Effectively Using Colors in Web Design

The text and graphics in your website are not the only ways you communicate. You can use color to build up your message so that it is stronger, more compelling and visually attractive. Indeed, how you use colors can be a crucial part of your Utah website design planning. It can support your overall message or it can detract from it. Color can also help build your company brand, where readers will start identifying a particular shade to your company.

Here are some key considerations when choosing the color palette for your website:

• Know your target market. If you are only targeting the local market, you can concentrate on using the culture’s perception of the various colors. However, if you want to reach a more international market, you need to carefully choose your color scheme to fit the wider coverage with regards to the target market. Colors mean different things to different cultures. So it is important to know your target audience (age and location) so that you can adapt your color palette accordingly. For instance, yellow may be attractive to the Chinese market (who consider it an Imperial color) but it the color does not have the same appeal to the Western market (who may associate yellow with deceit or cowardice).
• Know your demographics. How old are your customers? Bright and saturated colors may be appealing to a young audience but not to a more mature audience. For a more corporate look, try to go for pastel blue, deep gray or black as these are considered more dignified.
• Know the products and services you offer. Based on research, colors affect the moods and how people react to your products or services. For example, blue is considered a tranquil color. It relaxes and promotes trust. This color is ideal for medical or financial services. However, if you are selling food products, blue is not advisable. The color blue is an appetite suppressant. Red is believed to increase the heart rate and blood pressure and is ideal for products that denote high-energy. On the other hand, warm colors such as orange and yellow is said to stimulate the appetite and are excellent choices for food products.
• Background colors should be just that – in the background. Your color scheme should push the text and images to the forefront. Use a desaturated background with dominant colors for your text and images so that these are the ones that your audience sees first. As a general rule, always use much more saturation for the website copy and product photos and less saturation on background colors. This draws the eye naturally to the things you want your reader to notice – what you want to say or what you want to sell. Also, avoid patterned backgrounds.
• Use contrasting colors for your font and background. That is, dark-colored text on light-colored backgrounds and light-colored text on dark-colored backgrounds. The font should be readable without your reader having to squint and strain their eyes. If a page provides more than one set of texts of different levels of importance, use the lightest background to highlight the most important content. It will also be helpful to remember that around 10% of your viewers may be vision-impaired (e.g. color blind). To test whether your website text and design is still discernible, try printing it out in grayscale.
• Use just enough color. Do not add too much “color clutter”. As a rule of thumb, aside from black and white, you should only use up to four or five colors. Having all the colors of the rainbow may look, well, colorful, but will be too much of a distraction for the readers. That said, do not go to the other extreme and use too little color. This will make your website look too bland and boring.
• Apply a consistent color palette to all the website pages. Do not use colors from different color palettes. The wise and consistent use of a single color palette will prevent your website from looking cluttered and confused.
• Use color to help in navigation. The customary colors used are blue for new links and maroon for clicked links.

Adaptivity Pro has in its roster Utah web design experts and artists that are also committed to your website’s aesthetics, including the color scheme. Adaptivity Pro is proud to present a portfolio of well-designed and executed websites, coming from a wide range of businesses and industries and with a broad range of business needs, including SLC SEO and social media marketing.