The Choice of Colour in Web Design; 2022

Various colours can create different emotions. By laying our eyes on some colours, we feel relaxed, and some others will bring us excitement. Even colours can be a reason why we are sad. That is why choosing appropriate colours matters where we need to have the best impression on our visitors or represent the best version of our website. Note that not all people are under the influence of the colours equally. In some cases, the affecting process of the colours, such as web design, isn't a miracle by which the website owner can manipulate the audience's mind. Brain's activities are much more complicated to be fundamentally controlled by some colours. But here's the thing! The colours' effect on humans' emotions has been proven, and emotions unconsciously can affect the decision-making process. The thing is, whether an individual likes your website design or not can influence their decision regarding cooperating with your company. Although this effect may not be that much, it cannot be ignored. Selecting the appropriate colours in a website can directly influence its functionality and identifying its brand. You only have to check out websites such as Facebook (blue), Coca Cola (red), and Apple  (black and white) to see how these companies invest in colours for branding and empowering their name in the global market. Another reason why we shouldn't ignore the power of colours for web design in 2022, is choosing suitable colours can convince your audiences to stay on your website and read the information they need –even more!

First, let's talk about colour and its characteristics. We all know about primary and secondary colours. Red, blue, and yellow are the primary colours. Secondary colours are, in fact, a combination of primary colours like green, purple, and orange. Also, there is another category of colours, tertiary colours, which are a combination of secondary colours and primary colours like red-violet, green-yellow, and blue-violet.

- Hue is almost the same as colour. - Shade is, in fact, a darker version of hue or colour, which depends on how much black we add to the hue. - Tint is the brighter version of the hue and depends on how much white we add to the hue. - when we add both black and white to the hue to create a new effect, we have Tone. In digital concept, Tone is also known as saturation. In General, Two Types of Colours Are Used: 1. Red, Green, Blue –RGB 2. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key –CMYK The next concept is the contrast. It is in fact something referring to the difference and clarity of a given picture. The higher the contrast the more different the colours are (e.g., red text and white background), and the lesser the contrast the less different the colours are (e.g., text in pale blue and a dark-blue background.)

Now that we know the basics about colours, this question comes to our minds, which colours should we choose for the web design? There are different factors that you should consider beforehand the web design: Think! What are your business's objective, slogan, and brand? What will you upload on your website, and what reaction do you expect your audiences to have when they read your website's content? For instance, if your brand or product is related to the environment, green and khaki tones can be good choices. If your product is chocolate, your first options probably are different shades of brown. For every business related to medicine, it is better to use shades of white and blue along with a bit of red, orange, or green. Who are your target audiences? Pink and lilac shades are the best choices for girlish websites, while red, blue, black, and brown can absorb men. Does your brand have a specific colour combination? If yes, you'd better choose your website's colours accordingly, just like Coca-Cola (red). What is your company's focus going to be on? The content or the graphic design of it? If you aim to attract most users' attention, you'd better use natural colours.

How we understand the colours highly depends on how they are used. There are different colour schemes in colour harmony. 1. Analogous: In this colour scheme, there is a primary colour and two other colours on each side. New colours are the outcome of combining the primary colour and one of those two, and the cycle goes on. If you want to have five colours, you can add another two colours at the beginning of the cycle. These combinations end in a smoother colour scheme with little contrast. 2. Monochromic: In this approach, a primary colour is chosen, and other colours are created using the primary colour's different tint and saturation and make the appearance of the website appealing and professional. 3. Triadic: This colour scheme creates colours with high contrast and no change in the colours' tone. This combination is made by combining the colours in the circle that place on a hypothetical triangle's angles. 4. Complementary: This combination is made by combining colours that are precisely in front of each other on the circle. It creates the highest contrast for web design, which is significantly used to show the main elements of the website. 5. Split Complementary: This colour scheme is made of three colours, a primary colour and two of its complementary colours. This scheme is smoother and more relaxed than the previous one, and it considerably reduces the contrast.

Now we know how different colour schemes are made, how they are represented on the screen, and we learn more or less how people see these colours; it is time to use these factors and choose the best colour combination for our website. However, we should remind you that colour in web design is related to art and aesthetics. No matter how scientifically we look at this topic, it still has room for creativity and creative colour combination. But the point is, the colour harmony doesn't do any damage to your website display and your brand. First, start from a few colours and, if necessary, add some other. Note that overusing different colours while designing a website may cause audiences' displeasure. Also, you need to integrate colour harmony in every part of your website and consider all the fundamental rules. For example, if you have a CTA on your homepage regarding "add to the card," the colour harmony of this specific CTA button should be the same on all the pages. Let's say you've used dark green for the button; the colour of the very same button shouldn't be anything else on other pages. Or if you've used pink for "special offer" on your homepage, that should be the colour you use for all the "special offer" buttons on your website. Note that whatever method you use to select your web design colours, your main objective should eventually influence the user. You might not like a specific colour combination, but that is not your own taste that matters here! The thing is whether your audiences like it or not. However, if you follow all the points made earlier, you won't be out of the right line for this matter (i.e., choosing the best colour combination).

 Let's wrap it by giving you some point to clarify our objective regarding this article!

Are you planning for web design specialized for women? Don't ever think to use colours such as gray or brown. Based on the researches, about 35% of women have favoured blue, 23% love lavender and 14% like Green. Interestingly, 23% of women hate orange, and 33% and 17% don't like brown and gray, respectively. Talking statically, utilizing colours like blue, green, and lavender is clever enough to gain a woman's attention. Voila!

If you are designing a website for men, do not use brown, lavender, and dark orange. Men prefer blue, green, and black.

Blue has lots of psychological effects, which can cause a sense of relaxation and trust. Blue is the icon of peace and loyalty. Facebook and many successful banks in the world have benefited from this colour to gain their customers' trust. Note that if you own a website about food, forget about blue! Researches have shown that blue lowers the appetite and makes people do not want to eat.

Yellow is one of the utmost used colours in traffic signs. Therefore, using yellow somehow means a warning. Nonetheless, there are brands with yellow which represent entertainment and joy. Anyways, the truth is, there are many if and buts regarding the usage of yellow in web design. Thus, we should use yellow with caution and in a few places.

Green is the icon of nature, climate, environment, and outdoor activities.

You should pay close attention while using orange in your web design. Orange's harmony doesn't easily match with any colour. But the good news is, it is the complementary colour for blue in the colour cycle (i.e., related to the colour schemes), and you can use it with blue. Orange in web design can bring the visitors excitement, inspiration, and self-confidence to do physical activities. In many sport and children-product brand orange is used frequently.

Black can create worthiness and temptation. Black can convey a sense of luxury regarding a product, and almost every luxurious product brand has chosen black as a part of their background theme.

After a long talk about colours and their psychology, you may assume that we've left out white; but you're wrong! White is one of the favourite colours among people, and it represents integrity, spirituality, freedom, and peace.