DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/jip.v15i1.%25p

Color Psychology on Book Covers: An Analysis of Visual Preferences Across Adult and Children’s Books for Enhanced Audience Targeting at Sampoerna Academy Grand Pakuwon Surabaya

*Arum Karisma Nadya Lashita orcid  -  Airlangga University, Magister Information Science dan Library, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, , Indonesia
Imam Yuadi  -  Master of Information and Library Science/Social and Politial Science, Airangga University, Indonesia, Indonesia

Citation Format:
Abstract

Book covers play a crucial role in capturing readers’ attention and shaping initial perceptions, making color an essential element in influencing emotional engagement and guiding audience targeting across children’s and adult literature. Color functions as a visual communication tool that reflects the tone, theme, and intended readership, while also aligning with psychological and developmental preferences. The objective is to identify how color attributes such as brightness, saturation, and dominant hues differentiate book categories and support effective visual classification. A quantitative content analysis approach is applied using 6,093 book cover images collected from the Sampoerna Academy Library. Data extraction is conducted using Python libraries, including OpenCV and NumPy, to measure RGB (Red, Green, Blue), HLS (Hue, Lightness, Saturation), and colorfulness attributes. The analysis is supported by visualization techniques such as Scatter Plot and Radial Visualization (RadViz) through Orange software to explore relationships between color variables and book categories. The results reveal clear visual distinctions between the two categories. Children’s book covers predominantly appear in higher brightness and color intensity ranges, with strong associations to warm and vibrant hues such as red, yellow, and orange. In contrast, adult book covers are more widely distributed across lower brightness levels and are associated with cooler and more subdued tones such as blue, green, and purple. Some overlap is identified, indicating that certain colors can function across categories depending on context. The findings confirm that color attributes serve as reliable indicators for audience targeting and visual classification. Future research is recommended to integrate additional design elements, including typography and layout, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of book cover design.

Fulltext Email colleagues
Keywords: Adult books, children books, HLS, RGB, book cover colors, Phyton, data science.

Article Metrics:

Article Info
Section: Articles
Language : EN
  1. Al-Ayash, A., Kane, R. T., Smith, D. and Green-Armytage, P. (2016). The influence of color on student emotion, heart rate, and performance in learning environments. Color Research and Application, 41 (2), John Wiley and Sons Inc., pp.196–205. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1002/col.21949
  2. Brooker, A. and Franklin, A. (2016). The effect of colour on children’s cognitive performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 86 (2), John Wiley and Sons Ltd., pp.241–255. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1111/bjep.12101
  3. Chana, K., Mikuni, J., Rebora, S., Vezzani, G., Meyer, A., Salgaro, M. and Leder, H. (2025). Judging Books by Their Covers: The Impact of Text and Image Features on the Aesthetic Evaluation and Memorability of Italian Novels. Literature, 5 (2), MDPI AG., p.13. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.3390/literature5020013
  4. Chiang, H., Ge, Y. and Wu, C. (2019). Classification of Book Genres By Cover and Title
  5. Yang, R. and Peng, X. (2024). Hierarchical Model of Graphical Human-computer Interface Based on Digital Twin and Visual Perception. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Practice, 7 (4), Clausius Scientific Press, Inc. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.23977/jaip.2024.070401
  6. Darling, S. (2019). How Are Book Covers and Their Components Represented in the Digital Market? Interscript, UCL Press., pp.20–35. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.14324/111.444.2398-4732.004[Accessed29November2024]
  7. Diachenko, I., Kalishchuk, S., Zhylin, M., Kyyko, A. and Volkova, Y. (2022). Color education: A study on methods of influence on memory. Heliyon, 8 (11), Elsevier Ltd. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11607
  8. Ferah Özcan, A. and Tunçeli, H. İ. (2023). The Color Liking and Object Color Preferences of 48-84 Month-old Children According to the Gender. Theory and Practice Research, 9, pp.163–178. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.38089/ekuad.2023.143
  9. Golestaneh, H. and Naeini, H. S. (2022). Design, Visual Communication and Branding. Raposo, D. (Ed). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [Online]. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359141862
  10. Goyal, B. and Bansal, V. (2023). Cosine Modified K-Means and Neural Network for Classification of Images. International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication, 11 (4), pp.572–589. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ijritcc.org
  11. Gudinavičius, A. and Šuminas, A. (2017). Choosing a book by its cover: analysis of a reader’s choice. Journal of Documentation, 74 (2), Emerald Group Holdings Ltd., pp.430–446. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1108/JD-09-2016-0111
  12. Jonauskaite, D. and Mohr, C. (2025). Do we feel colours? A systematic review of 128 years of psychological research linking colours and emotions. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 32 (4), Springer., pp.1457–1486. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.3758/s13423-024-02615-z
  13. Kachorsky, D. and Reid, S. F. (2020). The Covers of Young Adult Novels and Their Graphic Novel Adaptations: A Qualitative Multimodal Content Analysis. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 69 (1), SAGE Publications., pp.303–319. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1177/2381336920937303
  14. Kang, D. and Yoon, K. (2016). Emotion-based interior design image recommendation system using color image scale. International Journal of Advances in Image Processing Techniques, 3 (2)
  15. Kramer, R. S. S. and Prior, J. Y. (2019). Colour associations in children and adults. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72 (8), SAGE Publications Ltd., pp.1977–1983. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1177/1747021818822948
  16. Lawand, L. (2015). The Power of Visual Branding: the impact of visual branding on consumer perception and marketing. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.20938.39363
  17. Lei, Q. and Zhong, G. (2024). A Study on the Effect of Color Preference on Purchase Intention of Picture Books for 3-7 Year Old Children in China and South Korea. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, 9 (1), Sciendo. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.2478/amns-2024-1169
  18. Lin, C., Mottaghi, S. and Shams, L. (2024). The effects of color and saturation on the enjoyment of real-life images. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 31 (1), Springer., pp.361–372. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.3758/s13423-023-02357-4
  19. Liu, Z. (2020). Research on Color Design in Book Design. Frontiers in Art Research, 2, pp.37–40. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.25236/FAR.2020.020908
  20. Meliksetyan, G. (2025). The Psychological Meaning of Color in Design: a Semantic Review. Main Issues Of Pedagogy And Psychology (Miopap), 12 (1). [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.24234/miopap.v12i1
  21. Mirzaei, V. (2025). The Impact of Color Psychology in Graphic Design: A Comprehensive Review. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management (IJSRM), 13 (03), Valley International., pp.2088–2095. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.18535/ijsrm/v13i03.ec04
  22. Nakahata, S., Sakamoto, E., Oda, A., Kobata, N. and Sato, S. (2016). Effects of color of book cover and typeface of title and author name on gaze duration and choice behavior for books: Evidence from an eye-tracking experiment. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 53 (1), John Wiley and Sons Inc., pp.1–4. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1002/pra2.2016.14505301100
  23. Pinna, B. and Deiana, K. (2018). On the Role of Color in Reading and Comprehension Tasks in Dyslexic Children and Adults. i-Perception, 9 (3), SAGE Publications Ltd. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1177/2041669518779098
  24. Raguraman, P., Meghana, A., Navya, Y., Karishma, Sk. and Iswarya, S. (2021). Color Detection of RGB Images Using Python and OpenCv. International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology, Technoscience Academy., pp.109–112. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.32628/cseit217119
  25. Rodgers, S. and Packard, B. (2022). Judging a Book by it’s Cover. Reserach Gate. [Online]. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361173403
  26. Schloss, K. B., Lessard, L., Walmsley, C. S. and Foley, K. (2018). Color inference in visual communication: the meaning of colors in recycling. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 3 (1), Springer. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1186/s41235-018-0090-y
  27. Skelton, A. E., Maule, J. and Franklin, A. (2022). Infant color perception: Insight into perceptual development. Child Development Perspectives, 16 (2), John Wiley and Sons Inc., pp.90–95. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1111/cdep.12447
  28. Song, S. (2024). Evaluating the Extent to Which the Colors Used in the Illustrations in Children’s Picture Books Have a Positive Effect on the Intellectual Development of Young Children. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology, 4 (3), Warwick Evans Publishing., pp.157–159. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.62051/ijcsit.v4n3.16
  29. Teixeira, A., Brito-Costa, S. and Abbasi, M. (2026). Effects of color saturation on frontal brain activity in colorblind and non-colorblind individuals. Human-Intelligent Systems Integration. [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.1007/s42454-026-00091-5
  30. Tsurumoto, M., Shimazaki, T., Hyry, J., Kawakubo, Y., Yokoyama, T. and Anzai, D. (2025). Preliminary Quantitative Evaluation of the Optimal Colour System for the Assessment of Peripheral Circulation from Applied Pressure Using Machine Learning. Sensors, 25 (14), Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). [Online]. Available at: doi: 10.3390/s25144441
  31. Walsh, K. J. (2026). RGB to Color Name Mapping (Triplet and Hex). [Online]. Available at: http://web.njit.edu/~walsh
  32. www.rapidtables.com. (2024). RGB to HSV color conversion

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update:

No citation recorded.