Choosing an appropriate color combination in the website design process is considered one of the most important (yet often overlooked) elements in creating a successful website. Psychologists have revealed that people are susceptible on a subconcious level to color impressions and that over 60% of acceptance or rejection of a website is tied to this very fact. Choice of color has the ability to generate a positive impact to the visitor and as a result, make the visitor stay longer. We all know – the longer the visitor stays the more the chance of enticing him/her to take action on the end website goal. Here is a list of things that I consider important in determining the colors that can influence your visitors in a positive way.
Determine The Product / Service You Are Selling
If you are selling environmental or ‘green’ products, it would not be appropriate to use colors like red or orange. Instead you would want to use greens, and/or earth tones. Choose a color that matches the product or service that you are offering.
Focus on the Target Audience
When deciding on the appropriate color for a website, consideration should be given to the target audience. The color used for a product focused on the elderly may not fare well with teens or younger generations. Also, over use of extremely bright colors like red, yellow, blue etc causes eye fatigue and could drive visitor away.
Background Color
We often find it helpful to have a different colour background. By doing this, it punches the body of the website page forward and keeps the focus on the website itself.
Make Your Text Black
When it comes to reading text, people are used to reading black text. It is the easiest on the eye. There is no need to stray from what people have grown up using.
Color should relative to products being highlighted
As stated earlier, it is important to relate your product / service to a color relevant to your industry.
- Red is attractive and powerful and would go well for websites that are focused on products meant for children and also for inducing a visitor to take action with a “Book now”, and/or “Reserve now”. Red invokes emotion.
- Orange is used in websites that promote food products. It is known to promote positive thinking and increase creativity. The color also appeals to the younger generation. Many technical companies use Orange.
- Yellow signifies cheerfulness and creativity. It appeals to children and is used in sites that promote leisure products. Yellow, however, can tend to strain the eyes and should be used as an accent color in most cases.
- Green is pleasing to the human eye and is apt for tourism sites and sites that relate to nature. Green symbolizes prosperity and wealth. Green also invokes trust and is one of the most trendy / corporate colors.
- Blue is a conservative color with incredibly high trust value and is known to relax the nervous system. It is suitable for sites offering high- tech products and also for diet products. Many people mistakenly use blue for text color. This should be avoided as it is not a standard color for the human eye to read with.
- Black is useful for sites that relate to photography and art.
- Purple is used in religious sites and vacation sites.
Helpful Colour Chooser Tools
We all love tools that help make our lives easier. On an earlier blog post about color we had someone comment about a great color scheme tool. We recommend you have a look at this one if you need help picking colours that work well together.
Don’t Make Your Website A Rainbow
A final note – the temptation with people starting out in web design is to use many colours. The most impactful websites are the ones that keep the use of colour to a minimum. As a rule, we recommend that your website employ the use of 2 – 3 colors at a maximum. Often the biggest statement your site can make is in its simplicity.
As it is said ” The first impression is the best impression”a good color combination can create a good impression on a site visitor and make him stay longer. A visitor may discard the site altogether if he doesn’t find it appealing. Yes, taking care of color elements in website design is worth attending to.
It has been reported that companies like McDonalds spend considerable sums of money on color surveys and designing labels that match with their products. Like they say “if a Swiss banker jumps out of a window follow him, he is up to something” so companies like McDonalds must surely know what they are doing. Pay heed to color combination; it is an important option!
Good post. As the post explains color is the main element in a website that sets a visitors mood. To convey the proper mood a judicious choice of colors must be made. Your tips would certainly help to pick them proper!
Done a nice Job Cyriac! Explains color attributes in adequate details. I wonder how color communicates effectively in areas where words fail to reach out. I love green and its shades. This article would help web designers get a better understanding of the importance of colors. Its more striking if you could have added examples for each one mentioned.
Had no idea that colors are that important. This should give web designers a better understanding of the importance of colors, that there might be more to colors than it meets the eye. Thanks for the post Cyriac.
Great and informative post. I found how Importance Color Selection is in Website Design. Thanks for sharing.
Great Post! I think web design is incomplete if it doesn’t have clear navigation, readability of text and forms to contact.
The site really looks great. Very important information about colour selection in website design.
Pingback: TG Developer » Why Colors Can Make or Break Your Design