The brand colours you use on your business website are a key element to consider when designing a new site, as different colours convey a variety of messages and create an online ‘atmosphere’ that can either contribute to or detract from your brand identity and messages.
How Colours Support And Reflect Your Brand Values
Colours play a crucial role in creating a memorable and impactful impression of your brand on your business website and social media platforms, so selecting the right colour scheme for your site can help you better connect with your audience on an emotional and instinctive level.
Choose colours carefully to reflect your brand's values and message. Different colours have emotional and psychological implications and can evoke feelings and associations that could make a visitor feel a certain way about your brand.
For example, warm colours like red or yellow can give a feeling of energy and excitement, while cool colours like blue or green can create a sense of calm, professionalism, and trust. Vibrant colours such as pink and yellow, on the other hand, are commonly seen as playful or fun.
Are These Associations Universally True?
Colour theory and colour psychology provide an interesting reference point when deciding what colours to use, but bear in mind that colour associations are strongly culturally determined. For example, in the United States, the colour green has associations with money and prosperity, and is commonly used on banking and financial services websites, whereas in Europe and the UK, green is more strongly associated with sustainability and renewable energy. Meanwhile, in some Asian countries the colour red donates good luck and success, whereas in Western countries red is associated with danger, so is a good choice for a health and safety or security website, but maybe not for an investment broker!
When considering how someone from another culture perceives a particular colour association it’s essential to consider their unique cultural context and experiences. Always refer to your ideal customer profiles when choosing brand colours for your website, and what the colour could mean to them.
What Colour Combinations To Use?
Whatever colours you choose, go with a colour palette that is consistent with your branding, logos, and the offline visual identity used in your marketing collateral. Introducing too many new colours into your colour scheme could dilute your brand identity if you already have an established and recognisable colour palette. Integrating your website colour palette with your company branding will help ensure a cohesive look and feel across your website and foster a sense of familiarity for website visitors. In accordance with your business brand’s colour palette, also choose a contrasting colour for the buttons and on your website to incentivise visitors to make an action - a button that draws the eye from the rest of the website.
Colour Combinations And Accessibility
It isn’t just the colours you use on your website that are important, but the way you combine them for different effects. Using complimentary colours can help your website stand out and make it more visually appealing. However, always use colour combinations that are easy on the eyes.
Too many vibrant colours can be overwhelming and distracting – and bear in mind that people with colour blindness may have accessibility needs that need to be met, and some colour combinations, such as red and green, green and brown, blue and purple, and green and blue, can be confusing and off-putting for people with colour blindness, and limit what they can read on the site.
The 60/30/10 Rule
When creating a colour palette, a good place to start is to remember the 60/30/10 rule.
For a balanced colour palette, use your main brand colour for 60% of the design, secondary colour for 30%, and an accent or highlight colour for 10%. This colour theory principle is drawn most commonly from interior design but works equally well on business websites. Variations on the same theme include the 70/20/10 rule, and the 80/20 rule – experiment with different palettes and solicit feedback from employees and stakeholders until you find a balance that works best for your business and its customers.
Using Colour Contrasts In Your Website Design
Many businesses use colour accents and splashes of contrasting colours to highlight important elements on the website, such as content windows and CTAs. For example, you could use bright colours to create visual interest and make certain elements stand out on the page, drawing your readers’ eye to what is most important. Contrasting colours, such as green and red, orange and blue, and yellow and purple, can also help important information stand out from a neutral background in a crowded content feed.
Find Out More
With careful consideration, the colours of your business’s online branding can be used to generate a good first impression and support the way your messages are communicated to website visitors. For more information about conversion and web design, please get in touch with one of our website conversion specialists today by calling 01332 343281.
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