The Power of Color in Jira Labels
Using color isn't just about making things look more appealing; it’s a powerful tool for communication. Different colors convey messages through cultural associations and can evoke various moods and emotions.
This is why Atlassian users want to customize Jira label colors for their tasks and user stories. They aim to communicate crucial information about their issues quickly and effectively.
Why Are Colored Labels Beneficial in Jira?
Jira labels are useful for a couple of reasons. They make tasks easier to find using filters and quickly highlight attributes when viewing an issue.
However, the default grey labels in Jira fall short. According to 
Color Psychology: A Guide for Designers, Marketers & Students , grey is emotionless, unresponsive, and discouraging. It’s the color of conformism, lacking personality and energy.
No wonder users desire different-colored labels for their Jira issues!
Research shows that color significantly affects our perceptions. For example, green often symbolizes good, while red signifies bad. The color wheel divides into warm colors (associated with passion and energy) and cool colors (linked to peace and calm).
Due to these associations, colored Jira labels can indicate status, category, priority, or other custom attributes. Colored labels allow team members to quickly understand what an issue relates to or what actions are needed. Grey labels fail to achieve this and often become overlooked, rendering them ineffective.
Customizing Jira Label Colors
Jira doesn't natively support label colors beyond grey, so you'll need an app - like Awesome Custom Fields from the Atlassian Marketplace.
Awesome Custom Fields introduces a variety of new custom field types, including color labels. These color labels make issues more identifiable and comprehensible at a glance. For instance, green “Approved” labels and red “Rejected” labels immediately indicate work that can proceed or needs reconsideration.
Edit view Issue view
Another issue with standard Jira labels is the lack of control over label creation. Users can create new labels directly within an issue, leading to variants like “Need Approval,” “Needs Approval,” and “Need-Approval,” or duplicates from typos such as “Approved” and “Appproved.” Different labels with similar meanings, like “Needs Approval” and “Needs Review” or “Rejected” and “Declined,” can also emerge. The color labels feature in Awesome Custom Fields allows admins to manage label creation, preventing clutter.
A key advantage of Awesome Custom Fields over dedicated colored label apps is the variety of additional fields it offers. These fields enhance project management in Jira, providing clearer, more comprehensible tickets at a glance.
Even better, there's an extension for Jira Service Management (JSM) users. This enables both service agents and customers in the portal to use colored labels to highlight status, urgency, or other aspects of their requests.
For more details on creating colored labels in Jira, refer to our documentation.
If you want to customize Jira label colors to quickly convey information about your tickets, book a personal demo of Awesome Custom Fields, or try the app for free on the Atlassian Marketplace.