2. Colour selection

Choosing a colour scheme can make an interface attractive and easy on the eye, or it can be nightmare of jarring colours. Have a look at the two items below. Which do you think is the easier on the eye? I would suggest the one on the left is the more harmonious.

There is a science behind colour selection. Rules have been developed that seem to work for people. Software applications are available that follow these rules which makes setting up a colour scheme fairly straightforward. If you don't have such an application then a good rule of thumb is to limit colours to four per screen and no more than seven overall.

A typical colour selection interface is shown below. Notice the drop-down box that has 'Analogous', 'Complements', 'Split Complements' and so on. Each of these is a colour rule. You pick a colour from the colour wheel and the application automatically selects a pallete based on that selection and the rule chosen.