We have an application with a built-in stopwatch. If the stopwatch is running the pause button is shown and if it is stopped the play button is shown. Currently the stopwatch itself as well as the button are in neutral colors.
It would be great if the color of the play/pause button could help the user to use the stopwatch more effectivly.
The background needs to stay neutral for technical reasons, so the only design option we have is coloring the button. I've read the discussion about the seperaton of the play and pause button and it makes perfect sense, but again technical reasons prevent me from having two buttons. So, one button on a grey background it is.
Should the running stopwatch with the pause button be green or red?
A green stop button would be a great indicator that the stopwatch is running, but it would be strange to press a green button to stop something. A red stop button would be a great indicator that this is a STOP button, but then the running stopwatch would always show the red button, which is kind of strange.
Answer
ChrisF's answer is very correct - make sure that the colors are not the only indication! Assuming you're already taking care of that:
If the choice is strict between green and red - go for the red.
The button is an action, not an indicator. If it were an indicator you might have wanted it green (to show it's "okay" or running), but when dealing with actions - red means "stop" (and "pause" is a kind of "stop").
Moreover - you don't need further indication that the stopwatch is running - you see the actual numbers change!
BTW - if you have just one button, after you've pressed "pause" what does the button "become"? Will pressing it again resume or stop?
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