Web Site Colors Say A Lot About You
Contributed by Elaine Landau
Everyday, we choose colors, whether we are aware of it or not. You write in red when you want to get somebody’s attention. Purple ink seems to be very popular among teens. Black ink is an executive’s best friend. We also make decisions of how much color we need to use when communicating. Big, bold, red letters across the top of a page will certainly add emotion to any message. A small notation in blue in the corner of a document expresses a message of sincerity and professionalism.
Our color choices say so much about our personalities. Many people believe that your favorite colors reveal personality traits and emotions. Here is a chart that was recently published that may make you wonder about your color preferences.
- Green means reliability, environmental, luxury, optimism
- Red denotes warmth, romance, danger, boldness, excitement
- Yellow is a mixed bag. Although quite attention grabbing, it can mean both liveliness and cowardice.
- Orange indicates cheerfulness, represents affordability to some, and low cost to others.
- Blue means professionalism, loyalty, and reliability while it can also denote boredom to others.
- Purple is a rich color that represents power, royalty, and elegance. Yet to some it seems artificial.
- Gray is a conservative color denoting traditionalism, intelligence and seriousness. It can also mean dull.
- Brown is earthy, relaxing, reassuring, confident, and casual.
- Black means elegance, sophistication, and strength. It also represents illegality, depression and morbidity.
- White can mean purity, newness, innocence and peace. It can also mean sterility.
Just reading from this list, you may not want to put white (sterility), black (depression), gray (dull) or blue (boredom) anywhere near your web site. Then again, those anti-colors may be a sensational departure from expected color schemes. Remember, by breaking rules effectively, your web site may make a bolder statement. By the way, this chart in no way reflects all the emotions each color is supposed to represent. And, colors mean different things in different countries. Keep in mind that, when designing a web site, it is part of the global marketplace on the Internet.
Color choices in web design have to go beyond personality color charts. The color selections should make the consumer want to visit the site while reflecting your personality as a business owner, or the theme of the web site owner's company.
Try not to offend
So many designers get worked up about being creative and attention getting, they somehow forget that the web site needs to be inviting, not alienating. Being bold is a good attention getting device, but if your color scheme makes you nauseous, it is probably not the best choice for your web site. If you are selling food on your web site, choose colors that make people hungry and comfortable. If you have a lingerie web site, colors that excite are preferable to muted, dull hues.
Before making a color scheme selection, determine the purpose and tone of the web site. Go online and do some homework. If you have basic computer education, basic Internet training is a must. Learn at home and take a free Internet lesson, followed by free Internet tutoring and free Internet training. As you surf with confidence, do some "mother-in-law marketing". That means, listen to your gut. There are studies upon studies about how color makes people react to things, but your instincts have gotten you this far, you might as well use them in helping you determine your web site color scheme.
If you would like to explore color schemes more, here are some helpful sites:
Pantone
The Color Schemer
If you just want to know what colors make people feel good, look at the refrigerator and appreciate the pictures your kids made. Those colors were put on paper with love, innocence, energy, and excitement. To me, that’s the perfect color scheme for any successful web site.
About the Author:
Elaine Landau is a freelance writer, publicist, web site editor, and television writer with more than 15 years of experience in marketing, advertising, and publicity.
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