Signal Word and Color Specifications for Product Warnings: An Isoperformance Application

Abstract

Recent work in the area of color and warnings has indicated that the level of hazard communicated by signal words varies as a function of the color in which they are printed. These findings suggest that signal word and color combinations create a continuum of perceived hazard. Although individual experiments advance the understanding of how color affects the perception of product hazard, explicit data do not always provide label designers and product manufacturers with the tools necessary to successfully apply them. To explore how color and signal words can be jointly used, the present effort applied the isoperformance technique to the problem of specifying signal word and color combinations. This technique identifies combinations of variables that produce equal (iso) levels of warning (performance). Using perceived hazard data from 30 participants, signal words and colors were systematically grouped into categories that conveyed equal levels of hazard. How the isoperformance technique might serve as a tool for label designers is described.