There are many features that distinguish a mediocre website from a knockout. One of the most important design tools is colour. Colour can not only create an emotional impact in a viewer, but it can also tie your website together and move your marketing efforts forward. Even if you have finely crafted content on your site or revolutionary products to sell, if the colour scheme is off-putting or dull it could drive your audience away. The following are a few factors to consider as you choose the ideal colour scheme.
Your Brand Comes First
If your brand is already established with a logo and marketing materials, creating a website using the same colour palette may be easy. For example, brands like McDonald’s and Coca Cola are both clearly linked with the colour red, while competing Pepsi uses a blue in all of their branded materials. Once you have designed a logo, be sure that your design theme is carried over across all marketing channels to build consistency and trust. Your website is extremely useful when it comes to building your brand’s image, so think about choosing a colour palette that represents what you stand for. For example, green hues are often used for healthcare or environmental businesses, while a youthful, quirky web design Atlanta business may go bold with a hot pink website.
Use Images for Inspiration
In addition to using colours that sync with your brand and image, you can also derive inspiration from the images that you plan to use on your website. If you already have photos and graphics that you plan to use, be sure that your colour scheme compliments them. In fact, browsing through photos can be a good way to get ideas for your website’s colour palette. You can use online tools like Adobe Kuler and PHOTOCOPA for this purpose, both of which allow you to create a palette based on colours you’ve extracted from digital photos.
Limiting Colours for Greater Impact
Using the full rainbow in your website can make it look cluttered and confused. Many designers recommend sticking to the rule of three, and apply them in ratios of 60%, 30%, and 10%. This proportion has been traditionally been used in graphic and fashion design to create pleasing results, but it also is used by these top web design Houston professionals andothers around the globe. The primary colour is used to create an overall tone or mood, while the 30% colour creates contrast. The 10% colour can then be used as an accent, complementing the other two for a balanced and harmonious effect. These three colours don’t all need to be bold and bright. It’s common to use a neutral colour like black or white as the primary tone. You can also use various shades or tones within each main colour, if you prefer more variation and subtlety in your design.
Take Content into Consideration
As you play around with contrasting colours, be sure that the scheme allows visitors to your website to read the content clearly and comfortably. Yellow type against a red background won’t do you any favours. A simple, clean layout with colourful accents will encourage readers to stay and browse.
Ultimately, a good colour scheme will not only make your brand more recognisable, but it will inspire a positive emotion in viewers. This could be a feeling of trust, calm, joy, or the desire to take action. Defining your website goals in advance and choosing colours with purpose will help you achieve them.
