Designing for projectors – how to get the colors right

It is very often that we need to present our design work to an audience using projectors. I wonder how many times have you encountered the situation where the colors don’t turn out right on the big screen which messes up all the hard work you have put into the project.  Clients, in particular, are very sensitive to colors that don’t appear right as this will be the first thing they see and criticize.  To avoid such a situation, we need to beware of how to get the colors to displayed correctly when using projector to showcase our design work.

Here are 7 tips to designing for projectors, in particular to getting your colors to display correctly.

#1: Contrasting colors work best

For projection, contrasting colors work best. If your design uses different shades of a single color, it will not turn out right when projected out on a big screen most of the time.   The solution is to design more contrast. It also helps the visitors since contrasting colors can make your call to action more prominent. For more articles on colors, check out this one choosing colors with flat design.

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#2:  White background works best

All things being equal, a white background always have a better chance of displaying correctly, compared to the a dark color background. White can always be displayed perfectly so it is the safest color to use.  Dark backgrounds, if displayed incorrectly, with cause the whole design to look awardard during the presentation.

#3: Colors to avoid

Red, blue and green will normally project well. The shades might be off but you can generally tell if  it is blue or green or red color when projected. The problem comes with colors that are a combination of these basic primary colors. Due to the projector’s setting, some of these non primary colors might be displayed incorrectly. The worst color tend to be yellow or orange so beware of their potential problems before the presentation.

#4:  Buy a well calibrated projector

For presentations that are conducted within your office, you can have more control over the kind of projector you will be using. The current range of projectors in the market is so wide that you will never buy one that the has RGB setting for your projects. Nevertheless, you can buy one that projects well with at least the majority of your designs. One good place to consider all the projector models is Projectorshop24. You can visit Projectorshop24 via the link.

#5  Avoid using colors as separators

Some designs tend to use colors to separate out different sections of a website. This can be dangerous during presentation as any color misrepresentation might make your whole design seems a continuous mess. As mentioned, the best is to use white background with grey lines to separate out different parts of your website.

#6: Use color calibration devices

There are color calibration devices that can help you adjust your colors so it displays well under certain RBG settings. These are effective but the downside is that they are also expensive. I will advice buying one only when you have to make many presentations which can then justify the cost of the purchase.

#7:  Control the lighting of the room

This is an often overlooked item but pay attention to the lighting in the room. If you have contrasting background and foreground colors, a darken room will definitely bring the contrast much better than a brightly lit room. Hence, be aware of the lighting in the room and adjust it according to the design of your website.