,
serves other purposes apart from purely subjective ones: these as-
pects may have an impact on users’ activities and on the types of
information they memorize whilst interacting with a system. In
the present study, we focused on one of the aesthetic aspects high-
lighted in the research by Su-e et al. [36] and Cyr [19]: the colour of
products or interactive systems, such as Websites.
2.3. Colours and users’ reactions
Although research on the psychology of colour is still in its in-
fancy, several studies have pointed to a relationship between col-
ours and emotions [37–41,18]. Especially, the choice of colours
can impact user feelings and reactions. Research conducted by
Walters, Apter, and Svebak [42] suggested that there are two levels
of felt and preferred arousal: high and low. More specifically, some
colours serve to arouse and excite an individual, while other colours
elicit relaxation. Despite the fact that there is no precise theoretical
rationale for explaining exactly how a colour might affect feelings,
evidence exists to indicate that colours do indeed influence individ-
uals’ feelings, attention, judgments and decisions - such as shop-
ping intentions or perceived usability [43–47]. For instance,
Soldat et al. [40] showed that the colour of answer sheets given to
university students sitting an exam affected the quality of their pro-
ductions: students who were provided with blue sheets of paper
scored higher marks than those who were provided with red ones.
Cooler colours, such as blue, are generally viewed more favour-
ably than warmer colours, such as red or yellow [48–50]. Several
findings support the premise that blue elicits relaxed feeling states
[51–53,18]. In contrast, yellow has been found to give rise to less re-
laxed feeling states [54]. In accordance with these findings, Jacobs
and Hustmyer [53] used measures of galvanic skin responses to show
that blue is a more relaxing colour than red or yellow. Similarly, using
rating-scale measures of feelings, Gorn et al. [55] showed that red
elicits more excitement, and blue more relaxation. Colour has also
been described as having an influence on behavioural intention, with
blue producing stronger buying intentions than red [44].
In certain guidelines (or ‘‘design basics’’) for designing user
interfaces, a few recommendations are related to appropriate col-
our combinations, or ‘‘colour harmonies’’ [56,57]. However, such
recommendations are usually restricted to readability issues or
to specific aspects of the interfaces, such as text background
[58,59]. In visual terms, harmony corresponds to a pleasing
arrangement of parts; to something that is pleasing to the eye. In
the context of Websites, users feel a sense of equilibrium when bal-
ance is achieved within each page [56], and users’ preferences
seem to be based on a combination of Web page balance and col-
our [60]. Bynum et al. [61] recently asked American students to
look at a computer screen on which successive colours were dis-
played and to express their feelings about these colours. Red was
associated with nervousness and yellow with satisfaction. Gorn
et al. [51] also investigated the effect of background screen colour,
while a Web page was being downloaded, on the perceived rapid-
ity of the download. These authors found that colours which in-
duced more relaxed feeling states led to faster perceived speed.
Moreover, they observed that colour had consequences on users’
71
judgments of the Website and on the likelihood of their recom-
mending it to others. More recently, Cyr et al. [50] analyzed rela-
tionships between Website colours and users’ culture (Canadian,
German or Japanese). These authors identified a colour that was
disliked by all participants (yellow), as well as colours that were
preferred by certain groups (e.g., blue for Germans and grey for
Canadians). These kinds of results have a practical value if Web
marketers and interface designers wish to use colour as a catalyst
in Website development: if the colour of a Website arouses a user’s
satisfaction, that user can be expected to return to the Website.
In line with these views, we argue that colours constitute a cru-
cial feature of Websites, insofar as they not only contribute to the
users’ first impressions and feelings about a Website, but also
influence users’ navigation behaviour and subsequent perfor-
mance. We therefore conducted two experimental studies in order
to meet the following complementary objectives:
– testing 23 Web homepage colours to find the ones that are
judged to be most appealing by Website designers and users;
– analyzing the impact of three separate Website colours
(selected on the basis of the findings of the first study) on users’
behaviour, judgments and subsequent performance.
3. Study 1: colour appeal for Website users and designers
3.1. Objectives and hypotheses
We first conducted an exploratory study in the context of Web-
sites in order to determine whether the users and designers of Web-
sites judge the same colours to be appealing or unappealing. Colour
appeal is defined as the degree to which colours used in Websites
are perceived as pleasing, appealing and appropriate [50].
In our study, participants were provided with the homepage of
an informational Website. Instead of forming precise hypotheses
about the appeal of specific colours, we chose to develop numerous
versions of the same homepage in order to expose participants to
23 different colours across a broad spectrum (see §3.2 ‘‘Experimen-
tal material’’). As the 23 resulting versions of this homepage dif-
fered only in respect of colour, there was no confounding
influence of Webpage structure or balance.
In addition, we wished to determine whether the status of par-
ticipants had an impact on the colours they judged to be appealing.
We therefore distinguished between two kinds of participants:
Website users and designers. According to Norman [1], the de-
signer’s model and the user’s model are broadly dissimilar due to
differences in background and experience. These differences help
to explain the difficulties encountered by users when they try to
use a newly designed system. However, in the case of judgments
about colours, it is surely possible to argue that preferences mainly
depend on the feelings that colours convey, and these may be sim-
ilar regardless of the participants’ status. However, although we
expected some of the preferences expressed by Website designers
and users to be consensual, the former might also regard colours
conveying an ‘‘ambiance’’ of novelty as appealing, as designers
try to come up with products that are creative and therefore differ-
ent from existing ones [9,62]. In contrast, users would favour
external consistency and would thus prefer colours that matched
the ones they were used to seeing in the Websites they visited.
Therefore, it should be possible to identify colours that were pre-
ferred by both designers and users, as well as colours that were
preferred solely by designers or by users.
3.2. Experimental material
In order to identify participants’ preferences across a broad
spectrum of colours, 23 versions of the same Web homepage were
72 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80

developed by using Photoshop software (see examples in Fig. 1).

This homepage was the first page of an informational site called
‘‘Psych-Aix’’, which is intended to provide information about uni-
versity courses and leisure activities to prospective students apply-
ing to a French university (cf. study 2 for details).
When designing the different versions of the homepage, we Luminosity Hue
took into account the fact that colours can be defined with regard
to three dimensions: hue, value and chroma (see Fig. 2). As our
study was about colour preferences, value and chroma were con-
trolled, and only hue differed from one homepage to another. Saturation
To select the colours of our homepages, we created pages with a
constant physical difference in hue of 20°. This allowed us to define
Fig. 2. Three colour dimensions.
18 values for hue (i.e., 18 colours), to which we added white, black
and three nuances of grey (see Fig. 3). In this way, we were able to
create 23 homepages.
Participants accessed these pages by logging onto the experi-
mental site, which provided them with the homepages and al-
lowed them to answer questions (see §3.4 ‘‘Procedure’’). This
experimental site was created with Dreamweaver MX 2004 and
developed in html and php.

3.3. Participants

Eighty participants took part in this first study:

– fifty Website ‘‘users’’ or visitors (25 men and 25 women, with a

mean age of 32.8 years), from a variety of backgrounds (univer-
sity students, teachers, professionals carrying out administra-
tive functions, etc.).
– thirty Website designers (20 men and 10 women, with a mean Fig. 3. Colours used for the experiment.

age of 34.5 years). This group was smaller than the user one,
due to the lack of availability of professional designers. They,
too, came from different backgrounds (e.g., qualifications in
computer science, design engineering or applied arts), but all
of them had been in a job for between 2 and 35 years in which
they were regularly called upon to create Websites.
All these participants were French and none of them was col-
our-blind.
3.4. Procedure
Participants were given a password to access the experimental
site. When they logged onto it, they were all given the same
instructions (see Appendix A), and the same 23 homepages were
presented in random order.
For each homepage, they had to indicate how much they liked it
on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from ‘‘not at all’’ (point 1) to ‘‘a

Fig. 1. Samples of Web pages in a variety of colours.

 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80
lot’’ (point 7), without intermediate labels associated to points
going from 2 to 6.
At this point, the process varied slightly, according to the partic-
ipants’ status. They all had to answer four questions relating to
general information: their gender, age, the average time they spent
on the Internet each day, and their background. In addition, the
Web designers had to answer supplementary questions about the
colour they would have chosen for this homepage, the reasons
for their choice, the role of colour in Websites and any training
they had received about Website colours.
Finally, all the participants read the last page of the Website,
which signalled the end of the experimental task. This page pro-
vided information about contacting the experimenters and termi-
nated their access to the experimental site, so that they could
only perform the experiment once.
4. Results
The data analysis was performed in two stages. The first analy-
sis served to identify and select the colours that both the users and
the designers preferred. The second analysis compared the users’
and designers’ preferences.
First, the subgroups of colours were identified and selected on
the basis of a hierarchical cluster analysis, using the squared
Euclidean distance (Ward’s method). Linkage distance is reported
as Dlink/Dmax, which represents the quotient between the link-
age distances for a particular case divided by the maximal linkage
distance. The quotient was multiplied by 100 for standardize the
linkage distance. Although the cluster boundaries differed accord-
ing to the participants’ status, the hierarchical cluster analysis al-
lowed us to identify clusters corresponding to the following
colours: green, magenta, blue, orange and grey (see Fig. 4a and
b). The inspection of Fig. 4a showed that, for the users, the most
clearly discernible clusters are the ones containing the greens
(100–160°), the magentas (280°, 340°), the blues (200°, 260°)
and the greys (3°, 4°). The orange-reds (0–40°) also form a cluster.
Although there are other clusters, such as the one containing
Fig. 4a. Dendrogram of hierarchical cluster analyses users (numbers represent the colour used, see Fig. 3 for correspondence).
73
green (80°) yellow (60°) and blue (180°), they are not homoge-
neous, and were therefore excluded from the analysis. The inspec-
tion of Fig. 4b showed that, for the Website designers, the results
are relatively similar to those in the previous analysis, despite the
different cluster boundaries. The main clusters contain the greens
(80–160°), magentas (280–340°) and oranges (20° and 40°). Two
of the blues are in one cluster (200° and 220°), and three in the
other (180°, 240° and 260°). The achromatic colours (greys, black
and white) also form a cluster.
Second, we defined the precise hue values for these colours
with regard to the representativeness of the colour (i.e., its central
position within the cluster) and a distance from the following clus-
ter to get an interval of at least 100° between each colour. In addi-
tion, we added a value corresponding to the grey. As the group
supplying user data was larger than the group supplying designer
data, the precise values of the colours were based on the users’
data, as follows: orange (20°), green (120°), blue (220°), magenta
(320°) and grey (3°).
The judgments expressed by the users and designers about
these selected colours (see Fig. 5) were compared by means of
Mann–Whitney tests (between users and designers), and of Fried-
man ANOVAs (within colours for users and for designers) followed
by nonparametric pairwise comparisons (Wilcoxon paired sample
test).
The mean scores given to homepage colours by the professional
designers were lower than those given by the users for the green
(Mann–Whitney test, U = 473.5, p < .01), the blue (U = 470.5,
p < .01), and the magenta (U = 343.5, p < .001), and higher for the
grey (U = 466.0, p < .01). The difference was not significant for the
orange (U = 683, p > .10).
The analysis of user data revealed a main effect of colour, Fried-
man chi2(4) = 50.16, p < .001. Blue was preferred to all other col-
ours (all z = .001). By contrast, grey was significantly less
appreciated than all the other colours (all z < .01), except for green
(marginal significance; z = .054). Orange appeared to be an inter-
mediate colour, as it was appreciated more than green (z < .05)
but did not differ significantly from magenta. Lastly, green was
not significantly preferred to magenta.
74 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80

Fig. 4b. Hierarchical cluster analyses Website designers (numbers represent the colour used, see Fig. 3 for correspondence).

Fig. 5. Mean judgments expressed by Website users and designers.

The analysis of Website designer data also revealed a main ef-
fect of colour, Friedman chi2(4) = 55.62, p < .001. Grey, blue and or-
ange were preferred to green and magenta (all p < .001). The
differences between grey, blue and orange, and between green
and magenta were not significant.
In short, the homepages that obtained the highest scores (or the
least low scores), whatever the participants’ status, were the ones
presented in blue and in orange. Contrary to users, professional
designers also gave similar scores to homepages presented in
grey.
 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80
5. Discussion
First, the professional designers appeared to be more critical of
the Webpages than the users. However, blue and orange were re-
garded as the most appealing colours by all participants, whatever
their status. Website designers also liked (or at least did not dis-
like) grey, unlike the users.
The choice of these three colours can partly be explained by the
reported associations between these colours and emotions
[43,47,41,18]. The result for blue, in particular, was in accordance
with previous research, insofar as blue is frequently regarded as
users’ favourite colour, whatever their age and cultural context
e.g., [63–66]. Findings for orange contrasted with previous results
suggesting that cooler colours are viewed more favourably than
hotter ones. However, the warm effect conveyed by the orange
homepage may have explained its high score. Finally, although
grey is a neutral colour, it may also be regarded, to some extent,
as an innovative feature by Web designers, allowing such Websites
to be perceived as trendy. This relatively discreet colour may also
have enhanced the way in which the information was set out on
the homepage, thereby generating a semantic effect (accessibility
of information structure) rather than an aesthetic one.
To take our research one step further, a second, complementary
experiment was conducted in order to determine the impact of
these three colours (blue, orange and grey) on users’ behaviours
and cognitive processes.
6. Study 2: impact of colours on users’ behaviours and cognitive
processes
6.1. Hypotheses
Our general hypothesis was that Website users would react dif-
ferently according to the colour of the site they were exploring. For
this experiment, three versions of the same site, corresponding to
the different colours for which participants in the previous study
had expressed a preference, were shown to new participants. In
line with results of the first study, we expected that the three se-
lected colours (blue, orange and grey) would have an impact on
the users’ judgements. Moreover, we hypothesized that these
Website colours would also exert an influence on users’ behaviours
and cognitive processes. More precisely, we expected that these
colours would have an impact on both the users’ searches for infor-
mation and the way they memorized it.
Therefore, the main originality of this experiment lays in the
fact that the impact of the colours was analyzed with regard to
both objective and subjective measurements. Three types of data
were analyzed: (1) data relating to Website navigation for the pur-
pose of gathering specific information, (2) the information that
users memorized and retrieved (i.e., in order to inform another
person in writing about the content and usefulness of the site),
Fig. 6. Examples of Website pages (main menu and submenu; linear vs. nonlinear text), one in each colour (blue, orange and grey).
75
and (3) users’ judgments. We expected that these Website colours
would influence all three successive tasks the participants had to
perform, namely:
– exploring the Website,
– writing a text in which they had to introduce information they
had gleaned from the site and memorized,
– answering a questionnaire about their individual judgments
about the site they had just visited.
In order to make the navigation experience more realistic, we
developed a large Website comprising 19-pages (including the
homepage). The information provided on this site was also chosen
with care, in order to meet the surfers’ needs (psychology students
enrolled at a university in the South of France). We deliberately
varied the display modality, so as to avoid the presentation of this
information becoming too monotonous (linear vs. nonlinear). ‘‘Lin-
ear’’ is the term that designates a standard format of written text
bereft of the typographical features that allow different groups of
information to be scanned. We therefore used the term ‘‘nonlinear’’
to describe a format featuring bullet points and indentations. Niel-
sen [67] used various indicators of efficiency to demonstrate the
positive effect on comprehension and memorization of the physi-
cal layout of text on a Webpage. The same positive impact has been
reported in psycholinguistic studies [68–70]. Accordingly, we
decided to test these effects in our study. In the light of previous
findings, we defended the hypothesis that a nonlinear layout in a
Web page would act as a ‘‘good form’’ and would amplify the col-
our’s expected effect, unlike a linear layout.
6.2. Experimental material
For experimental purposes, three versions of the same site were
developed in order to allow participants to navigate a site in a sin-
gle colour (blue, orange or grey) in addition to white (see Fig. 6).
This experimental Website, called ‘‘Psych-Aix’’, was developed
in order to meet the informational needs of psychology students.
The information provided to users related to the psychology
courses offered at the University of Provence (France) and to lei-
sure activities available in Aix-en-Provence. Contrary to the mate-
rial presented in the first study, which was confined to the Psych-
Aix homepage, the material for this second study consisted of a
fully-fledged, 19-page Website. The main menu on the Website’s
homepage was divided into two main sections (Studies and Leisure
Activities). This menu and its two sections always remained on the
screen, in a horizontal navigation bar at the top of each page (cf.
Fig. 6). The order of presentation in this navigation bar was coun-
terbalanced (i.e., Studies–Hobbies or Hobbies–Studies). These two
sections were each divided into three subsections. These were
‘‘Psychology’’, ‘‘Studying’’ and ‘‘Student Life’’ in the Studies section,
and ‘‘Music’’, ‘‘Sport’’ and ‘‘Going out’’ in the Leisure Activities sec-
tion. Each of these three subsections comprised three pages: a page
76 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80

with a brief introduction in linear format and two other pages of
information, each containing approximately 300 words. For in-
stance, the ‘‘Studying’’ subsection contained ‘‘Introduction’’,
‘‘Courses’’ and ‘‘Job Opportunities’’ pages. For easy access, these
pages featured a navigation submenu on the left-hand side to sup-
plement the main menu at the top of the page (cf. Fig. 6). It should
be noted that, aside from the introductory page, one of the pages in
each subsection was displayed in linear form, the other in nonlin-
ear form (with bullet points). The order of these two formats was
counterbalanced.
6.3. Participants
Thirty-six undergraduate psychology students took part in this
experiment. As the Website was intended to provide information
about psychology courses, we took the view that participants with
an interest in this area would be more motivated to explore the site
and less inclined to indulge in passive navigation. We also checked
that all the participants had basic knowledge about surfing on the
Internet.
These students were assigned to one of three experimental
groups: 12 had to navigate the blue site, 12 the orange site and
12 the grey site.
The analysis of Website navigation was based on:
– duration of homepage exploration;
– duration of site exploration (excluding homepage exploration);
– mean time spent on each page;
– number of pages visited.
The scripts (i.e., letters to a friend) were analyzed in order to
determine the amount of information that had been gathered on
the site and introduced in these productions. This information
could pertain to the psychology courses and leisure activities avail-
able in the university town, the participants’ feelings about the
Website colours and other aesthetic features.
The questionnaire was designed to yield scores for colour pref-
erences and the perceived value and usefulness of the information
participants found on the Website.
7. Results
In this section, we present the results on Website navigation,
the information included in the written productions and, lastly,
the answers to the questionnaires.

7.1. Website navigation

6.4. Procedure

7.1.1. Navigation duration

Each participant individually performed the three tasks, always
A one-way ANOVA was performed on the time spent navigating
with the same computer and at the same place.
the homepage, with colour as a between-participants factor. The
The instructions for the first task (‘‘navigating the Website’’)
analysis revealed a main effect of colour, F(2, 33) = 3.939, p < .05,
were as follows: ‘‘Imagine that you have a friend who is a second-
eta2 = .193. Planned comparisons showed only that visitors spent
ary-school pupil. He or she is planning to study psychology at Aix-
significantly more time on the homepage of the orange site
en-Provence University. The Psych-Aix association has created a
(M = 106.6 s, SD = 27.64) than they did on the homepage of the blue
Website to provide new students with useful information about
site (M = 74.67 s, SD = 22.53), F(1, 33) = 7.509, p < .01.
what they can expect to find when they arrive. You must visit this
We also performed a 2 (colour)  2 (linearity) ANOVA on the
site and decide whether it could be useful for this pupil. When you
duration of Website navigation, minus the duration for the home-
have finished navigating the site, I will ask you to write to your
page, with colour as a between-participants factor and linearity
friend about it.’’
(linear, nonlinear) as a within-participants factor. The data are pre-
Once the participant had indicated that he or she had under-
sented in Fig. 7. The analysis revealed main effects of colour and
stood these instructions, the experimenter launched the Snagit
linearity, F(2, 33) = 5.914, p < .01, partial eta2 = .264, and
software in order to record the user’s movements. The participant
F(1, 33) = 31.07, p < .001, partial eta2 = .485. The interaction be-
then logged onto the site and started to visit it.
tween the two factors was also significant, F(2, 33) = 3.550,
At the end of the navigation task, Snagit was stopped and the
p < .05, partial eta2 = .177. Inspection of Fig. 7 shows that visitors
participant performed the second task (‘‘writing a letter’’). To this
spent longer on linear pages than on nonlinear ones (i.e., indented
end, he or she was provided with a sheet of paper and instructed
lists). It also confirms that visitors spent longer on the orange site
as follows: ‘‘You have just navigated the Psych-Aix Website. You
than they did on the blue site or the grey site. In addition, the col-
are now going to spend 10 min writing to the future psychology
our-related difference was less strong for nonlinear texts than for
student to tell him/her what you think and feel about this site
linear ones.
and its contents.’’ After 10 min of writing, this second task came
We also performed a 2 (colour)  2 (linearity) ANOVA, with col-
to an end.
our as a between-participants factor and linearity (linear vs. non-
Each participant had one final task to perform. This consisted in
linear) as a within-participants factor, on the mean time visitors
filling in a questionnaire about the usefulness and value of the
stayed on each page. The analysis revealed a main effect of linear-
information relating to the psychology courses and leisure activi-
ity, F(1, 33) = 19.57, p < .001, partial eta2 = . 377. On average, visi-
ties on offer in the university town. In addition, they had to answer
tors spent longer on pages with linear texts (M = 33.83,
three kinds of questions relating to (1) their general appreciation of
SD = 16.97) than they did on pages with nonlinear (i.e., indented)
the colour of the site they had visited, (2) the prevalence of this col-
texts (M = 26.22, SD = 11.08).
our on Websites, and (3) the value and usefulness of the informa-
tion they had found on the Psych-Aix Website.
7.1.2. Number of pages visited
6.5. Independent variables and dependent variables A one-way ANOVA on the number of pages visited did not re-
veal a significant effect of colour on the number of pages visited,
There were two independent variables: colour and linearity of F(2, 33) = 2.783, p = .0763 (orange; M = 18.7 opened pages, blue:
page. The colour of site was blue, orange, or grey. The page in each M = 15.3 and grey M = 14.5 opened pages).
subsection was displayed in linear form or in nonlinear form (with
bullet points). 7.1.3. Information in written productions
Several indicators or dependent variables were taken into ac- A 2 (colour)  2 (linearity) ANOVA, with colour as a between-
count, according to the nature of the task. participants factor and linearity (linear, nonlinear) as a within-par-
 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80 77

280

260 Linear texts

Nonlinear texts
240

220

Mean duration of navigation (in sec.) 200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Grey Orange Blue

Colour

Fig. 7. Mean duration of navigation (in seconds) according to physical layout and Website colour.

ticipants factor, was performed on the number of items of informa- F(1, 33) = 9.876, p < .001. The differences were not significant for
tion contained in the scripts. The analyses revealed a main effect of the grey and blue sites, F(1, 33) = 3.422, p > .10 and F(1, 33) < 1. In
colour on the number of items of information, F(2, 33) = 4.175, addition, planned comparisons showed that visitors who had nav-
p < .05, partial eta2 = .201, and a significant interaction between igated on the orange site included significantly more information
the two, F(2, 33) = 9.876, p < .001, partial eta2 = .374. extracted from nonlinear (indented) texts than visitors who had
Inspection of Fig. 8 shows two patterns of results with respect navigated on the grey (M = 1.917, SD = 1.621) and blue sites
to linearity. The letters written by visitors who had navigated on (M = 2.667, SD = 1.875), Fs(1, 33) > 10.48, p < .01. The difference be-
the orange site contained significantly more information that had tween the grey and blue sites was not significant, F(1, 33) < 1. Vis-
been gathered from nonlinear (indented) texts (M = 6.083, itors who had navigated on the blue site (M = 3.917, SD = 3.528)
SD = 3.728) than from linear ones (M = 2.667, SD = 2.103), included significantly more information in their letters that had

Linear text
8
Nonlinear (indented) text
No. of information introducted in the letter

0
Grey Orange Blue
Colour

Fig. 8. Mean number of information items included in the written productions, according to Website colour (grey, orange or blue) and presentation (linear or nonlinear text)
(error bars represent 95% CI).
78 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80
been gathered from linear texts than visitors who had navigated on
the grey one (M = 1.583, SD = 1.832).
7.1.4. Answers to questionnaires
A Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA revealed a main effect of colour on the
level of participants’ general appreciation of the site, H(2) = 9.848,
p < .01. Mann–Whitney tests showed that the level of general
appreciation was significantly higher for the orange site
(M = 3.33) and the blue site (M = 3.08) than it was for the grey site
(M = 1.83), U = 27.00, adjusted z-statistic = 2.691, p < .05 and
U = 28.50, adj. z = 2.571, p < .05).
Moreover, the Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA revealed a main effect of
colour on judgments about the prevalence of the Website colour,
H(2) = 7.602, p < .05. Mann–Whitney tests showed that visitors
who navigated the grey site felt that this was an unusual colour
for a Website (M = 2.08), whereas visitors who navigated the or-
ange site (M = 2.91) and the blue site (M = 3.08) considered that
these colours were quite usual for Websites, U = 33.5.00, adj.
z = 2.315, p < .05 and U = 33.00, adj. z = 2.307, p < .05.
8. Discussion
This second study provided fresh insight into the impact of col-
ours on Website users or visitors in relationship to the physical lay-
out of the text. Although the content of the different versions of the
experimental site was strictly identical, we obtained significant re-
sults according to site colour and text presentation (linear vs.
nonlinear).
The effect of layout interacted with that of colour. Thus, in the
case of the orange site, information presented in nonlinear form
(i.e. in indented lists) was better memorized and featured more
heavily in the written productions than linearly presented infor-
mation, whereas visitors stayed for longer on linear pages than
on nonlinear ones. This finding is in line with Website guidelines,
which recommend presenting items of information as indented
lists instead of linear texts [57]. Such results could be useful for
identifying the conditions required for Website ‘‘scannability’’, as
well as for performing complementary analyses of the classical
aesthetics dimension of sites [35].
In accordance with the results of the first study, users’ judg-
ments were found to vary according to Website colour. However,
the results of this second study went one step further, in that they
also revealed the effects of colour on Website navigation, as well as
on the memorization and retrieval of information.
Users found the grey site less appealing than the other two,
which is in line with the users’ judgments expressed in the first
study. In addition, its lack of attraction appears to have had conse-
quences on the different indicators that were taken into consider-
ation in this second study: participants spent less time navigating
the grey site than they did navigating the orange site, and included
fewer items of information (from both linear and nonlinear texts)
in their written productions.
Since each experimental site was presented in a single colour,
the ‘‘insipidness’’ of the grey colour may have led to a degree of dis-
engagement, both in terms of mobilizing resources for performing
the task (less time spent navigating the site) and in terms of effi-
ciency (fewer items memorized and retrieved).
Blue seems to have had a slightly different impact from that ob-
served in earlier studies. Although, in accordance with previous re-
search, the blue site was greatly appreciated by visitors, it did not
seem to motivate them to stay on it for longer. In actual fact, less
time was spent on the blue site than on the orange one. This could
possibly be interpreted as an indication of greater efficiency, at
least in the case of linear texts, as blue site visitors included more
linearly presented information in their written productions than
grey site visitors did. However, in the case of nonlinear texts, visi-
tors to the blue site introduced less information from indented
texts into their letters than visitors to the orange site did.
Our study also yielded information about the colour orange that
were new to the field of HCI. Contradicting previous suggestions
about the effects of cooler versus warmer colours, our results
showed that the orange site was greatly appreciated by the visitors,
who spent more time on this Website than they did on the blue
site. Thus, visitors may have felt more affinity with this site, which
would explain why they stayed so long on it and found it so
appealing. Letters about the orange site also contained the most
information, this being especially the case when that information
came from nonlinear texts. Thus, in our experiment, orange fa-
voured not only information processing, but also the memorization
and retrieval of information acquired from the Website.
Finally, this second study showed that there may be no direct
and simple relationship between appreciations expressed by users
and indicators based on their navigational behaviour while using
Websites or other user interfaces. Conversely, the interpretation
of results based only on users’ behaviour, such as time measure-
ments, is frequently limited and has to be associated to other,
and possibly subjective, measurements. In addition, we showed
the interest of an analysis that is not only focused on Website
users’ navigation but also on other cognitive processes, such as
memorization of information. Therefore, we argue that both sub-
jective and objective measurements are necessary for the evalua-
tion of Websites and, more generally, user interfaces.
9. Conclusion
Although we support the idea that ‘‘attractive things work bet-
ter’’ [6,7], it is important to determine what is appealing and effi-
cient for users in a given context. In the case of Website design, a
number of elements can have a significant impact on users’ or vis-
itors’ perceptions, judgments and willingness to navigate particu-
lar sites e.g., [14–17].
The investigations presented in this paper provide fresh insight
into the aesthetic aspects of interaction with Websites. From a the-
oretical perspective, some of our results showed that the emotions
associated with the feeling of ‘‘beauty’’ and which therefore pro-
cure a feeling of ‘‘wellbeing’’, played an important role in deter-
mining the length of the visit, the nature of the information that
was consulted and the extent to which that information was re-
tained. The time has come to extend research on emotional design
[7] to Website development, in order to gain a better understand-
ing of its effects.
From a practical perspective, our work allowed us to identify
the colours that were regarded as appealing or, on the contrary,
were rejected both by users and by Website designers. We also
went one step further, by supplementing the analysis of designers
and users’ preferences with analyses of the users’ navigation and
the information (linear vs. nonlinear presentation) they retained
and included in their written productions.
When searching a Website for information, users scan the
pages, rather than reading them. Like Nielsen [67] and Goldman
and Rakestraw [68], we found that users preferred to scan texts
with the appropriate layout. For instance, pages containing bullet
points appear easier to scan. In addition, one important result of
our research was that the effect of colour was contingent upon
the physical layout.
Nevertheless, although some Website designers may prefer to
base their choices on their own feelings and preferences, others
could benefit from recommendations relating to Website aesthet-
ics and, more especially, from knowledge about the impact of Web-
site colours on users’ performances. We showed that the colours
 N. Bonnardel et al. / Displays 32 (2011) 69–80
perceived by visitors constitute a determining factor in their inter-
action with a Website. Indeed, we also demonstrated that colours
exert an influence not only during navigation but also afterwards,
in complex activities such as producing written texts comprising
information gleaned from a site.
As with all empirical studies, there were a number of limita-
tions to the two studies we describe here, which may suggest
directions for future research. First, while experimental settings
were required on account of the research topic, they created an
artificial environment. In particular, the homepages and Websites
were presented to participants in a single main colour, which
had the advantage of allowing us to perform a carefully controlled
experiment. Then again, some real-life Websites are deliberately
designed in one specific colour symbolizing a particular brand.
For instance, red is emblematic of Coca-Cola and blue of IBM, while
variations of black and grey are frequently chosen for luxury
brands, such as Chanel. However, as was noted by some partici-
pants, some colour manipulations looked unnatural in the Website
context, as most Websites combine several colours. Thus, addi-
tional research will have to be conducted in more complex (combi-
nations of colours), but also more natural, environments.
Second, the number of participants in each of the studies was
fairly small and the second study could usefully be replicated with
designers as participants. Indeed, this could provide a means of
persuading designers to adopt the user’s point of view.
Third, we chose to use an informational Website intended to be
used by university students. This choice allowed us to increase the
participants’ motivation in the second study. However, the purpose
of a Website may also impact the choice of colours. Thus, some col-
ours may be suitable for informational sites and others for com-
mercial sites, given that the aim of informational sites is to
promote the comprehension and memorization of information,
whereas the aim of commercial sites is to motivate users to repeat
visits and buy the products that are sold there. Additional research
is therefore needed to explore the impact of colours in diverse
Website contexts.
To conclude, the present study demonstrates the impact of dif-
ferent colour schemes on users. Its findings complement previous
research on Websites. The results of the first study confirm that
colours have the potential to influence both users’ and designers’
perceptions, although the two groups differed to some extent in
their judgements about what constitutes an appealing colour.
The findings of the second study go further, as they show that
when Website colours are associated with a specific physical lay-
out, they can affect users’ behaviours and cognitive processes.
Therefore, the so-called ‘‘aesthetic dimensions’’ contribute not only
to the ‘‘beauty’’ of interactive systems, but also to their ‘‘goodness’’,
to borrow Hassenzahl’s terminology.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the reviewers for their constructive com-
ments. We also thank a lot Mathieu Vincensini and Valérie Alpe
for their important contribution to this research, Gwenhael Franç-
ois who constructed the three experimental Websites and all par-
ticipants in the two studies.
Appendix A
Instructions given to participants in the first study when they
access to the experimental site that presents the 23 homepages:
‘‘Hello,
We are going to show you 23 versions of the same homepage in
various colours. Please, let us know to which extent you like each
of these versions. This homepage is the first page of a Website for
79
students in Psychology at the University of Provence (Aix-en-Prov-
ence), which provided users with two kinds of information
elements:
– studies: a general presentation of the discipline and the univer-
sity program;
– hobbies: a general presentation of the activities at the University
and outings in Aix-en-Provence.
To indicate to which extent you like the different versions of the
homepages, you will have to select one out of a seven keys ranging
from ‘I don’t like it at all’ to ‘I like it a lot’. After the selection of your
answer, you will have to validate it in order to access to the follow-
ing homepage.
After looking at all the homepages, we will ask you to answer to
some questions.’’
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Nathalie Bonnardel is a Full Professor in Cognitive
Ergonomics at the University of Provence (Aix-en-
Provence, France). She is the Director of the Department
of Cognitive and Experimental Psychology as well as the
Director of the Master’s degree in Cognitive Ergonomics.
She conducts her studies at the Research Center in
Psychology of Cognition, Language and Emotion (Psy-
CLE). Her research aims at analyzing cognitive processes
involved in the design of systems or products and in the
use of interactive systems. Such results allow both a
better understanding of cognitive processes and pro-
posals for supporting human activities, especially
through the use of computational systems.
Annie Piolat is a Full Professor of Psycholinguistic at the
University of Provence (Aix-en-Provence, France) and
the head of the research group ‘‘Cognition, Language
and Expertise’’ at the Research Center in Psychology of
Cognition, Language and Emotion (PsyCLE). Her
research concerns the constraints of the human cogni-
tive architecture, especially working memory at work in
writing strategies. She analyses cognitive effort during
note-taking, writing with a word processor or for a Web
site. She also explores how the cognitive–emotional
determinants of writing (emotional constraints arising
from the writer’s own affective dispositions or from
expressive writing) can help or hinder composition processes (planning, translating,
revising).
Ludovic Le Bigot is an Assistant Professor in Cognitive
Ergonomics at the University of Poitiers. He conducts
his research in the CeRCA (UMR 6234), a research center
on Cognition and Learning. His research interests are
focused on human–computer interaction, human–
computer dialogue and information search.