Life is lived in color. We associate colors with feelings, places, even things and times of the day. A website, though a functioning thing of business, is also a piece of art. A good website is informative and functional; a great website is all of those things and visually pleasing as well. Your logo may have its own colors; it is important to incorporate those into your site. If your business doesn’t have a set color scheme, there are some important points to consider when designing your site.
The emotion of color.
Colors have been shown throughout history to affect the emotions of the viewer. Take Picasso’s blue period, for example. His almost monochromatic use of the color gave his work a feeling of melancholy. The effect would have been different had he used yellow or red.
What is your field?
Are you in an agricultural or environmental field? Perhaps greens would be good for you. A service company, one looking to earn the trust of its customers, would be better suited in blue.
Don’t be afraid of white space.
There’s no need to fill every inch of your website with color. One of the first things learned in design school is that white space is good. White space allows room for other colors to pop and other elements to be noticed. It’s also good to note that background colors for a website are generally frowned upon; they make graphics complicated to handle and text may be difficult to read on some devices.
Black text is best.
Make your headings colorful, but keep body text black. Black text on white background is the easiest to read and makes the best impression.
Is your logo monochromatic? Use analogous or complementary colors on the color wheel. Analogous colors are next to each other (yellow and green), and good for general color scheme selection. Complementary colors are good for accents and should be used sparingly. Work with your graphic designer to find a color scheme that achieves the impression you are looking for.
