What we see has more impact on us than things we read or hear. Humans follow the visual stimuli in most of the things they do. The same is true when it comes to shopping and buying on the internet. Hence, it is important for businesses who have an online presence to create and design a website that attracts people. And, if you have a website that is boring and unattractive, it can put off your visitors permanently. But it is not all that easy to design a website that ticks with the masses. And, what can make or break your journey in the online arena is the website colour scheme. You have to be right on all the counts when it comes to website colour scheme.
Therefore, people who do not pay attention to the colour scheme of their website should not expect to do well on the online circuit.
Most of the buyers (85%) base their product buying decision on colour. Though the statistic is surprising, but it is none the less true.
If you think of some of the world’s most popular brands, you will notice that each one of them has a distinct colour scheme. Be it McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, or Dell, each of them is the leader in their vertical, and all have a distinct colour scheme.
Creating a brand….
If you are in the world of business, you must be aware that creating a strong brand identity is essential for the success of your organisation. A strong brand identity generates trust, comfort, and develops a long-lasting relationship with customers.
And, one thing that is central to any brand that has created a name for itself is its logo.
So, if you want to have a lasting effect on the minds and hearts of your consumers, you need to select the colour scheme of your logo carefully.
After all, colour is said to increase brand recognition by as much as 80%.
This proves our point beyond doubt that colour scheme is vitally important for creating a successful brand. It is not in the interest of the successful brands to play with their colour scheme. Hence, you would seldom see a change in the colour scheme of brands that are successful.
Website colour scheme – how to choose the best for your business?
When you start your business, you do a lot of brainstorming to select the right colour for your brand logo. Similarly, it is crucial for businesses to choose the right colour scheme for their websites. It is not advisable to select the colour scheme of your website randomly or follow your gut feeling.
If you want your website to look aesthetic, you should do a lot of deliberation when it comes to picking up the right colour scheme.
Within 90 seconds of initial viewing, people form an opinion about a product or an environment. And, 62 to 90% of that assessment is directly based on the colour.
It is therefore vital for you to select the right colour scheme for your website, one that suits your demographic.
Follow these simple tips to select the best colour scheme for your website:
Colours have an emotional connect with humans, try to understand it – Before deciding on the colour scheme for your website, it is important that you try to understand the human connection with colours.
Try and understand the psychology of colours. Every colour conveys a message.
For example, the colour green represents nature, health, wealth, and tranquillity. Green colour has relaxing effects and is the easiest colour for the eyes to process. It is the second most preferred colour by men and women. Leading brands using colour green – Tropicana, BP, Animal Planet, etc.
The colour yellow is associated with youthfulness, cheerfulness, and optimism. The yellow colour is mostly used to grab the attention of the audience. Leading brands using colour yellow – McDonald’s, Hertz, National Geographic, etc.
The colour orange represents enthusiasm, creativity, and friendliness. The orange colour prompts people to act – for example, buy and subscribe. It attracts impulse buyers. The leading brands using colour orange – Amazon, Crush, Payless, etc.
The colour red represents energy, passion, danger, urgency, vibrancy, and excitement. The colour red is mostly used to create urgency to buy. It triggers strong emotional reactions. You can see most of the restaurants using the colour red to stimulate appetite. Leading brands using colour red – Heinz, Coca-Cola, Red Robin, etc.
The colour pink is associated with sweetness, feminism, romance, fertility, and innocence. The colour pink is mostly used to market products and services that are used by women and young girls. Leading brands using colour pink – Barbie, Lyft, Pink Victoria’s Secret, etc.
The colour purple represents wisdom, royalty, success, and wealth. The colour is mostly used in beauty and aging products. It has a soothing effect on people. Leading brands using colour purple – Qatar Airways, THAI, Cadbury, etc.
The colour blue represents security, calmness, trust, peace, and stability. The colour blue is mostly used in banks and businesses to create a sense of security and trust among customers. It is the most preferred colour by both men and women. Leading brands using colour blue – Dell, GE, American Express, etc.
The colour grey represents simplicity, neutrality, calmness, and logic. The colour grey lacks emotion and is associated with precision, technology, control, industry, competence, and sophistication. Leading brands using colour grey – Mercedes, Bosch, Tesla, etc.
The colour black represents luxury, power, elegance, and sophistication. The colour black is mostly used to market luxury brands which evoke a sense of professionalism, precision, and strength. Leading brands using colour black – L’Oréal, Chanel, Rolls Royce, etc.
Hence, depending on the type and sector of your website, you should choose the colour scheme for your website. Also, very carefully you need to select the colour for the CTA button. You also have to understand that the effect of colours may vary on the place of your geographical location. For example, colours that attract Americans might not appeal in the same way to the Britishers.
Check out your demographic audience – This again is an important consideration. Try to figure out your target audience and then select the colour scheme of your website. Based on the emotions that colours evoke (as mentioned earlier), you need to choose the primary colour for your website. For example, if you are in the food business, you can consider making red as your primary colour.
Find out gender preferences – Depending on the business you are into; gender preferences can also play a significant role in selecting the colour scheme for your website. If you are specifically catering to a particular gender, try to pick up a colour that connects with your audience. You should know which colours attract men and women and those that they don’t like. Each gender has a clear colour preference. For example, the favourite colour for men is blue, and they generally don’t like brown and purple. Similarly, women’s favourite colour is also blue, and they don’t like brown and orange. Hence, it is important that you keep gender colour preferences in mind before finalizing the colour scheme of your website.
You also need to consider the age group of your audience – Just as colour preferences are different for men and women, it is different for people in different age brackets. Younger people like bold colours like yellow and red, while older people prefer sober colours like purple and white. Blue, green, and purple are liked by people in almost all the age brackets. As people age, their preference for green decreases, and they start liking purple. Hence, depending on the age group that dominates your demographic, you should select the colour scheme for your website.
Don’t be biased – It is not about what you like; it is about what others prefer. Hence, you should select a colour scheme that is based on psychology and not on your gut feeling. If you select your favourite colour as the primary colour, it might not give you the desired results. For example, if you like the colour green, you might want to select green as your primary colour for your restaurant business (which is not what colour psychology recommends). So, it should not be according to your likes and dislikes. Base your decision on psychology and not on your preferences.
Decide on the number of colours you want to use – After selecting the primary colour, you need to decide on the number of colours you want to use. Using too many colours can spoil the fun and can complicate things for your website. Usually, businesses opt for three colours in the following ratio – 60-30-10, where dominant colour takes up 60% of the space, secondary colour accounts for 30%, and accent colour takes up 10%. It is therefore best to follow a combination of three colours in the ratio mentioned here.
Now, select the colours you want to use – Choose the set of colours you want for your website. Do keep in mind that contrast generally works fine when it comes to websites. A background that is light in colour with contrast foregrounds can be an ideal combination for a website. The combination is soothing for the eyes of your customers and has an aesthetic appeal as well. However, websites with a dark background and light foreground can also look great. But, in such cases, you should select the colours carefully.
Take the help of the colour wheel – When it comes to selecting the colour scheme of your website, taking the help of the colour wheel is always a good idea. You can choose analogous colours that are pretty much the same and lie next to each other on the colour wheel. Alternatively, you can select complimentary colours that are bang opposite each other on the colour wheel.
Take the help of tools – The internet pretty much teaches you everything. Take the help of the tools that are available on the internet to select the best colour scheme for your website. It can make your job easy and save you time. You can take the help of Colormind, Colour Spire, colour explorer, or any other.
Study your competition – Your competitors can teach you a lot. Do a detailed study (check out at least three) to find what works best in your industry (colour scheme). You can choose a colour scheme that is similar to those of some of the popular websites, or you can pick up a combination that is just the opposite.
Work on two-three colour schemes then compare – Don’t finalize the first colour scheme that comes to your mind. Check out at least two to three colour schemes, and then finalize one for your website. Work out your options and show them to your friends and colleagues. See their reactions before finalizing the colour scheme of your website.
If you still have any problem, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech and get new ideas for the colour scheme of your website.
vStacks Infotech has been in the business of website designing for long, and we know what it takes to design an attractive website.
