Effects of color and ambient illumination on legibility and positive and negative affect schedule for color electronic paper displays

With the advancement of technology, color electronic paper displays have become the mainstream market in recent years. Thirty participants were recruited in this study to investigate the effect of color type (color, grayscale) and ambient illumination (200 lx, 750 lx, and 1500 lx) on legibility (search time, accuracy) and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) for different reading contents (charts, texts, and charts with texts [comics]). The results indicated that color type was significant on search time for charts and texts, significant on accuracy for texts and comics, and significant on PANAS for the three reading contents, while color displays performed better than grayscale displays. In addition, ambient illumination was significant on search time and PANAS for the three reading contents, and significant on accuracy for texts. The results showed that, at 200 lx, color charts and comics were recommended for reading. The results indicated that more than 750 lx was suitable for people to read charts. On the other hand, 1500 lx provided better legibility and a positive affect for people to read texts and comics. The results of this study could serve as a reference for the necessity of color electronic displays and the recommendation of suitable ambient illuminations with different reading contents.