How should I use color in my application? Single, Theme, or Chaos?

Question

How should I be using color in my application? I have over a 100 different forms (windows) in my application, and the default windows grey seems like a bad choice to me.

One school of thought says pick one neutral color, and use the same one everywhere.

Another school of thought says pick a set of neutral colors, and use them same ones within a group of form (e.g., shipping screens might be light green, receiving screens light orange, user administration screens light blue, etc.).

The final school of thought says make every form different. We've got millions of colors, why not use them?

What should I do and why?

Answer 1

Grouping forms by colour would be OK. Users would quickly learn which colour went with which function (as long as you got your grouping right) and it would be a useful way for them to easily check they were in the correct area.

I certainly wouldn't go for a separate colour for each form. It would make your application seem very disjointed.

Answer 2

Just be aware that about 1 in 10 males will have trouble distinguishing forms based on their colors.