Color psychology in web design 101

 

Colors are everywhere around us. They affect our mood, the way we perceive everything around us, and how we feel. We use colors to showcase our personality and style in all areas of our lives. We carefully consider the palette of our clothes, accessories, interior decor, even cars! Because of this, choosing the right colors for your website design is very important. Every color has a meaning and will create a certain impression on the customers. This is especially relevant when you’re wondering how to boost the conversion rate on your website. A palette your brand uses can help you attract the attention of users and encourage them to engage with your brand. With that in mind, we’ve prepared this guide on color psychology in web design!

What is color psychology and why is it important for web design?

Color psychology is a scientific field that explores how colors affect human behavior. And as marketers and designers have discovered, colors have a huge impact on customers’ decision-making process. Over 90% of people say that color is one of the main factors that help them make their purchasing decisions! In fact, many people associate their favorite brands with the colors they use.

Unfortunately, when designing a website, color is often overlooked. There are many tools you can use to optimize your website and ensure it performs well – from a callback widget to popups. However, with data like this, don’t underestimate the importance of color. We perceive colors on the deep, subconscious level. So, choosing the right combination will help your brand stand out appeal to prospects.

A vocabulary of color – learn the basics

But, where to start? Choosing the right palette for your website can seem overwhelming at first. There are so many beautiful colors out there! With that in mind, we’ve created this beginner’s vocabulary of color to help you learn the ropes:

• primary colors – traditionally, primary colors are red, blue, and yellow; they’re the source of all other colors -we derive secondary and tertiary colors from these three
• HTML color codes – on the web, we use HTML color codes to represent RGB color system (Red, Blue, Green)
• color warmth – we view colors as warm if they have a higher amount of reds and yellows, while cold colors contain a higher amount of blue
• tints and shades – we add white to create tints and black to create shades
• saturation – it’s a term we use to describe the intensity of color; increasing saturation makes the color appear darker and richer while reducing it makes the color seem faded and lighter

Knowing the meaning of these terms will help you explore possibilities further and choose the right color combination.

Understanding the color wheel will help you use color psychology in web design

However, the main tool you can use when designing a website is the color wheel. You’ve probably seen it before! The simplest color wheel consists of twelve colors. These basic colors stand for all the color families you can get by using different tints, shades, and saturation.

But how can the color wheel help you design a perfect logo, popup, or website? The answer is simple – there are five color wheel schemes you can use.

Monochrome

This scheme implies using one base color. Then, you can use a variety of tints and shades of that color to create the variety and break the monotony.

Complementary

This is a dual color scheme – combine two colors from the opposite sides of the color wheel. This will ensure a dynamic and vibrant website design.

Analogous color

This scheme features choosing three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. The similarity will create a harmonious effect, without your design looking bland.

Triadic

This scheme also features three colors. However, they’re not next to each other. Instead, draw the triangle with the same-length sides on the color wheel. Then, combine the three colors at the points of the triangle in your web design.

Tetradic

Lastly, this scheme is similar to the previous one. But, instead of drawing a triangle, opt for a square or rectangle. That way you’ll get four colors that go well together and create a bold, and yet appealing color scheme for your website.

Meaning of colors – color psychology in web design

Knowing how to combine colors is crucial for creating a noticeable and attractive design. But, how to select the right color in the first place? Here, it’s important to know the meaning and connotations of different colors and what feelings and qualities we associate each of them with. Choosing the perfect colors for your brand will help you attract prospects and boost website sales, too.

Red

Red is a powerful color. It signifies love, passion, excitement, and movement. It’s bold and dynamic, perfect for food, entertainment, marketing, and many other industries. However, be careful not to overuse it – it can have aggressive connotations, too!

Yellow

Yellow is the brightest color – we often associate it with youth, happiness, and optimism. Bright yellow is energetic, while softer, lighter hues are ideal for creating a sense of calm and cheerfulness.

Blue

It’s no wonder that blue is used so often in marketing and brand design! Our minds associate this color with many excellent qualities. Apart from being refreshing and energizing, blue evokes competence, quality, wisdom, loyalty, strength, productivity, and security.

Green

Green is a soothing, harmonizing color. It stands for growth, health, nature, wealth, support, and fertility, We also associate it with peace, harmony, generosity, and energy. All of these connotations make it perfect for medicine, tourism, science, environment, and sustainability industries.

Orange

This is a vibrant and energetic color that we associate with youth, fun, happiness, warmth, and enthusiasm. However, similarly to red and yellow, it’s best to use it sparingly for maximum effect.

Purple

Purple is the color of wealth, luxury, creativity, mystery, and sophistication. That makes it perfect for beauty, fashion, massage, and spirituality.

Black

This color communicates sophistication, elegance, formality, power, and many other qualities. That makes it great for luxury products and fashion as well as marketing and cosmetics. However, it can become overwhelming, and even depressing, if overused.

White

We associate white with cleanliness, purity, sincerity, and virtue. As the effect of white depends on the other colors you combine it with, it can be used for every type of business.

Final thoughts

Color psychology is a powerful tool in web design. It evokes emotions and establishes brand identity. The color wheel will help you choose the right colors for your brand and create a website your users will love.