Make People Feel Through Color
04.22.09
Imagine tonight you have an elegant party. I’m sure you think carefully what you are going to wear and which color you are going to use. If you have a picnic, clothes and colors you use would be different than the ones you wore at the party (of course!). In the same way, when you decide your company’s web site design, everything has to match.
Probably you can’t imagine this, but colors affected people sensations and most of the time the decision of a purchase is based on that feeling. Color in design is a powerful marketing tool you must avail.
Each color communicate a message; so, be careful about what kind of message do you want to transmit, according to your logo and corporate identity.
Before deciding the colors you want, keep in mind two important aspects: your target market (it’s not the same for kids than adults), and combinations (text, background, images… all have to harmonize. It’s not a paint explosion, never use more than five colors).
How can you know what colors to use? It depends on your business and the color theory, “a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impact of specific color combinations”. Check out the below guidelines of the main colors’ meaning.
- Yellow: it’s the color most visible to the human eye. Yellow symbolizes joy, happiness, energy, optimism, cooperation, enthusiasm, force, intellect, caution and activity. It’s used for kids and food.
- Blue: it’s the color of the sky and ocean. Usually means success, money, quality, calm, cold, peace, spirituality, youth, meditation, intuition. Blue is common used in planes companies and hotels.
- Red: the warmest of all colors. It means action, energy, strength, passion, courage, vitality, romance, drama, power, bravery, movement, vigor, malice and leadership. It’s the color of love! But using red too much could be annoying.
- Green: commonly associated to the earth, ecology and nature. Also means abundance, fertility, hope, money, life, wealth, quite, balance, friendliness and prestige. For example, it’s used for organic products.
- Pink: it’s the color for girls! Femininity, babies, sweets, fragility, friendship, calm, affection, love and beauty. Pink is common used for women’s products and services.
- Purple: means royalty, magic, mystery, wealth, prosperity, God, sophistication, spiritual power, dreams, imagination, luxury, fame, nostalgia, sadness and spirit.
- Brown: Associated to organic or natural. Also related to friendships, earth, hearth, home, outdoors, inexpensive, comfort, stability, simplicity, tranquility, masculine, passivity, fertility and generosity.
- Orange: funny, happy, energy, warmth, energy, balance, enthusiasm, vitality, ambition, career, justice, legal matters, selling, the sun, friendly, intense, creativity, autumn, attraction, success, social force, health and youth. Orange is an appetite stimulant used in restaurants.
- Black: it’s a serious color related to protection, power, sophistication, formality, elegance, classy, wealth, fear, evil, modern music, space, high quality, night, dramatic, authority, prestige and modernism. Used in jewelry and elegance services.
- White: purity, cleanliness, peace, innocence, simplicity, winter, snow, good, sterility, cold, clinical, safety, positivity and faith.
- Gray: security, old age, intelligence, maturity, solid, conservative, professional, sophisticated, durability, quality, quiet and sadness. Commonly used in funerary.
Extra tip: Many studies recommend using black text on a white background for maximal contrast and legibility. The best web design is a palette color away. Begin the process now!
[...] you prepare on line; it’s fairly important. You need to create an appealing, effective and colorful website; so, how can you select the most properly web design [...]