Pick Your Color: Color Coding Your Digital Asset Library

I was thinking about how to write this blog yesterday while I was in the process of making dinner, and I realized that I have pretty much color coded by entire life. Take my kitchen surroundings, for example. I noticed all the colorful symbols that remind me which items belong to what container or what type of food I can chop on which rectangular cutting board.

Then I see my to-do list hanging on my fridge, begging to be attended to. I have two types of square magnetic notepads, one red and one white. As I review the list on each notepad, I realize I have written all of the absolutely super important things I need to tend to for the month of August. All other leisurely items that I deemed less important were written lazily on the white notepad.

I remember getting my driver’s license and having to remember the shapes and colors of road signs so that, as a driver, I can recognize them from a distance (There an entire section in the Driver’s Manual dedicated to it). Each shape symbolizes something like triangle shapes are for Yield, octagon is for STOP signs or rhombus for Warning. In addition, each color provides an information – red means stop or prohibition, green is for direction, yellow is for general warning, etc. There is already a preset response to convey the actions or information equivalent to each color coded symbol when I see them on the road.

All of these color coded symbols are meant to translate something that makes sense to my daily existence. It helps trigger something in my head to translate actions without the use of words.

I recently worked on a project for a publication group using MerlinOne’s Digital Asset Management software. They asked me if there’s a way for them to easily recognize items that have a specific status. The purpose of the request was to have editors visually recognize the status of the objects: Done (has been edited), In Progress (currently being edited), or None (not edited yet). I suggested applying color codes on their objects, Green Circle for Done, Blue for In Progress and Red for None. We applied the color codes on their system after they went live. They have since requested to add more color code configurations. I guess they like the idea of having colorful shapes as reminders as well.

If you would like to learn more about the use of color codes with managing your digital asset library, please watch the video below.