You may already know that specific colors bring different emotions and meanings. But how does that translate into the design of your business website? Let's briefly explore the psychology of colors and how they affect people who visit your business website.
You may already know the meanings of popular colors. You may be attracted to blue when you’re looking to relax, whereas some colors like orange may not be suitable to use in formal documents in business.
These characteristics help explain why specific colors are well-known in certain sectors. For instance, blue is one of the colors frequently used by banks, and red is advised for brands that deal with dating services. A customer visiting the website with a bright yellow color to read about deep breathing and relaxation may need clarification, regardless of whether they can explain the reason.
Step 1:
Take note of the meanings that go along with colors in web design
Think about the shared meanings that are associated with specific hues. What colors are you aware of? Which one surprised you?
Blue
Blue is known to reduce appetite, which is why the use of it on a food-related site could be a bit off-putting for people visiting the site. Many believe that the reason is that there aren’t any everyday things with blue. Outside of food, blue is among the most sought-after colors among both genders. Since many naturally gravitate towards blue, companies often pick this color to build trust or create confidence.
Yellow
Yellow is playful and fun; however, it is vital to remember that it’s also employed as a warning signal. It’s a vibrant color that increases the level of emotion and creates excitement for your customers when used in small quantities. Still, it gets abrasive and overwhelming when used in more significant quantities. For accent colors, yellow is a great way to emphasize an individual call to action.
Green
Green is so strongly associated with nature and is eco-friendly that the color alone could send an impression that a business is ethical. Additionally, green is getting more sought-after because it has the soothing characteristics of blue and the stimulating positive effects that yellow can bring. Some other common associations are money and growth, which makes green a popular option across many industries.
Orange
Orange is the latest black, also known as the red of the moment. However, it’s not an easy color to deal with. Although it’s popular with children, most adults prefer it or don’t. Therefore, incorporating it into your site targeted toward adult customers should be handled carefully. Orange is associated with excitement, energy, and enthusiasm. It also evokes warmth. For certain businesses, this color is a crucial factor in establishing your brand’s personality and convincing customers to take action.
White
If you’ve heard of the expression “white space,” you might know the significance of the colour white in website design. White creates a sense of liberation, giving visitors to your website the breathing space needed to absorb the information you offer.
However, white also has a significant drawback: it can be eye-strain when pure white is combined with black and could be perceived as unnatural, harsh, or off-putting. A practical solution is to choose an off-white, such as ivory, which has the same benefits as white, but with a warmer hue that can be more soothing.
Black
Black is definitely among the top widely employed colors, but you must be aware of it because it comes with various conflicting connections. For instance, it’s an edgy color. However, it’s also formal and still traditional. If used in moderation, black can provide an earthy effect. However, it can quickly dominate your design if used too often.
The good thing is that white and black can have numerous, diverse shades between them, which means having darker and lighter tints will provide the same benefits, but with fewer negatives.
Red
Red can trigger strong emotions because it’s among the most evident shades within the spectrum. It is often associated with passion, love, and drama, but it can also represent the power of aggression, strength, or even anger. It is therefore recommended in minimal amounts.
Since it strongly encourages action, many web designers believe that it’s the best choice for buttons and other calls to take action. The research doesn’t necessarily back this argument. It shouldn’t be the only option. In a prior blog post, we discussed our method of generating clear calls to action.
Purple
Like orange, purple could be polarizing. It will probably draw female patrons but will immediately turn off male customers. Purple is a combination of the power of red and the stability of blue, contributing to its feeling of luxury and regal. It also signifies mysteriousness, creativity, or even wisdom. It’s not advised for all professions; however, it may be the ideal option for a few.
Pink
Pink is associated with gender and is commonly utilized to signify femininity and softness. In lighter shades, it may appear delicate and fragile as a flower, while in darker shades, it may appear exuberant or even raucous. Similar to red, pink symbolises love. However, it’s a gentler and more intimate affection than our intense love for red. This softness is a great fit for baby products and confectionery.
Brown
Brown is not the most popular color used in web design. Women and men are not fond of it, and mixing it with other shades is difficult. Its positive attributes are reliability and toughness. However, it requires an eye for design to avoid it looking dull and dark.
A contemporary alternative to brown and pink, which has gained popularity in recent years, is blush. It is a particular shade of pink that is reminiscent of beige. Companies that cater to women, specifically women in their 20s and 30s, typically use blush instead of beige or tan as a neutral tone with lighter feminine hues.
Step 2:
Take note of what colors you would recommend for your particular industry
Some shades are suited for specific industries. The most common colors used across industries are:
Blue: Science, medicine utilities, government medical and recruitment legal, dental information technology
Green: Science, medicine government, eco-friendly recruitment business, tourism, Human Resources, Finance
Black: Construction oil, finance, fashion manufacturing, cosmetics, mining, marketing
Gray: Automotive, journalism, sportswear, technology
Red: Fashion makeup, food, relationships, games on video retail automobile, hardware, video streaming
Orange: Drink, retail, and fitness
Yellow: Automotive, retail, food, technology, construction
Pink: medical (pediatrics and OBGYN), cosmetics, food, and retail
Although these trends shouldn’t constrain your choices when choosing the colors you use for your site, they’re trending for a reason. Most likely, your company’s overall message is like that of your closest competitors and so picking a color that’s entirely off-color for your particular industry may hurt (by conveying the wrong message to your customers) more than it can help (by creating a brand that stands above your competition).
Sometimes, breaking away from the norm of the market can pay off. Thinx is a company that makes period underwear and chooses an edgy color scheme for its website, rather than the vibrant fuchsias and oranges typical for most female care companies.
Thinx's slogan is "People with periods." Thinx uses blush as their primary brand color. Blush, a color that resembles brown, makes viewers aware of remembering that their products are eco-friendly. A more mellow, sweeter pink shade would have been more conforming to the industry norms, but it could alienate a significant portion of the audience that Thinx could have.
Take a moment to think about what makes your business apart from that in your industry, and consider how you could utilize color to convey the uniqueness of your approach.
Step 3:
Think about your ideal customer and their requirements.
The first step also provided information on colors preferred by both genders. Did you know there’s done some very in-depth research on this topic? This is more than “women like purple and men don’t.” There’s an abundance of fascinating data about color preferences and gender:
The most popular color in the world is blue (with 57% of males and 35% of women stating that blue is their favorite color).
The colors that men prefer are blue (57%) and green (14%), as well as black (9%) and red (7 7%). Less than 5% of men reported that their preferred colour is yellow, orange, grey, brown, or white. Similarly, only 1% of males said they preferred purple.
The most popular colors for women are blue (35%) and purple (23%), green (14%), as well as red (9%), and black (6%). Less than 5% of women reported that yellow, orange, grey, brown, and white were their preferred colors.
Both genders agree that brown and orange are among the most disliked colors for both genders in the world, with 22% of males and 33% of women detesting orange. Likewise, 27% of males and 20% of women dislike brown.
The consensus is that men prefer bright colors while women like soft shades.
However, your ideal customer is defined far beyond gender. Colour psychology is also a factor in age, class education, and climate data.
Children of young age prefer brighter shades of yellow, red, green, blue, orange, and purple. Also, they prefer solid color blocks instead of patterns.
Teenagers prefer black and are more open to advanced colors and graphics than their younger counterparts.
Most adults favor subdued colors, and their color preferences are etched in stone.
Adults over 65 dislike yellow and prefer pink, blue, and green. They tend to favor calmer shades over vibrant stimulants, and purple is more popular with women as they age.
The middle class is likelier to choose brighter variations of primary and secondary shades. However, wealthy people tend to favor more intricate colors, typically choosing tertiary colors with various shades.
The more educated a person is, the higher-end their color preferences typically are. People with higher education tend to favor primary and secondary colors, while less educated individuals favor more primary or secondary hues.
People generally choose colors that resemble the hues associated with their climate. People living in tropical climates are most attracted by warmer, bright shades, while those from colder climates prefer muted hues.
In Western culture, white represents purity and cleanliness. Therefore, it is frequently utilized in weddings and hospitals. However, white represents sadness and loss in Eastern societies and is frequently utilized in funeral ceremonies.
Now you can mix your preferences for colors, the emotional significance that colors carry, and the colors commonly used in your field and those of the intended population to create a detailed profile. This is good for those hesitant to mix with your competitors. Though your company is in the same sector, the particular characteristics of your market could result in some distinctions between your businesses.
Step 4:
Keep in mind that what is more important than the colors you select is the way you mix them
The bottom line is that two websites that employ white and blue as their primary colors may appear and function differently. Colour psychology is more than choosing the colour you’d like to promote your brand. It’s about the colour scheme, white spaces, and the strategic placement of specific colours. This gives you a wide range of options even when using the same colour.
Many web designers recommend that every website includes, at the very least, a background color, an accent color, and the accent color. They also advocate the 60-30-10 rule. This is where you select three colors and apply one of them 60% times a day (as the predominant) and another 30% to 30% (as an additional) as well as the final 10% the majority of times (the accent).
We typically employ one color for accents. This helps us make our designs more visually appealing and keeps the attention of your visitors on what we want them to focus on, that is, on your strategically placed calls to take action.
Concerning calls to action, how you use colors affects how visitors interact with your website. Bright colors, like green, orange and red, usually get the most attention; however, according to your website’s color scheme, a different color might give better contrast – which is essential in attracting attention.
Suppose you recall high school when you were using the color wheel. In that case, you might remember how you can create all sorts of emotions by combining them with different hues (if you need clarification on the color wheel, you can check out Adobe’s no-cost color wheel palette generator to get an easy refresher). In no time, you’ll have a myriad of colours to choose from, even after choosing the base colour.
When we add factors such as the amount of white space and the hues, tints, shadows, and shades, the result is that one site with red, white, and black appears different from one with a similar color scheme. This is before we begin discussing how the site layout is designed!
A few last thoughts
There’s something more than just choosing colors that you love. Using color psychology to know your customers’ preferences could be helpful when you continue promoting them.
If you’re overwhelmed by all the choices to choose from, consider these essential factors:
It is important to remember that color perception is subjective. While broad messages are reflected in how people see the color spectrum, much is based on individual experiences. The fact that the data suggest specific colors for your intended market doesn’t mean it’s the most reliable choice.
If you have a logo and the colors you’d like to keep, you can still use the psychology of color to your advantage without completely changing your branding. Adding different call-to-actions and changing the size of the white spaces on your site will make a big difference.
Ultimately, it doesn’t come down to the particular colors you pick. Although colors have meanings, and some people have different preferences, the most crucial aspect is how the user feels about the color’s connection to the brand. The color you choose can trigger emotions that don’t relate to your brand. This could be as offensive for customers as their most minor preferred colors.
Of course, following your intuition is always possible, especially in business. If most research advises you to pick the wrong color for your brand, follow your intuition. You might be amazed by the way your customers’ perceptions of you could be. And when you pick colors, colors, and branding strategies you can be confident about, your customers will be able to discern.
Colors can set a particular mood or impression on a web page. If a website’s colors give an impression that it needs to be corrected, it will cause significant bounce rates since the website will appear inexperienced and lack professionalism or trustworthiness. If it is a positive impression, it lets the users feel confident that the website is reliable and aware of its niche. It’s no wonder the psychology behind color will be a constant issue for web developers.
Utilize these tools for color schemes to receive assistance in creating color schemes and palettes. Try out how great each color appears. Be aware of the psychology behind color and select shades that appeal to your audience. Proper color selection can increase the conversion rate.
The world is becoming smaller and more multifaceted. Be aware that the colors of cultures differ. The positive color that one culture views may be considered harmful in another. For example, white is considered a symbol of death in China, and the identical color is worn when a bride is married in Christian countries. Purple is considered feminine in many countries, but it is also associated with a symbol of death in Brazil. Therefore, you must consider the entire spectrum of your target customer base to find the right color combination for your potential customers.
- Article by Emma Flores - GraphicArtsToday.com; Link to original article»