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Selecting the appropriate colors for your site is as vital as choosing content and graphics. Colors affect people in many ways. Certain colors can arouse particular emotions in people. These emotional reactions can influence your company’s image in the mind of visitors and have a major impact on your brand.
If you doubt that colors arouse emotion, think of the phrases ‘seeing red’, ‘in a black mood’ or ‘green-eyed monster’. Green-eyed monster refers to jealousy, a black mood is a reference to depression and seeing red refers to anger. People associate colors to particular moods. Research has proven that colors can make people sad, happy, excited, relaxed, afraid or angry.
Anything that can arouse those emotions in people should be considered carefully during web design. Colors are usually classified as warm, cool or neutral.
Neutral Colors
Whites – Whites represent cleanliness and purity.
Grays – Grays project conservatism and reliability. Shades of gray are very popular for business attires.
Browns – Browns represent home, family and earth.
Blacks – Blacks usually signify elegance, sophistication and power. In western cultures, black also represents death.
Warm Colors
Reds – Reds are ideal for attracting attention. This is why they are used often in sales letters to stress particular points. Red also symbolizes lust, violence, passion and anger.
Yellows – Yellow could mean cowardice or weakness as well as happiness and warmth.
Oranges – Orange is usually associated with Halloween and fall harvesting. It can also arouse a person’s appetite.
Pinks – Pinks are usually associated with femininity, romance and innocence.
Cool Colors
Blue – Blue produces a calming effect. It exudes trust and intelligence. It is not surprising that many health care and financial institutions use blue themes. The color blue can also suppress appetite.
Green – Though green stands for greed, inexperience and jealousy, it can also represent wealth and money.
Purple – Purple usually symbolizes creativity. The lighter shades are normally associated with romance, while the darker shades are associated with royalty.
Color Schemes
Color schemes can be made up of a single color, contrasting colors or complimentary colors.
- Single color schemes make use of various intensities and shades of one color on a white back ground.
- Complementary colors schemes make use of two or more colors which blend well together. One color might be dominant, with the other complimenting it.
- Contrasting color schemes make use of several dominant colors to produce an eye-catching effect. However, web designers need to be cautious when using contrasting colors since some combinations can hurt people’s eyes. Other combinations might ‘clash’ and create an unattractive look.
General Color Guidelines
The following guidelines can make your website attractive and readable.
- Text needs to be readable. Many people prefer black on white. Yellow, white and other light colors also look good on dark background colors.
- Use colors which are easy on the eye and attractive.
- Choose colors that reflect the image you wish to project to your visitors.
- Make sure colors are uniform in all your website pages. This creates a ‘brand’ for your website.
About kimathic
Choosing a color scheme for a web site is really important. A good color sense is what makes a site really active. The combination of web colors used also require close attention as a wrong combination could distract visitors.
I agree…the choice of colors makes all the difference. Thanks for stopping by!