SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2023

Color is an important element of design. It is widely studied and debated aesthetics, art, and marketing. Scholars have found that color can improve memory retention and influence people’s interests. Many case studies demonstrate the influence of color on certain services, objects, and events. Lab experiments show that memory accuracy can improve when the background color is changed from white to warm colors (especially red). However, there is not much academic research explored the role that background color plays in mental health messaging. When university counseling services send out news, information, and invitations to sessions, they do not always use the same background color. Yet, research suggests different background colors may influence people emotionally. Using a survey experiment, this paper investigates whether background color can affect memory retention and attitudes towards counseling invitation. Survey respondents are exposed to mental health tips and counseling invitation on different background colors. Then they are asked factual questions about the tips and how interested they are in the counseling service invitation. The results are that none of the treatment colors increased memory retention or interest compared to a white background. I discussed the limitations of the experiment and future research.