<story><title>Traffic safety “nudges” can cause number of crashes to increase (2022)</title><url>https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abm3427</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>duffpkg</author><text>This is reminiscent of an experience we had at ClearHealth with managed hospital aesthetics. Not a scientific study in any sense, but as part of rebranding a hospital group, the color scheme was changed from a neutral green to a much brighter orange. The change coincided with a small but meaningful increase in mortality for procedures done on the associated floor. Enough that we reverted to the older aesthetic. The mortality change reverted as well. Chalked it up to coincidence. This process then repeated at two other separate campuses. I can&amp;#x27;t rule out this was some sort of reverse &amp;quot;Hawthorne Effect&amp;quot; where our communications about the change were the source of the problem but it bothered me enough to mostly put an end to our appetite for large scale aesthetic redesigns.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bobsoap</author><text>Color has a measurable effect on humans. There&amp;#x27;s an extensive body of research on the psychological effects of color; every designer worth their salt knows this. The fields of branding and marketing use color purposefully every day as well.&lt;p&gt;Green has a soothing, calming effect on people because it&amp;#x27;s most common in our natural surroundings. For example, TV shows use &amp;quot;green rooms&amp;quot; filled with plants (and sometimes even painted green) to calm down guests before they go on stage for this very reason.&lt;p&gt;Orange, on the other hand, excites people and can elevate their heartbeat. It&amp;#x27;s a cross between red (hot-blooded, passion, rage) and yellow (energy, happiness, attention). You could say it encourages your emotions to interfere with rational thought.&lt;p&gt;So you can keep your appetite for large-scale redesigns! Just add a step to incorporate color psychology.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Color_psychology&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Color_psychology&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Traffic safety “nudges” can cause number of crashes to increase (2022)</title><url>https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abm3427</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>duffpkg</author><text>This is reminiscent of an experience we had at ClearHealth with managed hospital aesthetics. Not a scientific study in any sense, but as part of rebranding a hospital group, the color scheme was changed from a neutral green to a much brighter orange. The change coincided with a small but meaningful increase in mortality for procedures done on the associated floor. Enough that we reverted to the older aesthetic. The mortality change reverted as well. Chalked it up to coincidence. This process then repeated at two other separate campuses. I can&amp;#x27;t rule out this was some sort of reverse &amp;quot;Hawthorne Effect&amp;quot; where our communications about the change were the source of the problem but it bothered me enough to mostly put an end to our appetite for large scale aesthetic redesigns.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>6510</author><text>A factory here, a few decades ago spend 150 k to select a color scheme for maximum productivity. No one believed in it but one investor insisted because he used the service before and the consultant had a lot of numbers to show.&lt;p&gt;50 cm above the floor the wall had 6 washed out grayish colored bars 20-25 cm width with green and orange slightly brighter. I didn&amp;#x27;t notice a productivity gain but it did allow excellent peripheral vision.</text></comment>