Understanding the Pyschology of Color in Website Design
So you?ve bought the domain, you?ve got some great sales copy, ensure your meta and alt tags are doing they?re job, have a few graphics thrown in for good measure and are all set to publish your design to the web. Right?
Wrong. But though you?re on the right track, you might have overlooked what research is now calling one of the most crucial elements in site design: color. Having the right color scheme might be one of the ways to make or break your site. Since you only have about the first ten seconds of a user?s attention span, you need to ensure that what they first see catches their eye.
The fact that users are visiting your site means you?ve got the core elements of design on target, but now you have to keep them there. True, you?ll need great a great sales pitch and copy but don?t underestimate the importance of a color?s pyschology.
Colors mean different things to different people and can symbolise different things in different cultures. For instance, if you?re marketing your website for Asian users, a green hat with a white carnation as a corporate logo might seem creative but it might also get you backlashed and I?ll explain why. A green hat in China means a man?s wife is cheating on him and the white carnation symbolises death in Japan. Using the two in conjunction is a definite no-no.
Similarly, each color has a different meaning behind it which is subjective and relative to each user?s past experience.
Take the color red for instance, it could mean different things to different people based on their histories and associations with the color. It could mean a source of extreme pleasure for one and symbolise anger for another.
On the upside, websites created with different shades of blue or a blue-white combination are generally quite popular. Why? Blue typically represents a sense of calm, trust and security besides being easy on the eye.
However, using bright blue or bright of any color is a bad idea since the human eye will need to adjust to each color and it will put unneeded strain on their eyes.
Pink normally represents softness and gentility, which is why it is often used in baby care products while orange which symbolises potency and power is normally used in vitamins and health products, energy drinks etc.
Consider?s Newton?s first law ? every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. For each color that you choose, there will be a dfferent reaction to it by every user approaching that site. The question now becomes: how do you know which color won?t affront?
Try basing your color choices on what your site content and product sells, considering the audience & culture and gender preferences. Men and women prefer different variations of color ? men often prefer brighter colors and are generally okay with grays and blacks, while women prefer softer tones likes pastel shades. Cultures vary regarding color usage ? for instance a yellow and black site could be a wonderful combination for Americans, but might serve as a reminder to Nazi Germany for an Israeli, hence enforcing that those two colors should never be used in conjunction when designing a website for a Jewish corporation.
Let?s say you just love the blue/purple combination and have a nature-based website. Users do not often associate purple or blue with nature. Green and yellow might be more useful, with yellow used sparingly and green used predominantly due to its generally calming nature.
Multicolored websites have the least visitation span with the span reducing with the introduction of each new color. In general, not more than five different colors should be used on a single page.
Concluding, each website is defined not only by the content but by its color ? an indirect approach to marketing and propagating a message. While we use body language, websites use colors to demonstrate the subtleties and finer text.
Colors should not be used to support information, but rather to represent the site?s message and remain consistent throughout the website.
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Currently a freelance writer with expertise as a Technology Analyst for dotDNA. My experience in the fields of Computer Science and Information Technology help in writing technical documents, user manuals and any other work that comes my way. I have worked as a Web Developer for the last four years and am now branching into freelance writing, a path I have taken for the last eleven years. I own and manage a writer’s community with a free quarterly ezine at DesiWritersLounge.net. I write short stories and novellas in my spare time. |
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You never get a second chance at first impressions. Not only does this truth apply when developing personal relationships it also applies in the world of website design. As I have traversed the World Wide Web I have found sites that have been thoroughly impressive and others not so much. You would be surprised at the lack of understanding of the first impression principle. In the age of information it is important to make your information as accessible as possible. If a customer cannot find what they are looking for on your site they are likely to leave and find it on your competitor’s. People go to the internet for two things: 1. Find information on a product or service they intend to purchase There is no doubt the importance of website design as a tool for marketing goods and services. Upon visiting a website the mind of the customer is made whether they will stay or go as soon as your site downloads. Your ability to keep them perusing your page is in based on a design that creates compelling exchange. Regardless of what anyone says all humans look on the outside rather than the inside. It is our human nature to make judgments based on looks rather than substance on first encounters. If the cover of your book(your website) is not appealing than you will find that you have been judged only by your appearance and not the quality of the character of your site. If the design of your website placed emphasis on deep and rich content yet losses a customer because of first impressions then you have wasted your time. When your website is perceived as confusing and uninteresting then your product or service will be perceived in the same manner. A great example of this comes from Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence - Science and Practice, a woman owned an Indian Jewelry store in Arizona who recently purchased an allotment of turquoise jewelry. The store owner had a hard time selling any pieces of this particular jewelry. She tried many sales tricks such as shifty their location to a central spot in the store, no luck. She had her sales clerks push the jewelry hard upon customers –with no success. One day the owner went on a buying trip but prior to leaving she left a note for her head saleswoman stating, “Everything in this display case, price x 1/2,” in hopes of getting rid of the offensive jewelry, even at a loss. The store owners handwriting must have been horrific because the saleswoman mistook “1/2″ to be “2″, and the entire allotment was sold for twice the original price! The jewelry only sold because a higher price led to a perceived higher value. You see, “Perception is the key to the mind”. If you place your website in a side-by-side comparison to your competitor, both offering the same product, the same price and the same value, the one who wins is the one with the best design hands down. Take time to think of what you are communicating to your customer and how it is best communicated. Through the creation of your compelling exchange your customer will find greater value in your website by “Design”. Copyright ? Ron Seawood
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