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Website Design: The Psychology of Colour in Web
Design
Designing websites isn't
only about creating something alluring. There must be thought
supporting all design related choice and one truly significant
decision is what hues your web site should be. Selection of
colour can be the differences in between the success and failure
of a web site.
Being aware that a handful
of colours can lead to an emotional response is key to choosing
the right colours for a site. Knowing what colours have a
calming effect and which cause feelings of excitement can make
choosing a colour scheme very easy.
Colours can also be used to
create contrast & attention to a design. This can direct users
to certain parts of a webpage.
Here's a guide below to how
some colours affect human emotions & perceptions.
Black is associated with
power, refinement, riches & mystery. In designing for the web,
it can be used effectively with bolder colours to create good
contrast.
White is associated with
cleanliness, simpleness, calm & purity. Used on websites a lot,
it can convey a sense of style & indicates that the content of
the site is strong enough to stand alone without the any strong
visual aid.
With connotations to lust,
anger, fire & power, red, used sparingly, can be a great way to
direct the user's attention to a certain area.
Associated with feelings of
cold, royalty, peace and air, blue is the best-used colour for
corporate websites; It creates a very different reaction to red.
Green symbolises nature,
environment, peace and luck. Green is aN effective colour to use
for a calming effect.
Representative of joy,
happiness, warning and energy, yellow has a similar impact to
red, although it is not as popular. It can be used to emphasise
areas of a site, however, if it's used too much, it can be an
overpowering colour.
Stirring up feelings of
style, modernism, fashion and refinement, grey is usually used
on places that cover fashion, design and tech.
Purple is a blend of blue
and red. It does have the highlights of red, but has more bold
properties than blue. It stirs up images of royalty, religion
and luxury. However, it isn't a frequently used colour in
designing websites.
Brown, particularly the
lighter end can be very soothing. Beige is also a popular colour
in web design as it gives an earthy & relaxed feel. It might
also mean tradition, poverty & mother earth.
Grey can be linked to
elegance, innovation & the future. The paler side is similar to
white in that it's a great colour to use on a website's
background to build a sense of space & modernism.
Knowing about what colours
symbolize, their subconscious power can be of great benefit when
designing sites. By knowing about the target audience, designers
can choosing colours thoughtfully which connect to the end user
thus making the site look attractive and appealing.
E-commerce sites can be
improved by pointing the user in the direction of the purchase
now button by drawing attention and creating contrast.
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