OK, so this is a little late in the day but here goes anyway…
As head of the creative division of Buzzwebs, it’s only fair that I write today’s newsletter celebrating Crayola Crayon Day. I love colouring-in I do! Be it digitally or back-to-basics with paper and felt tips (Crayola branded, of course)
Colour is an important subject when designing your website, and here is why:
Getting the colours right on your website doesn’t need to be hard work.
- Use your corporate colours influenced from your logo or branding. This will help your website visitor identify who you are and whose site they are visiting. It’s great to try new ideas but I suggest you save that for split testing, your blog or social media messages. It’s so easy to confuse your visitor with the amount of information available on line, don’t make their work any harder when visiting your site.
- Now saying that, tonal variations are acceptable and can keep things interesting, from a design point of view, just be careful and try and pick images and photos with this in mind
- The colours you choose do have a psychological effect on your audience. Here’s a very general synopsis of how your use of colours can be interpreted:
– Green and blue are nurturing, caring and calming colours; great for holistic, medical, environmental or people centred businesses
– Red and orange are passionate, action and happening colours; great for when you want to stand out from the crowd, or there’s some urgency although be careful your message is not too brash
– Purple (a personal favourite) is creative, spiritual and is male/female balanced; ideal for communication based businesses, it appeals to men and women alike
– Yellow is THE sunshine, great for the feel good factor, often requires a strong secondary colour so the detail isn’t lost. Teamed with black it is the most easily seen colour combination, just ask the AA or a bee!
Front Door colours can give a very traditional feel, such as pillar box red, racing green, navy blue
Softer or mixed colours have a more contemporary feel i.e; lime green, teal, mushroom - So how you combine these colours can help you to get a dual message across, but be careful!
My most important piece of advice is: Limit your colour palette on your website. Maybe 2 key colours and one ‘highlight’ colour, for when you really want something to stand out, i.e use sparingly for important information and offers only. - Finally; less is often more, so when in doubt follow the excellent design mantra KISS: Keep It Simple Sunshine
I hope you have found that useful. If you think your website need some colour therapy or you want some help getting the colours right on your website then get in touch!
Email clare@buzzwebsitedesign.com or give us a call on 07804 289876