Ahh I've been waiting for someone to bring this up... It's pretty interesting why color schemes are chosen for events like weddings, parties, and yes Hubpages.com.

The following is just my educated guess, my opinion and I claim no fact or fiction tales. Just my two cents. The parts on the colors below are findings in my research in Marketing and psychology.

This Forum Post inspired this hub: Use of red color by premsingh

I believe they chose these three colors as sort of a Trinary (I think I made that word up, not sure) RGB mix that makes up all the other billions of colors. In these three colors all other colors exist. A metaphor for thought forms that turn into unique and "evergreen" hubs. Like saying the one and the zero (binary) can make anything else a computer can project and create.

Mix that with the "recycle" looking logo and you got the HubPages theme dance. All hubs in all directions for all people, and traffic in and out. Let's not forget unending movement, creativity and combinations of intrigue. It's a powerful concept and I'm jealous they got both of them. *Smiles*

Brilliant. Simple. Simply Brilliant? It follows the K.I.S.S Rule (keep it simple stupid) to the letter (pun?) yet has profound power in its message!

HubPages has two layers of color schemes actually, one is the grey and light blue (in boxes, capsules and words) then theirs the red blue green (RGB) layer that makes you take notice. One reason for the colors besides their inherent creativity is Psychology, but we'll get into that below.

I find it ironic (mildly) that these three colors are sprinkled all over the site (modestly) and yet are not included in the capsule paint box for our own articles. For example you can make a word blue by making it a hyperlink, but then it has to be a hyperlink and so if you just want the word to stand out your only other option is bold print. One theory is that by limiting our writing to the black and white + Pictures the ads will stand out more..

Another is that by limiting us to black and white they maintain control of the sites theme, and this also helps to maintain a universal "feel" to the site. Colors are pretty powerful and anyone who used myspace.com when it first came out realizes the power of too much color, glitter, and moving things lol.

... to soothe your eyes, and to show importance in things like hyperlinks and red headings.

Color sorting psychology and ChromaDepth 3D

Used correctly the three colors Red Green and Blue can be used as a sorting tool. I learned this ironically while studying 3D and Psychology. I came across a set of paper 3D glasses with clear lenses that intrigued me. I found them in my parent's garage when I went over there to help them de-packrat themselves.

The glasses had a .com on them so I looked them up and discovered they didn't need specific red/blue artwork to work. They did their "magic" by filtering colors into depth perception. The materials in the lenses somehow split light up into its rainbow colors in such a way that you would see an aura of rainbows around things but if the picture was color coded just right their was an incredible depth perception created. (Lighting helps remove the "rainbow aura" effect so you just see the picture in 3D.

What's pretty funny is this is the exact technology (although older version) that those paper X-Ray glasses was made from. It would split light differently though with thicker lenses and moved/bent the light so you saw a shadow effect of a person which made it appear that you were looking through their clothing but it was just a mirror shadow of the outline of their form.

ChromaDepth slows light down apparently and gives us a more intense view of the power of each color in determining deapth. The same technology plays out without the glasses we just arent so conciousely aware of the impact it's having on us because were used to seeing it and slaving to its power. With the glasses on you get a real feel for how colors affect us and you see in real time how were swayed to see things. Its simply facinating.

This site has all the different kinds of 3D glasses and how they work: 3D site I just found it on a Google search for "3D glasses" but in this site this was the page that described the glasses I found: ChromaDeapth. You can read more about how it works there. It's quite fascinating to see in person (I think the glasses can be purchased there too).

Psychologically red grabs the eyes powerfully and overpowers the other colors. It's used when an ad wants to immediately grab your attention. No matter where they put it on the ad your eyes will look their first. Blue is second and green is last. Blue is a warm color green (depending on its shade actually can overpower blue) is cool, but shading is the deciding factor in these two.

Notice this color swatch to the right.. Did you notice how you instinctively wanted to "read" the picture from left to right? The red blends into the blue and green and other colors in such a way to use intensity to guide your eyes..

Advertisers of television commercials use colors the same way. They put red where they want you to notice first then move different colors to "pull" your eyes with a psychological tractor beam, down, across, or through the screen. You may not realize it but when your watching a commercial, its actually guiding you through it.. Its anything but benign. I discovered this in this chromadepth technology then more in detail in marketing classes in college. Here's a site that describes some of the ways colors and shades are used to trick you in advertising: Colors in Advertising.

Chromadepth Technology does this with glasses and colors. Using a 2D picture (normal like you'd see on a magazine or a kids drawing) these glasses can change them into 3D. Some pictures are more impactful in the effect than others, again its all about how the colors are laid out, how saturated etc.. that gives it its power. Format is also a factor. In the picture above of the "Absolute" vodka (they put depth to show the power of these glasses) uses fading to create the illusion of going deeper gradually. This is one of the most impressive illusions with chromadepth.

Color Code:

Colors like blue are the "deepest" colors or appear farthest away while red is the "loudest" or appears the closest. With the right artistic flair and some practice you can make a Chromadeapth picture that will look incredibly 3D through these glasses. Notice the similarity to how we see colors in pictures and on television? Red first, green then blue (depending on shade). You ever notice when a capsule opens up for editing (HubPages readers) the red "X" is the first thing your drawn to see?

What got me interested was first of all the glasses worked on the very page I was on but me being the creative spirit I am decided to try to make my own. I did so with ease. It's like a coded picture, just put blue where you want "background" like effects, green where you want background but closer (for the 3D feel) and red where you wanted to stand out as a character. The "absolute Depth" picture above shows the optimal use of colors in creating depth.

Women wear red lipstick when they want you to see their lips first.. of course this isn't the only reason but this is why red lipstick is supposedly the most romantic color to wear.. it makes a man look at your lips and kissing is the idea he gets next.. sex appeal.. everything from make up to television commercials (how about the matrix and the woman in the red dress? Neo simply couldnt concentrate and most people were looking at her too) to website layout schemes use colors for alot of reasons many guide you by the psychological hand..

and many don't realize its even happening. Weather or not a page is "intuitive" is based on how subconciousely guided it is.. how easy to navigate. Colors have alot to do with that feeling of ease.

This used modestly and with tact is very powerful in guiding your readers to important spots. Using red green blue in a certain way you can move someone's eyes across and down the page in a combination psychologically, so for example HubPages uses red to highlight what most people need to see first, green for things that are special (rarely used) and blue (used a lot) to highlight general links, information and so on. I think the spinning logo when your loading a page, saving something or posting to the forum is also a subconscious creativity stimulator.

We as hub writers are not afforded the luxury of these colors in our writing, and I believe probably for good reason. Many would go haywire and make their good work look a bit playschoolish. Of course I wish the site allowed its visitors the option of changing color schemes so for example as one mentioned in the forum, if the colors are too bright, they could go with wintergreen or something. That probably would destroy the fabric of the sites psychological guidance system however so there we are.

That's where I'll leave it as far as my opinion on HubPages choice of these colors.. I see it as if they were making a statement and to me it was a very clear and even subconscious statement that works. Keywords for RGB in Hubpages.com are: Creativity: Innovation: Potential: Readership/Traffic: For the people by the people to the people.