Website Design and Colour Choice is one of the many aspects of getting your website design right, you have to make sure your choice of colour scheme is spot on. Colour is often overlooked as just a minor concern when designing a website by both the designer and the client, It’s not, it’s a massive factor in getting the site to perform well.
Your choice of colour is extremely important as it will have a major impact on your visitors first impression and continued use of your website. Colour triggers a subconscious reaction in the brain that has a direct affect on whether or not someone will stay and use your site and buy your products and services, or move straight for the back button and use a competitor.
Colour choice is one of the first sections on the questionnaire I send to clients, I want to know what colours they like and don’t, and what colours they associate with their business. There are a few essential thing to consider when making a colour choice which I have listed below:
Who are you, What is your business and What are you selling?
This may not seem like it has anything to do with your choice of colour but it does. Think about what colours are associated with your type of business and product. If you take a second to consider this you will probably be surprised to know a specific colour is already linked directly to your business type. If your a garden design firm or selling recycling products then greens and browns would suit your business, purples have regal and ceremonial links and so this would be a great choice if your a wedding planner. Think about which colour your customers would associate with your business area and that will provide you with a great start on your website colour choice.
Complimentary Colour Use:
So you have a main colour in mind for your website design, that’s great, but you can’t have every element on your website the same colour or a different shade of the same colour, it just wont work, so you need to decide on complimentary colours. Normally the largest area of solid colour on a website is the background area, if this is not going to be your main colour choice, because lets face it, who wants a right red background? ( people do amaze me sometimes ) then you need a complimentary colour, and this is where a lot of people make the wrong choice. If your main colour is bright and loud, your complimentary choice needs to tone it down, don’t go for a yellow theme with a white background, it will hurt your eyes after a while and if grey is your choice, don’t use black as your background. The kuler software from Adobe is great at helping you pick complimentary colours, always run your choice through this before finalising your design.
Text Colour:
Ok, this is one choice you need to get right, if people cant read the text on your website then you cant sell your wares. There is a reason that all print text is largely dark text on a light background, it’s because it works and this is the best choice for your website. Use black or dark grey on a white or off white background and you cant go wrong. Yes you can use colour text sometimes, it’s great to indicate links on your website and sometimes for titles and subtitles, but please don’t have a yellow background with blue text, it will give people headaches.
Less is A Lot More:
Unless your selling paint, you don’t need a rainbow of colours on your website. Too many website designs become flawed because they use too many uncomplimentary colours in large blocks. You don’t want huge swathes of blue, red and yellow on a page, its going to be very distracting to your visitors and will turn customers away. Keep it simple, draw on your main colour choice and add complimentary highlights and you will be on your way to an awesome looking website.
Ultimately the colour choice is up to you, but remember that there are only so many colours that will display correctly on all browsers and that your choice of colour can make or break your website design. Have some colouring fun!
Yak Out!