One of the biggest challenges in web design is finding the correct colour palette for your design projects. If you get the combination wrong, it’s inevitable that you would attract much traffic. The strongest component in web design is the visual aspect. In terms of colour, a study that was completed where the results identified that over 80% of the evaluation that a visitor made about a website was solely determined by the colour scheme. In addition to this, research has also shown that the colour can help consumers recognise a brand easier by as much as 80%.
It’s amazing what impact a colour or colour scheme can impact brand recognition, but if the colours schemes that you have selected do not create a great visual appearance, it will not be much of use. Also, note that users will be more inclined to visit the website again and recommend the site if the website is aesthetically pleasing.
Which Color Scheme Should You Select?
First of all, selecting the colour scheme for your website design is not something you can do quickly, the colours you pick will play a big part in the future. So how do you go about selecting your brand colours?
The logo design of the business and even the colour of the merchandise can be a useful source to guide and inspire on the colours to use in your website design. After you have determined the primary colour, your next challenge will be to identify colours that will work well with that main colour. A good source of guidance here is using something like Coolors, what this site will do is match colours which blend nicely with your primary colour. An alternative would be to look at competitor websites to see what colour schemes they are using, however, this might not always be the best solution. There are many other alternatives to Coolors that will help you get started with a nice and clean colour palette to match your primary colour.
Some colours will naturally work better than other colours. Realistically speaking, everyone has a ‘favourite’ colour, and their favourite colour can influence what they like the most. This preference can be depicted by age, location and gender. What this means is that when you are deciding on which colour scheme you would like to use, you should give special thought to your target audience. If the products or services are aimed mostly at women, softer colour combinations will work much better. On the other hand, men are more inclined to prefer brighter colours, so be sure to keep the brightness levels up if your main target audience is men.
One small tip; try to avoid the colour brown as both men and women tend to dislike this colour. However, if you are set on using brown, be sure to test it properly beforehand to find out whether or not this colour will, in fact, work for your particular brand.
If you want to boost the traffic and revenue you receive as well as make your website remain engaging, you can consider the following colours:-
Black
With this colour, you can very rarely go wrong. It is ideal if you want to diffuse the idea of luxury, as it exudes sophistication and allure. It might be linked with darkness, but when applied correctly, you can definitely portray the brand in a positive light.
White
Every website needs the right amount of white and white space. White will help you make sure that the body copy is easy on your readers eyes so that your website visitors don’t end up feeling buried down in masses amount of text.
However, if white is not incorporated with the necessary skill and it is used excessively, your website design can end up looking too exclusive or, equally bad, just plain boring. Obviously this is not good if you want to keep your website visitors engaged.
Grey
Grey is no longer dull! Nowadays grey is an extremely popular shade to include in your web design. It has strong connotations of authority and strength. Similarly to black, it can communicate sophistication helping you to portray products and services as reliable and superior. Since this colour works with many colours, it is no wonder that it is a firm favourite amongst website design companies. The trick with grey is to use the lighter shade of it.
Red
Red can be one of the best accent colours to include. As red motivates consumers to take action while summoning up a sense of haste, it is ideal for promotions. In addition, it is a good choice if you want to portray the brand as strong, yet warm.
However, just like with white, too much red will only leave the brand red-faced as it will create an unpleasant experience. So, better use this exciting colour in moderation by only applying it to certain elements.
Blue
Blue is associated with communication (think of the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and LinkedIn) On top of that, it can also stir up feelings of reliability, safety and security which makes it a popular choice amongst corporate institutions. Blue is overall one of your best bets when it comes to digital appearance.
Yellow
Just like red, it is best only to use yellow as an accent color. It can stir feelings of positivity, excitement and creativity, but excessive use of yellow can divert the attention from what matters most.
Green
Green is ideal for businesses that work in the field of agriculture or brands that want to convey that they care about the environment (a trait that is highly-valuable today.) It is also a good choice if you want your website visitors to feel balanced.
Orange
If you do not want to use red for your call-to-action buttons, orange is a good alternative. In addition to inviting action, the colour orange is warm, comforting and simply fun.
Purple
Purple is another colour that website design companies can use in moderation. It is ideal if you want to create a calming effect or if you want to communicate ideas of wealth or royalty.
How Can You Create an Effective Color Scheme?
Now that you have decided to go for a specific colour scheme, it is just as important to get to grip with how different colours work together to create an attractive website design that is pleasing to your viewer’s eyes.
For example, your primary colours (that is blue, red and yellow) will always stand out. Therefore if you want to get your website visitors excited and encourage them to complete a specific action, concentrate on blue, red or yellow. These three colours are a perfect selection for call-to-action buttons.
Do note, you can’t just rely on primary colours alone. One way to make your existing website more attractive is by using the complementary colour of that primary colour as well. For example, green is a complementary colour of red. Fortunately, you do not need to know all these colour combinations off by heart, all you need is a colour wheel or Coolors as mentioned before.
Another effective colour scheme that the website design company can apply is using analogous colours. So, if the primary colour that you have selected is red, you can create a subtle effect by using the colour on the colour wheel that is right next to red which will be red-orange or red-violet.
Conclusion
Selecting the perfect colour scheme is one of the activities that web design companies will spend a lot of time on. If the colour scheme of the web design fails to interest and does not match the personality of the company, a design revamp is one of the key changes that a website company will make right away. At the end of the day, the colour combination that is used should help to show the true colours of the brand.
Identifying the best colour combinations for your website design might call for some serious thought and trial and error, but it does not mean that this task cannot be enjoyable. Be sure to experiment with different pops of colour until you have identified the colour combination that makes everything pop and works together. Then, be sure to rest them on your target audience. The traffic a website generates remains one of the best ways to determine if your target audience has embraced the colour changes that you have made. Luckily, with the help of a colour creation tool, there are infinite possibilities, so keep experimenting!
People process visuals much faster than text and, therefore, no time spent on a website’s appearance will ever be wasted. With the right use of colour, you can ensure that your web design creates a fabulous first impression every single time.