A Quick Guide To Website Colour

You can have everything else right about your website design but get it all wrong if you overlook the importance of colour.

Studies have shown that website visitors can be turned off within seconds if they don’t like your colours. Colour psychology is now a well understood science, provoking tried and tested emotional responses that can either work perfectly for your product and target market, or completely clash, confuse and disengage.

Selecting The Right Website Colour

So here’s a quick rundown of how the main colours can be just right or all wrong when it comes to your product, market and website design – backed up by mounting scientific evidence about colour psychology.

Red

Red is perhaps the strongest of the colours, and can represent alarm, dominance, security and power and really stand out on a web page. When simply attracting attention is what you want, red is the colour.

Orange

Orange is similar to red but is more warm and less urgent, so on a website it can still stand out but transmit energy more positively. Orange has been shown to be great for sales websites.

Yellow

Yellow can be a difficult colour because it can trigger conflicting emotions: too bold and it triggers feelings of caution, but warmer shades can evoke happiness and optimism but also run the risk of being underwhelming.

Green

If you have a green product, you need the colour green! But as well as recalling nature, green also triggers feelings of wealth and is generally favoured by men.

Blue

Like green, blue is also a colour liked by men, but it is even more calming, safe, reliable and serene. So it’s no surprise that it is an extremely commonly used colour for websites.

Purple

Men like bluey-greens, but women tend to love purple and its derivatives, and it elicits feelings of trust.

Black, white and grey

OK, so they are shades rather than colours – but they remain incredibly powerful. Black is a perfect contrast for any colour, but it exudes luxury and sophistication. White – especially the effective use of white space – stands for simplicity and cleanliness, and while grey may seem gloomy, it also stands for professionalism.

However, it’s not just the colours themselves that are important, but how they are used. Contrast must be used wisely effectively, as every colour has an ‘opposite’ that can, in fact, be the best possible complement.

A good digital marketing agency, like Sydney website design and SEO specialists Altitude Digital, knows the importance of website colour when it comes to your online presence – what colours to use and which ones to avoid in order to match your brand to the specific demographics of your intended audience.