Using colour in web design

Surfers are fickle. The design of a website has a huge influence on whether visitors remain, make purchases, or make repeat visits. If it isn't exactly right, the next site is no more than a couple of mouse clicks away. Much of these crucial first impressions are a response to the colour schemes on a website.

One of the major differences between website and print design is due to the way the monitor emits light. This means that colours that appear cheerful in print become overwhelmingly glaring on the web.



On the other hand, the text on websites can't be too muted. Around 8% of the population has some degree of colour blindness. The text has to contrast sufficiently with background colours in order to be legible.

As the internet has evolved, white has become the background colour of choice for many of the most successful and popular sites, simply because the high contrast of black on white is the most accessible and easiest to read.



Although the first image doesn't get top marks for clarity, the second is almost entirely illegible. One of the easiest ways to check for potential problems is to take a screenshot of a website and view the greyscale image. This will show up areas of poor contrast, no matter what type of colour blindness is involved.

However, by far the most significant effect of colour is the way it affects us subliminally. The sky is blue and it's always there, so most of us find blue to be both calming and trustworthy. This is why many ecommerce sites use blue in their designs. By contrast red gets the heart racing, and this can be a good choice for a designer who wants to encourage a website's visitors to buy something.

A lot of research has been devoted to colour psychology and the way it affects us in advertising, branding, and the way we shop. The most appropriate colours to use on a website will depend to a certain extent on the age and personality of it's target visitors, as well as on their cultural responses to certain colours. It's an often overlooked factor that can make the difference between selling a product and losing a customer. If the designer pays careful attention to the choice of colours and how they affect visitors this will give a website an edge over many other sites on the internet.