5 questions about colour design in front-end development

In our series ‘5 Questions About,’ our experts provide answers to important topics related to OpenTalk, open source software, digital sovereignty, and current industry trends.

This time with: Emre Neumann, front-end developer at OpenTalk.

Emre Neumann is a front-end developer at OpenTalk and brings extensive expertise in the development of user-friendly and accessible web applications. With his focus on modern front-end technologies and user-oriented design, he contributes significantly to the design of the OpenTalk user interface. He answers 5 questions about strategic colour design in professional front-end applications.

Colours are much more than a decorative element in front-end development. They determine user-friendliness, navigation and the perception of trust and professionalism. This is of central importance for applications in public administration and companies: citizens, employees and external partners must be able to work efficiently, securely and without barriers with digital solutions. A well-founded colour design contributes significantly to ensuring that applications are not only appealing, but also remain sustainable and legally compliant.

What strategic role do colours play in the front-end design of professional applications?

Colours shape the appearance and thus the corporate identity of an application. They convey corporate values and ensure recognition among users. At the same time, they fulfil an essential functional task: contrasts structure user interfaces, signal colours indicate successes, errors or warnings and support intuitive navigation.

In complex applications such as video conferencing solutions, a clear colour strategy supports quick orientation and reduces the cognitive load on users. At OpenTalk, for example, we deliberately use accent colours in our video conferencing solution to give users clear options for action and make interactions intuitive. This significantly increases efficiency in digital work processes.

What technical and legal requirements must be taken into account when designing accessible colour palettes?

Consistent colour design forms the basis for a professional user experience and compliance with legal accessibility requirements. Modern colour spaces such as OKLCH reproduce human perception with particular precision: a defined difference in brightness is actually perceived as such, which enables the programmatic calculation of shades.

Legibility is crucial for legally compliant accessibility. Contrast calculations according to standards such as APCA (Advanced Perceptual Contrast Algorithm) help to determine the optimal ratio between text and background colour. This is essential, especially for administrative software and business-critical applications, in order to include all user groups and comply with the requirements of EU Directive 2016/2102 and BITV 2.0.

What impact do colours have on trust, navigation and user experience in digital work processes?

Colours have been proven to influence how people make decisions and evaluate applications. A green confirmation button is inviting and intuitively leads to the next step, while red signals caution and encourages users to reconsider their actions. This allows applications to draw attention, provide orientation and reduce cognitive load in complex workflows.

OpenTalk uses the accent colour lime green specifically to guide users to the next logical step and optimise the user experience. However, it is crucial to use colour ethically and transparently: manipulative colour schemes – known as ‘dark patterns’ – can permanently undermine user trust. This is often used in cookie banners, for example. Whenever you get annoyed because you absent-mindedly clicked the wrong button, colours are probably to blame. For digital processes in public authorities and companies, it is therefore important to consistently focus on transparency and user-friendliness.

What rules and best practices ensure readability, accessibility and clear navigation?

Less is more: an interface with more than six dominant colours quickly becomes confusing and places a cognitive burden on users. A reduced colour palette with clearly defined functions and semantic meaning has proven effective. Each colour should be used consistently and comprehensibly – for example, red for error messages, green for confirmations or blue for informative notifications. If a confirmation button uses lime green, it should always appear in this colour, regardless of whether it means ‘Save’ or ‘Cancel’. Interactive elements are highlighted less by fixed colours and more by clever contrasts, and are often based on corporate identity.

Accent colours only have their optimal guiding effect when they are used sparingly and purposefully. Caution is also advised when it comes to corporate branding: signal red as a brand colour can be problematic if the same colour is also used for error messages. Proven best practices ensure a tidy, accessible and trustworthy appearance that meets legal requirements.

How does a strategic colour choice support the sustainable development and maintenance of complex front-end systems?

A well-thought-out colour strategy not only facilitates the initial design, but also the long-term operation and scaling of front-end systems. At OpenTalk, the colour palette is currently being systematically reduced and replaced with calculated shades. This approach eliminates many special cases in the code and creates a more maintenance-friendly architecture.

An essential aspect of this process is the development of clear naming conventions for colours and the establishment of clear rules for their use. This systematic approach creates a uniform basis on which development teams can work efficiently without having to re-evaluate every design decision.

For users, this structured colour design means lower maintenance costs, better scalability as requirements grow, and greater future-proofing of the investment made. Systematic colour concepts thus become a strategic element of sustainable IT architectures and contribute measurably to the optimisation of total cost of ownership.

Conclusion

Colours determine much more than the aesthetics of an application – they are the key to accessibility, user confidence and a positive user experience.

Those who use colours strategically and in a legally compliant manner create digital solutions that work, convince and last in the long term. OpenTalk demonstrates how modern, evidence-based colour design contributes to the development of user-friendly and accessible applications that meet the high demands of public administration and businesses.