How to Select The Perfect Color for Your Website
July 7, 2011 by Kevin Michael Gray
The Internet is an almost inexhaustible source of applications and sites and given the current trend the future will bring a steady growth both in numbers but also in importance. The winner of this avalanche of possibilities is definitely the Internet user who will decide who will thrive and who will require a rethinking or changing of strategy. One of the most important factors in attracting customers is the color; its eye-catching power can convert visitors into regular users or customers. Choosing a color scheme for a site is not easy, this being emphasized by the importance of color in the whole ensemble. Another advantage in choosing the right color layout is the power of suggestion, vision is color dominated, and in the absence of writing it will take certain meanings. This has applications not only in web design but also in everyday life, depending on the culture and tradition, for example white represents purity for Europeans whilst for some areas of China and Africa mourning. In conclusion, choosing the right color can have significant effects and, in web design, it can mean the difference between amateurism and professionalism. In this article I will submit a list of the most important ideas to be considered when choosing the color combination of a site; I look forward to any additions or opinions so please use the comment form!
1. The color scheme has to bear in mind the target audience
The selection of colors used in a site should not be influenced by ones’ own preferences, although subjectivity has its role. The main purpose of used tones is to help attract potential visitors, the success of any online presence being dependent on the traffic received. So, before sketching the first possibilities of color combinations it’s good to establish the target audience, the segment of population for which the website is designed .Amongst the most important factors in determining the appropriate colors are the visitors’ gender, the major age category, trade or geographic location. For example, a site featuring the latest news from the auto industry is usually aimed at men aged over 18 (so determined by the legal possibility of obtaining a driving license and the genders’ preferences for speed and adrenaline). In this case we can use powerful colors, sharp contrast emphasizing the idea of dynamism, power and innovation. Definitely, other visitors are welcome to visit the site but as most visitors are from the formerly mentioned segment we can neglect their preferences. Any web designer knows that he cannot please all Internet users with a single color scheme. A more complicated problem is faced by designers who have as target audience a population that is spread across different geographical areas. The meaning of colors can vary around the world, and sometimes may even have opposite positions. In this case the designer’s first concern is to make a statistic of his potential visitors and if that cannot be precisely determined it’s advisable to use a smaller number of colors which should be as characteristic of that area as possible. READ THE FULL ARTICLE
