# Do Background Colors Have an Impact on Preferences and Catch the Attention of Users?
## 5 Discussion  
The main task carried out in the paper was an attempt to determine colors that elicit the user reactions expected by the designer. This research pertained to two types of attention, which occur the most often when a user is in contact with visual messages and user interfaces: Sustained attention and divided attention. The conducted research allowed us to identify the dominant colors, which drew and held the attention of users. Let us look closer at the research results on sustained attention. White was rated as the friendliest and most readable, in reference to the background. It can be assumed that, regardless of the surroundings in which it is present, its aesthetic and readability are sufficient, and it does not cause sight fatigue in users. Moreover, this color is visible to every person (with minor differences in brightness). The white color has the highest brightness coefficient and, therefore, it will cause an illusion of being bigger on top of other colors. In the psychological context, white is equated to purity and information message simplicity. When looking at the other end of the ranking, the most background-dependent colors were gray, orange, and violet. The perception of these colors changed, depending on the background, and they were generally perceived as unaesthetic and unfriendly for the user. Visual messages colored gray, orange, or violet were also perceived as unreadable. An example of a practical application of our research results on sustained attention is presented in Figure 14. In the example of typical website visualization, two colors are juxtaposed, where white is the background-independent color and gray is background-dependent color. The remaining examined colors (e.g., Group 3 in Figure 10) require an individual approach and examination of each project in the context of its surroundings. We recommend the application of white for icons, graphical elements, and text wherever it has no influence on the project surroundings, when the background is colorful (i.e., photography), or when the graphic design contains more than 3-4 uniform colors. This research can be used by designers in website projects, user interfaces (e.g., for applications or systems), advertisements, informational messages, call-to-action buttons, and announcements. Now, let us look closer at the research results on divided attention. [PERSON] and yellow colors triggered the fastest user responses and were noticed rapidly. They stand out by being very quickly noticed as atypical and distinguished elements, regardless to their background color and surroundings. Their brightness may be the factor that causes this phenomenon, producing an impression of being dazzled and agitated. The effect is very intense and occurs for each examined background. [PERSON] and yellow colors were found to be in the same group, thus making them equivalent in this aspect. When looking at the other end of the ranking, the most background-dependent color was gray. User reactions to gray was unstable and highly dependent on the background color. In most cases, it was unnoticeable to the user, even when the background was intensive. An example of a practical application of the research results on divided attention is presented in Figure 15, with the example of a typical car dashboard, background-independent colors (green and yellow), and the background-dependent color (gray) are juxtaposed. A visualization is shown for icons and numbers (A: green icons, gray numbers, B: yellow numbers, gray icons). Green and yellow colors highly attract and focus the user's attention, regardless of their background, while gray is poorly visible and noticeable only after user's gaze is enforced. We recommend the application of green and/or yellow colors