Effects of ambient illumination, luminance contrast, and stimulus type on subjective preference of VDT target and background color combinations.

This study investigated the effects of the target and background color combination on subjective preference, i.e., aesthetic appearance, legibility and visual comfort, of stimuli presented on a visual display terminal under various ambient illuminations, luminance contrasts, and stimulus types. Analysis showed the main effect of color combination was significant for the three dependent variables. Black-on-white and blue-on-white were the most preferred combinations, while turquoise-on-green and turquoise-on-red were the least preferred. A sign was rated better than text. The significant interaction between color combination and luminance contrast indicated that more preferred color combinations were rated better under higher luminance contrast, whereas less preferred color combinations had better ratings under lower luminance contrast.