{"id":62656,"date":"2019-03-12T20:47:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T03:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/eu\/?page_id=62656"},"modified":"2019-04-01T11:13:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T18:13:30","slug":"color","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/eu\/design\/color\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Color in Web Design"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr \/>\n<p>Your logo and site are more than just a collection of text, images<br \/>\nand white space. Somewhere in there are the colors you choose. It may<br \/>\nseem trivial, but the colors you select to represent your company will<br \/>\ninfluence your audiences&#8217; perception of you and will determine if they<br \/>\nstick around to investigate further. How much time would you spend on a<br \/>\nsite that&#8217;s background came up in bright yellow? You probably wouldn&#8217;t<br \/>\neven wait for the images to load. Why? Because while, in small doses,<br \/>\nthe color yellow can denote a spiritual feeling, it is the harshest<br \/>\ncolor on the eyes, and is likely to send you running for cover. <\/p>\n<p>People use color to categorize objects in their everyday lives. Green<br \/>\nmeans go. A yellow bus is a school bus. A light blue box is a Tiffany&#8217;s<br \/>\nbox. Therefore, it&#8217;s only logical that your customers are using your<br \/>\ncolors to gather important information about your company. Similarly,<br \/>\nmany companies use color in their web design to help users identify and<br \/>\ncategorize their brand with just one glance. In fact, for some<br \/>\ncompanies, the color in their logo is the basis for their entire<br \/>\nbranding strategy (think IBM Blue). Use it wisely.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"sIFR-replaced\"><span class=\"sIFR-alternate\">The Hidden Meaning Behind Colors<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You know what colors you like, but do you know what your favorite<br \/>\ncolors mean? You may want to brush up on the hidden meaning behind<br \/>\ncolors before designing your company material.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Blue<\/strong> &mdash; Blue is currently the most popular color for<br \/>\n    companies to use in their branding strategies. It represents calmness,<br \/>\n    hope and stability. Research says that people are apt to immediately<br \/>\n    trust information coming from sites that are blue and to pay attention<br \/>\n    to blue logos.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Red<\/strong> &mdash; Numerous studies have claimed that people<br \/>\n    working in red rooms work faster. Why? Because the color red is said to<br \/>\n    increase blood pressure and heart rate. That might be perfect if you&#8217;re<br \/>\n    trying to work your employees to death, but if you&#8217;re trying to attract<br \/>\n    customers, moderate your use of this powerful color. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Yellow<\/strong> &mdash; Used in small amounts, yellow is inviting,<br \/>\n    sunshine, cheerful and the number one attention getter. However, it has<br \/>\n    conflicting symbolism. To some it denotes happiness and joy, and to<br \/>\n    others it symbolizes cowardice and deceit. Research what this color<br \/>\n    means to your target audience before plastering it all over your site.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Green<\/strong> &mdash; In the United States, green means go. It is<br \/>\n    associated with movement, nature and fertility.  It symbolizes growth,<br \/>\n    freshness and safety.  Darker shades of green are often associated with<br \/>\n    money and wealth. It is the most restful color for the human eye.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Orange<\/strong> &mdash; As many &#8216;on sale&#8217; products have orange<br \/>\n    stickers attached to them, people have come to associate this color with<br \/>\n    affordability. Bright orange is hard for the eyes to process and is not<br \/>\n    recommended as a background color for your site, though it can be very<br \/>\n    effective for logos. Small amounts of orange can help create a &#8216;fun&#8217;<br \/>\n    atmosphere, so use it sparingly. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Purple<\/strong> &mdash; Purple is associated with royalty. It<br \/>\n    symbolizes luxury, power, wisdom and ambition.   Lighter shades of this<br \/>\n    color are said to evoke romantic and nostalgic feelings.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Black<\/strong> &mdash; Considered the negation of color, black is<br \/>\n    conservative. It can be serious and conventional or mysterious and<br \/>\n    sophisticated.  The color black usually has a negative connotation<br \/>\n    (black humor, blacklist, etc.).<\/li>\n<li><strong>White<\/strong> &mdash; The color white is associated with<br \/>\n    innocence, purity and goodness. From a marketing perspective, white<br \/>\n    often denotes cleanliness, dairy or low-fat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"sIFR-replaced\"><span class=\"sIFR-alternate\">Selecting Colors for your Web Site Design<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When designing your site, we recommend finding a color palette that<br \/>\nyou feel works and then sticking with it. Don&#8217;t try and mix colors from<br \/>\ndifferent color palettes because it&#8217;s likely the colors will not blend<br \/>\nas well as you&#8217;re imagining. This may cause your logo or site to look<br \/>\ndisjointed. For a palette to work well in a web site design there should<br \/>\nbe some type of unifying attribute. What ties your colors together?<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that the human eye requires contrasts to be able to read<br \/>\nsomething clearly. Don&#8217;t pick web design colors that will be hard to<br \/>\nread when placed together. For example, dark text on a dark background<br \/>\nprobably will not work. Try opting for a light background and dark text,<br \/>\nor a dark background and light text. The difference in tones will<br \/>\nvisually interest your consumer&#8217;s mind and make them want to focus in to<br \/>\nread your text.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"sIFR-replaced\"><span class=\"sIFR-alternate\">Bringing Back the Color Wheel<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Remember in elementary school when your teacher broke out the color<br \/>\ncircles and told you all about the different degrees of color? She was<br \/>\non to something.<\/p>\n<p>What does the color wheel have to do with your web site branding<br \/>\nstrategy? Every color is suited for a specific purpose; it&#8217;s your job to<br \/>\nmake sure the colors you pick match the goals of your company.<\/p>\n<p>Be careful when trying to combine colors from different color<br \/>\nspectrums &ndash; it could confuse the user or make your logo and\/or site<br \/>\nappear too &#8216;busy&#8217; or cluttered. We recommend combining colors from the<br \/>\nsame level of the color wheel.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Warm Colors<\/strong> &mdash; Warm colors are made with reds,<br \/>\n    pinks, oranges, yellows, golds, browns or some combination thereof.<br \/>\n    Generally, warm colors tend to be more exciting and aggressive. They can<br \/>\n    connote feelings from simple optimism to strong violence, and as a<br \/>\n    result many people prefer them in small doses.  Designers can &#8216;tone<br \/>\n    down&#8217; warm colors by using the lighter side of the warm color spectrum,<br \/>\n    like pale pinks and yellows.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cool Colors<\/strong> &mdash; Cool colors are made from blues,<br \/>\n    greens, purples, grays, silvers and whites and are more commonly<br \/>\n    associated with spring and summer. If warm colors denote violent, cool<br \/>\n    colors are said to promote a soothing effect. Blues, greens and purples<br \/>\n    give the impression of comfort and nurturing, making them excellent<br \/>\n    choices for marketers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Intermediary Colors<\/strong> &mdash; The warmth or coolness of<br \/>\n    some colors can vary depending on the particular hue. For example,<br \/>\n    purples and greens are considered intermediary colors, because depending<br \/>\n    on how much red or yellow they contain (in relation to blue) they can<br \/>\n    be perceived differently. Less blue equals a warmer color; more blue<br \/>\n    indicates a cooler color.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"sIFR-replaced\"><span class=\"sIFR-alternate\">The Power of Color<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>We know choosing colors for your web site and logo may seem trivial,<br \/>\nbut its impact can be huge. Color has a lot of meaning attached to it &mdash;<br \/>\nusing your colors appropriately will reassure consumers and help<br \/>\nestablish customer loyalty.  Conversely, choose the wrong colors and you<br \/>\ncan easily find yourself &#8216;saying&#8217; things you never intended to!<\/p>\n<p>The colors you choose can help brand your company in the following ways:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"sIFR-replaced\"><span class=\"sIFR-alternate\">Categorize Your Company<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Not sure how the web design colors you choose can help categorize<br \/>\nyour company? Think about your last trip to the grocery store. What<br \/>\ncolors did you see as you were walking down the grocery aisle? We can<br \/>\nguess there were red or orange signs that told you a sale was going on,<br \/>\ngreen signs to point you in the direction of the nearest ATM and tan<br \/>\nsigns to show you where the bakery was. Remember the old black and white<br \/>\nlabels that would immediately tell customers they were looking at a<br \/>\ngeneric label item? These are all examples of how color can help to<br \/>\ncategorize a company.<\/p>\n<p>Color usage is important because it gives consumers visual clues to<br \/>\nhelp them sort and categorize what they are seeing. If your company uses<br \/>\nbright, playful colors like bright orange, red, or royal blue, your<br \/>\nconsumers may think you are selling products geared toward children.<br \/>\nThat can be great if you&#8217;re selling toys for toddlers, but if you&#8217;re<br \/>\nselling office supplies for large corporations, you may want to revise<br \/>\nyour color scheme. Deep grays, pastel blues and black are often<br \/>\nassociated with more &#8216;dignified&#8217; or &#8216;elegant&#8217; products. Some colors<br \/>\nbetter represent spring, while others denote winter. The wrong color can<br \/>\ngive your consumer an entirely different impression of your company<br \/>\nthan the one you&#8217;re after. So choose wisely.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"sIFR-replaced\"><span class=\"sIFR-alternate\">Set the Mood<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>What is your company&#8217;s personality? Is it formal, exclusive and<br \/>\nhigher priced? Or is it friendly, casual and affordable? Certain colors<br \/>\nhave psychological and cultural meanings that have long been ingrained<br \/>\nin your user. If you try and use a color differently than what they<br \/>\nassociate your company with, it is likely your campaign will not be<br \/>\nsuccessful. Use your colors to set the mood and tone of your company.<br \/>\nUse cooler colors to promote a calm, serious image or warm colors for an<br \/>\nenergetic, exciting feel.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers become emotionally attached to certain colors. As a result,<br \/>\ndifferent colors can convey different feelings, such as the season, or<br \/>\ntime of day. Let&rsquo;s head back to the grocery store, green means pine or<br \/>\nmenthol; blue means mint or icy fresh; and red is found in strawberries<br \/>\nand apples. Would you eat something that was blue? How about purple?<br \/>\nNeither would your user.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, a particular color itself often becomes associated<br \/>\nwith a certain company or brand. If the color you&#8217;ve targeted is<br \/>\nassociated with one of your competitors, don&#8217;t use it! UPS has used<br \/>\ntheir color to brand themselves as a no-nonsense company.  Most people<br \/>\nassociated UPS with their brown trucks and uniform and since the color<br \/>\nbrown portrays reliability, it is a color perfectly suited for them. <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"sIFR-replaced\"><span class=\"sIFR-alternate\">Attention Grabbing<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>One of the most obvious things designers can use color for is to grab<br \/>\ntheir customer&#8217;s attention. People know that using bright colors like<br \/>\nreds or oranges are known to catch people&#8217;s eye.  As a result, a lot of<br \/>\nmarketers choose these colors and saturate the market.<\/p>\n<p>A good way to grab attention is to use seb site design colors that<br \/>\ncurrently aren&#8217;t being used in your industry. An unknown color could<br \/>\nhelp set your company apart from your competition and make people take<br \/>\nnotice. Of course, there could be a reason no one else is using that<br \/>\ncolor, so watch out!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"sIFR-replaced\"><span class=\"sIFR-alternate\">International Web Design Concerns<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Depending upon the culture, colors can have very different meanings<br \/>\nand actually cause problems for your site. For example, green represents<br \/>\nmovement, nature and fertility in the United States, but in other<br \/>\ncountries green is associated with inexperience, envy and misfortune.<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s said that in China green hats mean a man&#8217;s wife is cheating on him.<br \/>\nBlue may be the most popularly used color in the United States but some<br \/>\ncultures believe the color blue depicts defeat, trouble, depression or<br \/>\nsadness. When selecting colors, it&#8217;s important that the color portrays<br \/>\nthe message and the image of your company in all languages. The success<br \/>\nof your company could depend on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your logo and site are more than just a collection of text, images and white space. Somewhere in there are the colors you choose. It may seem trivial, but the colors you select to represent your company will influence your audiences&#8217; perception of you and will determine if they stick around to investigate further. How [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101022,"featured_media":0,"parent":62554,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62656","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<title>Bruce Clay EU - Web Design Color Considerations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Color considerations must be taken seriously when dealing with all aspects of web site design. 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