Choosing The Right Colour Scheme For Your Website
Creating a new website for your business involves making a lot of decisions. One that you shouldn’t overlook is choosing the colour scheme. Throwing a random set of colours onto your site is a terrible idea. Not only will it not help your site, but it could take a toll on your brand image. Colour can play a significant role in gaining or losing customers. Therefore, you need to put some effort into choosing the right ones.
Although it may seem rather easy, the process of coming up with a colour scheme that is aesthetically pleasing, able to convey the right message as well as practical is harder than you would think. There are countless colour combinations available for you to choose from. Typically, a colour scheme for one website consists of no more than five colours, each complementing or contrasting with each other. To help you choose the right colour scheme for your site, here are a few steps that you may follow:
Study your competitors
Before you settle on a colour scheme, study your competitor’s website. The colours that your competitor uses should be able to guide you in the right direction during the selection process. One thing to remember is you should not copy simply copy your competitor’s colour scheme. Doing so will make it difficult for you to stand out as a brand of your own. No matter how wonderful their site looks, you need to come up with a unique colour palette. Make sure that the colours you choose are easily recognizable so that customers can remember your brand.
Studying your competitors beforehand will save you time. After all, the selection process by itself can be quite time-consuming. It would be a shame if you later found out that what you chose was much too similar to the colours your opponent uses. Put time into studying the market before you make a decision regarding the colours for your website.
Familiarise yourself with the colour chart
When selecting the colours to use for their website, most people veer towards their favourites without thinking. There is nothing wrong with sticking to colours you know and love, but you will miss the opportunity to try new things. It is recommended that you learn more about the colour chart and familiarise yourself with new combinations. Start with a clean slate and be open. It is also essential to study complementary colours and contrasts. You want your website elements to go together but not look completely uniform. Complementary and contrasting colours are crucial for making your site look exceptional.
Set your goals
Did you know that your goals can inspire your colour scheme? Each colour evokes certain emotions and meanings in different people. In addition, cultural considerations can come into play. For example, the colour red is associated with luck and prosperity throughout Asia, whereas in western societies it can present energy, passion, love or danger. The colour green is often associated with health, nature and vitality while blue can suggest consistency and stability. When you set goals for your business and site, it’s important to pick the colours that help you move in that direction. If you have yet to study colour psychology, look into it. You’ll be surprised by how much you learn!
Use your resources
If you already have some photos on your website, you will be able to narrow down a colour scheme much more easily. Try to look at those pictures and identify the primary colours. For example, sunset photos have orange and yellow as the primary colours. Pull out the featured colours and consider adding them on your website. If you don’t have images on your site, you may want to put up several of them. Don’t worry if you are not an artsy person. There are tools that can help you with this. Look into using online tools like Image Colour Picker and Colour Code Picker. They will give you a better idea of the colours that should be coordinated on your site.
