Shedding light on the possible side effects of colored light usage

Een discussiepunt voor een HTI-vak gebaseerd op een artikel van TU'ers Lu, S., Ham, J., & Midden, C. J.
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Lu et al. (2014) found that the use of red and green colored ambient lighting for giving feedback about energy consumption, can effectively reduce energy consumption. This is due to the association with high and low energy consumption for respectively red and green. As the researchers already claim by themselves, the color red is not only associated with high energy use, but it’s also related with a feeling of nervousness. Avoiding a high use of energy will then also lead to avoidance of a relatively higher feeling of nervousness, which sounds like an additional motivator for the user.

However, each other color also has its psychological effects. Green, the color most associated with energy conservation according to the former study findings, is being associated with envy (Aslam, 2006). If this system uses green light to nudge people towards a more energy saving state, this also means the system is inherently (unintended) designed to stimulate envy in people.

What envy is actually about, has been researched and is characterized by unpleasant and often painful feelings of inferiority, hostility and resentment of a desired attribute enjoyed by another person or other persons (Parrott and Smith, 1993; Smith and Kim, 2007).  If green light also triggers these emotions in people, it strongly remains the question if the saved energy consumption is worth the negative effect on one’s mental health.

I don’t claim that using green is by definition inevitably influencing to one’s well-being in a negative way, but researchers and designers should be aware of possible side-effects that colors might have. Therefore all possible effects of used colors should be taken into account, and not merely one association that suits a particular purpose.

Reference list:

Aslam, M. M. (2006). Are you selling the right colour? A cross‐cultural review of colour as a marketing cue. Journal of marketing communications, 12(1), 15-30.

Labrecque, L. I., & Milne, G. R. (2012). Exciting red and competent blue: the importance of color in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(5), 711-727.

Lu, S., Ham, J., & Midden, C. J. (2014). Using Ambient Lighting in Persuasive Communication: The Role of Pre-existing Color Associations. In Persuasive Technology (pp. 167-178). Springer International Publishing.

Parrott, W. G., & Smith, R. H. (1993). Distinguishing the experiences of envy and jealousy. Journal of personality and social psychology, 64(6), 906.

Smith, R. H., & Kim, S. H. (2007). Comprehending envy. Psychological bulletin, 133(1), 46.