Outlook Colors Speak 1,000 Words

Disclaimer: Dedicated to those who love, adore, and could not live without Microsoft Outlook. 

For one who uses Outlook, the colors of events are an individual medium for ones life. The colors one uses for activities can portray ones preferences and personality. For those who are not familiar with this program, Microsoft Outlook is a tool that organizes emails, schedules and contacts. The applications goal is to increase efficiency and organization in ones life. 

 

Outlook can highlight one's preferences for activities. For example, on my calendar "Going to the Gym" is in black, which matches the somberness of the activity (I hate going to the gym). On the other hand, on my friends calendar "Going to the Gym" is in pink, complementing her love for working out (pink is a relatively happy, bright color on Outlook). In addition, on my calendar "Green" is for "CAB Events" because I enjoy having school spirit and being involved. However, on my friends outlook calendar "School Events" is in Brown because she never wants to go, nor cares to be involved in school. Furthermore, on my calendar "Social Events" is in Fuschia, and on my friends calendar, "Social Events' is in grey because she mostly studies and refrains from socializing with others. 

These colors become a medium when calendars are shared between friends and thus, can define one's personality. I can tell which activities my friends love through the colors they choose for their activities. For example, one of my classmates has "Shopping" as "Red" versus "Class" which she has colored "Black". In short, I see much more red than black on her schedule. She enjoys seeing brighter colors on her calendar, and thus, picks the activities she likes parallels with happier, warmer colors. However, how does one get these assumptions about colors? It stems from media: we generally associate darker colors as gloomy, mundane and lighter colors as energy and happiness. Going further, these generalizations about colors have been instilled in us since we were born through our exposure to products. We were taught that brighter, colorful toys were "more fun" than boring, mundane, dark toys. As Croteau & Hoynes state, "...the technologies provide new opportunities for media corporations by giving them new profit-making resources and the enhanced ability to link different kinds of media. (Croteau & Hoynes, 314)" Microsoft Outlook is a perfect example of linking mediums together. The program links your contacts, schedule, and email together then organizes them through colors and folders, making this linkage coherent and distinct. 

In conclusion, I believe one's outlook portrays much more than their schedule: it speaks to their personality and preferences. Tim O'Sullivan states, "Computerism applications are causing a shift in human personality, making it much more available for others to be in the know about an individual without their knowledge, which ultimately derives from media technology (O'Sullivan 223)". Through this medium of colors in shared calendars, we are able to analyze an individuals tastes and preferences without their consent. Based on our class discussion last week, this question arises: with Outlook increase our ability to multi task and organize our lives through colors, is this detrimental or helpful for society? It seems to make our lives more efficient, but do these multi colored schedules and emails take away from our ability to focus?

Outlook Colors

Sample Outlook Calendar