Are you using the right colors on your website? Many web designers swear by the fact that web design – using certain color schemes – can drastically improve your website’s chances of being successful. We all learned in school about our primary and secondary colors and how these colors can be combined with one another not only to make new colors but to also complement each other. The psychology behind colors and emotions is well-known and can be used to your advantage, given the right parameters. The following tips will help you understand what color scheme is right for your website and how this impacts your visitors.
Use Colour Tools
Since you are not the first person to ask whether or not your website’s color layout is optimal, many tools exist that help you determine what colors – specifically, what combination of colors – will work best on your site. Tools such as ColoRotate, Color Scheme Designer, and COLOURlovers allow you to explore a wide array of available color palettes and show you specifically how these colors look next to one another.
On COLOURlovers, there is also a community that discusses in detail the aspects of color layouts and what specific elements have worked for each individual.
Keep It Faded
Regardless of the color scheme that is chosen, it is important that your site looks professional and easy on the eyes. Far too many sites attempt to use complementary colors (think red and green) but do not dilute the intensity of the colors, making the contrast painful for some people’s eyes.
By fading or using a pastel version of contrasting colors, you reduce the intensity of contrast while still maintaining the desired effect. While some contrasting colors can remain in their base form (black/white), most contrasting or complementary color schemes will benefit by having their intensity dialed back a notch.
Consider the Emotion
Many colors are known to elicit certain emotional responses and it is vital to understand this in order to set the proper tone for your website. McDonald‘s uses its red and yellow scheme to encourage people to come in, eat and hurry out while larger superstores may use blue to give shoppers the sense of a tranquil shopping atmosphere.
Other entities may use a series of colors to get people to notice them and to feel a certain emotion; red is often used to elevate the anger in a person while green can be used to induce a calm effect. Which color scheme is best for you? First, determine what emotion or response you are looking for and determine which colors have been shown to elicit those responses.
By using developed tools that assist in designing a color scheme, picking appropriate shades, and using precise colors that target the desired mood of your audience, you can slowly but surely grow your existing (or new) base of visitors and in the process generate additional revenue, community feedback or supporters for your entity or cause.
By avoiding harsh colors and unreadable foreground/background scenarios, your visitors will be satisfied with their visit to your website and so will you.
