Choosing a color scheme for the website

Last Updated on May 31, 2021 by Amarjit Singh

The chance that a visitor to your website will become a customer strongly depends on the appearance of your website. Even before a visitor has read one letter, he or she already has an impression of the style and colors of the web page. That is why this blog explains what determines that appearance, few handy tools, and some do’s and don’ts.

The website colors are extremely important: they ensure recognisability of your brand (an increase of 80%), they determine the feeling that a visitor gets, and they make certain elements stand out, such as buttons. I have found four useful tools with which you can determine the colors and color combinations of your website. These are discussed later in the article. First, I have some extra information for you about the use of color for your website (and corporate identity).

What determines the color scheme for website?

How do you want your website to come across? Business or creative, calm or busy, cheerful or serious, and so on. By way of illustration, two restaurant websites can look completely different. This is why choosing the right color scheme for website is essential.

What should you consider when choosing website colors?

Choose the main color that reflects what your company stands for!

Much research has now been done into the influence of colors for website on our psyche and our purchasing behavior. This has shown that colors matter! They work through our subconscious mind and evoke certain feelings. It is therefore important to include this in determining your corporate identity and the colors for website. You can certainly influence your target audience through the correct use of the color scheme for website. How do you want your (potential) customer to see you?

The color palette of a website consists of a main color, accent colors and a complementary color. You always start by choosing a main color, also called the base color.

In addition to elementary colors, there are many color variants. This has to do with the fact that colors are actually light rays at different wavelengths. Because an object often reflects more than one wavelength, we see countless colors.

Add some accent colors to your color palette

Based on the main color you have chosen, choose a few more colors to complete your color palette. These can be accent colors that are close to your main color, for example, a dark or a lighter variant. However, it is suggested that you choose a complementary color to provide color contrast. This is often used for buttons and Call to Actions, for example, so that they stand out and ensure that visitors take action.

Website visitors get their first impression based on:

  1. Moving images or anything else that attracts the most attention, e.g., a brightly colored button or an image across the full width of the web page, possibly with text over it.
  2. The layout, including the menu.
  3. Much or little text
  4. The fonts used and their size
  5. The amount of white space, better: free space in (approximately) the same color; this gives the most important elements more emphasis, and the visitor finds what he is looking for more easily
  6. Shapes: straight lines with sharp angles versus wavy lines and rounded corners
  7. Which colors, how many different

Together these visual elements determine the style of the website. The first impression they give determines whether visitors will read or click or whether they immediately leave your website and thus lose weight as a (potential) customer. The above elements are, therefore, at least as important for an effective website as the text on your website!

Blending colors:
In addition to working with separate colors, it is also possible to have colors gradually blend into each other (gradients). This can give a visually very attractive result and looks less sleek than monotone colors.

The online tools below are easy tools for choosing your main color, accent colors, and complementary colors.

Choose your website colors with these tools:

Picular 

Picular is kind of like Google for colors. You type in a word or concept, e.g., environment and the program gives you a color palette. 

Material Design

Material Design offers a number of color palettes with both main colors and their color variants. The Hex (#) codes are included. You can copy this and paste it into the color editor of your website.

Adobe Color CC

Adobe has devised a handy color wheel to achieve a good color palette. You can also load an image here, and the program will search for the appropriate colors. Super handy!

Colorion

Colorion provides examples of colors that go well together in countless color palettes. You can just copy the #code by clicking on the color. The palettes are divided into 3 main groups: full color, material design, and flat design.

You have had a nice logo made for your company and now want to get started with your website. Your logo may consist of one color or more than three different ones. Which colors are you going to include in your web design? Many designers struggle with choosing the right website colors. Not only are there endless colors, but a lot depends on this choice. The color palette of a website has a lot of impact on the appearance of your website, your image, and the behavior of your visitors. In this blog, you have now learned to put together a perfect color palette for your website with a little help from online tools.
With a combination of personal preference, looking at what others in your industry are doing, and the above tools, you should certainly be able to determine the right colors scheme for website and your entire corporate identity.

Bonus Tip: Most web designers take the corporate identity of a company as a starting point and then look for photos that fit this color palette. Of course, you can also turn it around: start with a kick-ass photo and base the colors of your website on it.

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