Which colours to expose users to at the beginning or, during, and at the end of a shift

Question

This got me thinking and I was hoping it might spark some discussion...

I'm making a system at the moment which has a very prominent background. It's going to be rolled out to call centre agents to be used all day (8 hour shifts I think)

At the moment we have backgrounds consisting of colours, gradients and film scenes (it's for a broadcast company) but I was hoping to make a theme which will animate from colour to colour. Making a shaded animation that lasts a few minutes is easy enough, but the other UX guys and I were hoping to introduce a theme with an 8 hour colour animation which will transform throughout an agent's shift.

Unfortunately my knowledge of colour psychology is limited to "red mad green calm"

I'd be interested to know what kind of colours people think would be best for the agents, and why. Also, if the shifts were at different times would one expect users to desire different colours? (like a night mode in 24 hour use systems)

Answer 1

I have a nav in my car and the map switches to "night mode" which is light on dark. That's a great example of colour change based on time and makes the map less distracting for use at night.

I'm not advocating inverting the colours but you can take your inspiration from the colours of the sky. Like Yellow/Orange for morning and Green/Blue for evening or sticking to a monochromatic change. Also, it's always best to make the colour transition smooth rather than sudden.

IMHO - It's usually best to stick to a consistent colour scheme for better recognition. Perhaps I make an assumption here, but call centre agents tend to be shift workers and turnover rates are high. For training, and an easier transition from morning to night shift, I recommend keeping the application consistent.

Also, does it not need to stick to the brand colours?

EDIT: If you want to add in for morale and make it "fun" for them, you can provide the colour change as a theme option so the user can choose their own experience. Gmail does this well.