The psychology of color in web design
The emotion of colors
Color by virtue of its tremendous expressive qualities is one of
the most effective tools in advertisements and presentations.
Web design is no exception in this regard. Psychologists have
found out that color impression can account for 60% of the
acceptance or rejection of that product or service.
Here's a brief elucidation on varying dimensions of color.
There is a high degree of universality in the implicit meaning
of color across cultures and geographies
Name something Green, people will refer to trees, name
something blue, people will mean water. People generally
associate colors with where each color is predominantly found,
regardless of cultures and regions.
Here's a description of the symbolic significance and potential
uses of common colors.
Red
Symbolizes : Passion, fire, love, lust, war, violence, blood,
and aggression
Potential Uses : Where the aim is to motivate an individual to
initiate action, convey a warning, or stop the user.
When using different shades of red on a website, exercise
caution Bright red can be quite irritating if used over large
areas.
Pink
Symbolizes: Calming, cute, candy, soft romantic, and feminine
Potential Uses: When you want strike on a user's caring or
romantic side.
Orange Symbolizes: Vibrancy and warmth. It is like a less
passionate red.
Potential Uses: Recommended for food sites, nature sites.
Orange is good in moderation. Over-use should be avoided.
Yellow
Symbolizes: Sunshine, caution, happy, cheerful, warmth, hope,
light, energy, weakness or illness, or symbolize cowardice.
Potential Uses: To make a webpage brighter and more spring-like.
Like red, it catches attention swiftly, but can be an irritant
if over-used.
Green
Symbolizes: Spring, renewal, fertility, wealth, inexperience,
health
Potential Uses: Excellent color option for websites about money
and growing.
Blue
Symbolizes: Sky, sea, intelligence, reassurance, also depression
and sadness.
Potential Uses: To give a website formal look and feel.
Purple
Symbolizes: Creativity, spiritual and mysterious.
Potential Uses: Best for spiritual sites, expressing romantic
tenor
Black
Symbolizes: Power, elegance, and sophistication, death (Western
context), evil, anger and sadness.
Potential Uses: Be on the safe side, never use over a wide area.
White
Symbolizes: Cleanliness, purity, and spirituality. It symbolizes
life and marriage in Western cultures, but it is symptomatic of
death in Eastern cultures.
Potential Uses: Great as an accent or background color because
it makes other colors seem more vivid and bold
How to make color scheme work for you
Keep it simple . A color palette using three or fewer overall
colors contributes to the clarity of a web page.
Use white space . White space does a balancing act for colors,
lets the design breathe and makes a large site feel less
complex.
Be consistent . Consistency in colors (i.e. links, menu items,
instructions etc.) allows your audience to instinctively know
where to look for information.
Know your audience. Before you set the ball rolling in design,
you should be convinced enough what colors the audience would
find compelling and right for your product.
Choose the right temperature of colors . The perception of your
site is affected by your choice of warm or cool colors. Cool
colors are water and sky colors like blue and purple; warm
colors are red, orange and yellow. The temperature of a color
affects how your message is likely to be perceived. SALE written
in red will be perceived as more vibrant and urgent than soft
purple text.
Let color contrast distinguish significant parts of your site.
Contrast between text and its background is essential for
legibility. Dark text on a white background, for instance, is
more legible than orange text on a red background. Different
elements on your web page (i.e. the menu and body of the page)
must contrast or they will begin blending together.
Color lesson: A well-considered color scheme can transform an
okay website into a great web site
Color is one of the most important yet not-so-thoroughly
understood elements of web design today. Whether web designers
appreciate it or ignore it, visitors to a site respond to colors
and other visual elements on the site on a psychological level,
and will continue to do so.
Color affects the emotion of the audience, and emotion, in the
process, drives decision-making. An intrigued visitor is more
likely to be engaged in your site -- whether it is meant to
inform, entertain, or to sell products or services or ideas.
But if the colors are unsuitable, or outrageous, or not in line
with the underlying symbolism, the visitors can outrightly
reject the site--and the products as well--no matter how good
they are. So, picking colors on your website carefully can
transform your site, and of course, your business too