Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Colors are one of the most essential and critical parts of design. It not only brings out elements such as shapes, icons and typography but also helps attract attention towards them. They are also incredibly important for creating a lasting and memorable brand identity. As a business owner you should know that one of the first things that consumers will look up about your business is its web page. Through the website, you will get a chance to make a strong first impression and convey your brand’s message to the consumers as well. Due to this, the color scheme of in your web design should be selected very carefully.
It has been established in a number of studies that colors play a huge role in the purchasing decisions of the audience. According to a report, around 85 percent of consumers are influenced by the color of a product and build their perception according to it. If your web design is appealing and able to connect with the people, your business will be able to see growth and success. So how do you make sure that your web design gets the desired result? Well, with the help of a responsive page, easy navigation and an eye-catching color scheme.
In case you are wondering about selecting the best and most suitable color scheme for your web design, here are a few factors to consider
Match the Brand Colors
The color scheme of your website should match or be relevant to the colors that represent your brand. This is actually a crucial step to picking out the color scheme because otherwise you will just have the people confused about your brand and business. So think of it this way. McDonald’s has opted for a mainly red and yellow color scheme for their brand and it is reflected on their web page as well. If the website was to feature a different color such as blue or green, it would have most likely had a negative impact on the consumers.
Similarly, take the example of HubSpot’s web page below. The coral and charcoal color scheme matches the logo colors and have become closely associated with the company. You can also integrate your brand symbol’s colors within your website as well. Just like this website has done which offers users to sell old laptops online for cash. Picking colors from the logo and the font makes it easy for the visitors to associate the brand with the website.
Image Source: Cashforusedlaptop.com
Choose a Visually Strong Primary Color
You can select any color from red, yellow and blue to appeal to the audience from the first look at the website. While picking out brand and logo colors, you may have already become familiar with color psychology in branding and marketing to some extent. Basically, this means having a basic understanding of the colors which impact people emotionally and bring out negative and positive responses. For example, blue represents trust and confidence while red is associated with power and excitement as you can see in the chart below.
Image Source: color-wheel-pro.com
These are two of the major primary colors that can be chosen for the color scheme in web design. A number of brands such as KitKat, Nintendo and Facebook have opted for these visually dominant primary colors on their web pages.
Image Source: kitkat.com
Image Source: nintendo.com
Set a Number of Colors
Once the main or primary color has been selected, you should go on to choosing the total number of colors that will feature in the web design. This will help you come up with a clear color scheme that is attractive and appeals to the eye instantly. If you experiment with a lot of colors, you could end up disrupting the design and taking the focus away from the brand’s message. Usually, the recommended number of colors in the scheme is three where you can apply the 60:30:10 combination. This is a division of colors where 60 percent is your primary color and the remaining 30 and 10 percent is taken up by complementary colors and accents.
Contrast with the Right Colors
A striking contrast in the color scheme is critical to the success of your website and can make or break it eventually. With the right contrasting colors, you can make an impact on the consumer immediately and set the tone for your branding strategy as well. Several businesses choose to keep the design minimalistic with a neutral background in black or white and an understated font. If you look at Evernote’s web page, you can see the while the main color is green, it features in contrast against a white background with bold, black font. In many places, the CTA (call to action) is also highlighted in contrasting colors.
Image Source: evernote.com
Brainstorm and Try Different Variations
In order to come up with an impressive color scheme, you have to go through the process quite a few times. Brainstorm as much as you can with the help of different tools which might prove useful in coming up with a color scheme for the website. These include Adobe Color, Coolors and Paletton among others. Experiment with three to four variations and then settle on the final colors to incorporate within your web design.
Wrapping Up
These are some of the steps that you can follow when selecting a color scheme for your website. At the end, you want a web page for your business that represents your brand, brings in more customers and helps you build a strong presence online.
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