Show Your Colors! How Colors Affect Your Website Design
It’s almost summertime, and with Flag Day and the 4th of July on the horizon, we’re thinking about the importance of showing your colors – the right colors, on your website, that is!
So what colors should you use when creating (or redesigning) your website? Well, that depends on who you ask – designers and developers possess two unique skill sets that often (must) overlap.
Color selection has implications on both technical and artistic staff. When it comes to usability, one of the first rules of thumb is to make sure text is legible; this is achieved by paying attention to color contrast and text size. Whatever color combination you choose, the text on your site should be crystal clear. For example, if you’re designing a mobile site, you might want to avoid light gray text on a white background, as it’s much harder to read on a small screen with smaller text sizes.
Another major factor to keep in mind when selecting your website colors is the feeling or emotion you want your brand to convey. Studies have shown that color choice:
- Increases brand recognition by up to 80%
- Improves readership as much as 40%
- Increases comprehension by 73%
- Can be up to 85% of the reason users decide to buy
How do you want your customers to feel when they’re viewing your site?
- Yellow: Optimism, clarity, warmth
- Orange: Cheerful, confident
- Red: Exciting, bold, youthful
- Purple: Creative, imaginative, wise
- Blue: Trustworthy, dependable, strong
- Green: Peaceful, growth, health
- Gray: Balanced, neutral, calm
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have all chosen to incorporate a largely blue design, communicating a strong sense of trust and dependability. Keep this in mind when choosing your color scheme.
How do colors affect purchases? Check out this infographic from KISSMetrics with some fascinating stats:
Colors mean much more than many may understand when it comes to web design. Whether you’re a developer, graphic artist, or a business owner looking to build a new website or redesign an existing site, remember what emotions your color choices evoke and how they’ll affect someone’s decision to purchase.
It’s also important to remember the importance of a website that loads lightening fast and is always available. At Applied Innovations, we go the extra mile to ensure our web hosting services are second to none. With round-the-clock service and a comprehensive offering of web hosting solutions, including cloud server hosting and shared site hosting, Applied Innovations is guaranteed to have the ideal service for your unique business.
