Importance of Colors in Website Design

Since ever, and most specifically since the introduction of colored media, colors have played an essential role in determining a brand’s identity. In fact, colors are not the only component of the brand’s aesthetics but are actually part of the bigger picture – Brand Sense, which aims to engage the five senses of your audience that helps recognize a brand instantly. Without your realization, your favorite brand has already settled in your subconscious mind. You can recall it from small triggers such as a familiar aroma (smell), sounds (hear), how the packaging feels (touch), when you see the logo and colors (sight), or when you taste it (taste).

The first sense that a brand aims to engage with and one that can be widely targeted through any medium is the sense to recognize a brand from its logo and colors. There are certain tips to build an exceptional brand, and there is abundant content available for your literature review help, but here we shall focus on how important it is to choose the right colors to build an exceptional website.

Developing A Color Palette:

When designing a website, your client may have already picked a color combination for you to work on, which is an obvious derivation of colors from the brand logo. If the brand is comparatively old and has recently taken to revamp the website or build a new one, you do not have much scope to introduce new colors. However, you can always suggest incorporating a scheme of colors that blend with the predetermined colors to create a palette that leaves an impact on the website visitors. Whereas, with a new brand, you have more room to experiment with colors and sync the same with brand logo and overall color scheme.

What Different Colors Mean:

All colors do not have the same effect on the viewer’s psychology, and hence different colors are used to create variable impact. Here is a reference to some colors and how the viewer generally perceives them:

Red: It is a bold color and incorporated into websites that intend to create emotions. It can be used by websites selling chocolates, children’s apparel, or vehicles, etc.

Yellow: It is a bright color and may remind you of a warm spring day. Yellow is commonly used for websites catering to child audiences, to sell food, or to sell any product that is meant to bring joy.

Blue: This, on the other hand, is a conservative color and is not commonly used for many websites. The blue color is associated with developing a trust factor and is used to sell investment products, such as technology.

Black: It has an aesthetic value to it, and hence the black color is widely used in photography related websites or those that display noir class products such as luxury vehicles.

Orange: It is associated with the promotion of positive energy and to appeal to younger audiences. Orange or darker shades of yellow are also used to stimulate hunger, which is to sell food on websites.

Green: As obvious, Green color is associated with websites that relate to nature. It is also used to sell real-estate or organic food.

Purple: It is not a commonly used color since it appeals to an entirely different group of audiences. Purple color simulates association with religion and matrimony and is therefore also widely used in tourism sites.

Background and Foreground Colors:

White or black are the common background colors for most websites. However, it is noted that using other colors also helps draw attention to the content. But, it is important to create the right combination of colors in the background and foreground to create a lasting visual impact on the viewer. Text placed on the foreground is generally black or white, given the alternate background, and can be varied in careful coordination. However, it is important to also consider the images in the foreground and how they can be made to stand out on a particular background color.

Consider Your Audience:

We suggested a list of colors and their purpose in audience psychology, therefore, when designing a website, you may want to know your audience first. Choosing an alternate color to your audience’s personality will not only fail to create the impact of content on the website but will also decrease the frequency of visits per visitor. Companies invest big and make efforts to bring the audience to their website and make them stay there; hence it is crucial to keep the content engaging and keep the site attractive to appeal visitors.

Browser Safe Colors:

Pantone colors are an issue for some browsers and may be displayed slightly altered when pursued from different browsers, and most commonly from old graphics hardware. To avoid the shift, you may use a set of 216 or 256 colors from the “browser-safe color palette,” which can be binding but is the only way to save your site from losing the essence that it desires to convey.

Color Balance Ratio:

Most of us find it challenging to create a balanced website that includes just the right mix of every bit of information and other elements, most prominently colors. As a general rule, you can keep the balance by using 1 to 3 primary colors which are associated with the brand, one pop color that is used to convey a pressing message or a make a call to action, and 1 to 2 neutral colors which you can use in background or content.

A recent study revealed that a website’s traffic could be increased by up to 24% by adjusting the colors, among other elements on a website. The colors you choose are going to be your brand’s identity and play a major role in audience conversion, and hence it is suggested to consider a safe color palette keeping in mind your target audience, your content adjustment, and overall theme of the website. You must also be careful not to use many colors since they cause fatigue to eyes and are not pleasant to a website delivering a particular message.

References:

https://www.techwyse.com/blog/website-design/importance-of-color-selection-in-website-design/

https://designrfix.com/web-design/importance-color-web-design

 https://studio1design.com/how-important-is-color-in-website-design/