How to Select the Colour Theme of Your Web Design.

One of the primary considerations when building a website is to decide what colour scheme to go with. While the website needs to be user-friendly, its design and appearance also matter a lot. You cannot just pick any random colour scheme. It should match your brand voice and send out a message out loud. Poor colour choice can negatively affect your website’s overall usability.

You would want the users to engage with your site and its content. Any professional web designer will tell you that colour communicates on an emotional level. A good colour scheme can impact how users interpret what they see. Most importantly, it can have a positive influence on their vision of your brand in general. Poor colour choices that clash with visuals may lead users to leave your website instantly and try out other sites. Now, you wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?

With that in mind, we have created this post where we will share some tips regarding how to choose the right colour theme for your web design. So, keep on reading.

What does colour mean for a website?

Before you start looking for colours, you are advised to know colour psychology basics. It will help you in the long run when you design different websites. The colours for brand identity design influence moods and emotions, and are more than just personal preferences. If you like the red colour, it doesn’t mean that you should also create your website with a red-coloured theme. You can, but it should do justice to your brand identity. Please note that colours have the power to convey the right message about your brand and business right away.

Primarily, there are three different colour schemes:

1. Warm colours – yellow, orange, red, pink
2. Cool colours – purple, blue, green
3. Neutral colours – black, gray, brown

Each colour conveys a different message. For example, neutral colours like gray depict intelligence, longevity, modernity, patience, wisdom, and respect. And warm colours like red depicts intensity, love, strength, passion, emotion, and activeness.

When a person sees a colour, it automatically conveys a message into his/her subconscious mind that what this colour represents. So, a colour scheme not only acts as a key function to create desire, attract attention, and drive conversions but also makes the user familiarize with the brand so much so that they can tell if it is your brand without seeing the name or logo.

Apart from using colours to convey different messages, brands often use certain colour trends to create recognition. These are odd colour combinations that easily get etched in a user’s mind. For example, McDonald’s has a yellow and red combination, CNN has black, white, and red, and luxury brands pack their products in black.

Reasons your colour Choice is so important

• colours can become a memorable part of your brand – Coca Cola’s red shade is a great example
• Complementary colours are pleasing to the eye as it won’t distract users from the website content
• Contrasting colours can make key elements stand out – CTAs (call to actions) can use bold colours to grab the attention of the users
• The right colour scheme can help increase readability

When you go through the logos and websites of these prominent brands, you’ll get an idea of how to use the right colour scheme for your website and brand. Also, learn about what different colours depict and mean so that you can resonate with your brand voice with the right colour choice.

Quick Tips to Choose a Starting colour

The biggest hurdle when deciding a colour scheme for your website design is choosing a starting or primary colour. The primary colour you choose will define your brand in the future. Here is what you need to consider:

• Use what you have – If you have a logo with an established colour, it will be your primary colour. Work around to get the right colour combination.
• Using competitors’ colours is a big NO – no matter what, never use the same colour palette as your competitors. The first thing you should do is determine what colour palettes your competitors are using and eliminate them from your colour palette. Then, start with what you have left.
• Think about your audience – your audience will play a vital role in deciding the right colour scheme for your website. For example, the colours of a website for a children’s apparel store would be totally different from the colours of a nursing home. Think about who will access your website regularly and how you want them to feel – serious, excited, hopeful, etc.
• Avoid being a typical stereotype – what many web designers do is if they are designing a website for girls, they will use the colour’ pink.’ You don’t have to do that. You cannot always gain credibility by using clichés.

Developing Tints and Shades

Once you have got your primary or starting colour, it’s time to work on the colour scheme. Take your primary colour and combine it with other colours. Make sure that your primary colour remains dominant. So, choose accordingly. When choosing a base colour for shades and tints, you have to keep in mind your primary colour. But, it doesn’t always have to match in any way. Even odd combinations will work if you can combine them intelligently and strategically. Nevertheless, always use the primary colour for buttons, CTAs, and web components that require users to take action.

How Many colours Should My Website Have?

One of the biggest mistakes that most beginner designers make is they end up using several colours. You are advised not to have more than two or three colour combinations. Two is perfect – primary and base. You can include a third colour if the brand, service, or voice demands it. But not more than this. It is a big blunder. If you want to make your website colourful, instead of adding more and more colours, you can consider high-quality photographs and infographics. Set the tone and contrast of the photos according to the tone of the primary and base colours. This is a start. You can always experiment with colours until you find the right combination.