| Using
Color on the Web
Spring is a good time to brighten
things up around your home or office. Colorful surroundings
inside and out evoke certain emotions. Have you noticed
that when it is dark and gloomy outside, your mood may
be affected?
If chosen thoughtfully, colors on your
website can have an impact on the user.
Red
– bright and vibrant – is the most attention-getting
color. Love, passion, anger and alarm are all feelings
that can be associated with red. It is a good accent
color to add some punch to a site.
Blue
is calm, soothing, serious or heavenly. If your site
deals with serious issues such as illness, blue is a
good choice. It is also thought to be a professional-looking
color.
Green
can represent growth, life and nature. It is fresh and
cool.
The way colors are used on your site
is important. Emotional connection to the color will
be wasted if the readability is compromised. Background
colors should be used sparingly, and only if they do
not distract the user from seeing the other elements
on a page. Bright colors draw the eye in, but too much
can be overwhelming. Make sure that there is enough
contrast between text and background color to make reading
easy on the eyes.
The “rules” of color on
the web are not much different than what you would keep
in mind when printing a flyer or choosing stationary
and ink colors.
Our
designers are experienced in color management, and use
that knowledge when putting together new sites. We strive
to find that perfect balance between a client’s
vision and great color practice on the web. If you’d
like some additional help on your site, contact the
office at 733-2388.
Examples
are from the article “The Psychology of Colors”
by Owen Demers (August 13, 2001), on the website informIT.
Above graphic is adapted from the PepFX website. |
