Colours on Your Website: What Do They Mean?

When it comes to the design of your website, colour is everything. The most important part of your website is the content on it, and the colours surrounding it are what present the content in a particular way. Artistic styles such as colours psychologically evoke feelings in people, and the duration of a visitor’s stay on your website is affected by that emotion. Below is a list of colours, their typical associations and what feelings they evoke.

PURPLE

For those seeking a luxurious feel for their website, purple is a wonderful colour choice as it is often associated with luxury, fantasy, royalty and power.  When a darker purple is accompanied with gold (gold is associated with prestige and high quality) or white accents, such as script fonts in those colours, a website can look quite extravagant.  A lighter purple would be best accompanied by a dark grey colour or a light neutral shade such as beige or cream, so as to not cancel each other out, for a site that would evoke gentleness or romantic and nostalgic feelings.

Dark Purple:

Light Purple:

RED

Red is associated with fire, energy, strength, power, passion, desire and, of course, with love. Red evokes strong emotions and increases alertness which is why it is often used on stop signs, traffic lights, and other warning signs and is highly visible. Red is the focal point of anything in which it appears, so it is good for buttons or banners encouraging an action such as “Click Here” or “Sign Up Now”. It brings forward any text or images on it, so the colour red is best as a background.

Red:

 

ORANGE

Orange is often associated with happiness and sunshine. It represents creativity, success, encouragement and stimulation. Due to its bright nature, it is best to use orange as an accent colour rather than a dominant colour. It best accompanies dark or light shades of gray, red, black, other dark colours, or neutral colours such as brown. It shouldn’t be combined with other bright colours, especially on a website, as it is hard on the eyes. The combination of orange with any colour can stimulate mental activity and represents creativity and happiness.

Orange Accent:

Orange:

YELLOW

Yellow is also associated with sunshine and happiness, as well as youth, intellect, energy and freshness. It can evoke feelings of warmth and cheerfulness. Bright yellow can be used to attract attention especially against a dark background, which is why it is used for caution tapes and taxi cabs. Again, because it is a bright colour use it to highlight important aspects of your website rather than have it as a dominant colour. Yellow can sometimes be associated with instability and spontaneity so avoid using it excessively if you want to promote safety and stability.

Yellow Accents:

Yellow:

GREEN

Green is predominately associated with nature and land. It represents growth, harmony, freshness and fertility. Dark green is often associated with money or wealth. Contrary to yellow and red, green represents stability and endurance as well as safety. It is a very successful colour in promoting environmentally friendly products. Green looks great when combined with different shades of itself, and white as an accent colour.

Light Green:

Dark Green:

BLUE

Blue is also a colour of nature; the sky and sea. It is associated with trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, tranquility, calmness and heaven. It can have a calming effect on a person. Too much blue can evoke sadness or depression, commonly known as “the blues”. Blue is also a colour that looks good with various shades of itself. A darker blue combined with a lighter blue evokes feelings of trust. It can be nicely complemented by shades of grey.

Light Blue:

Dark Blue:

WHITE

White is often associated with safety, light, cleanliness, innocence, heaven and purity. In nature, it is seen in snow and winter. It is sometimes a representation of perfection. White goes well with absolutely any colour, either as an accent or as a dominant colour. As a background colour with dark text or images on it, it is very easy on the eyes and looks peaceful.

White:

BLACK

Black is associated with power, elegance, formality and mystery. It symbolizes strength, authority, and prestige. Black is often used to make other colours stand out, such as yellow on the caution tape mentioned earlier. A black and gold site can look very elegant and prestigious. Text on a black site is a bit difficult on the eyes, so wherever there is text I would recommend a white content area and black text. This isn’t the same for brighter images, as black makes such images stand out. Combined with red or orange colours, which are also representative of power, the colour scheme can be quite aggressive.

Black and Gold:

Black & red:

Ultimately, choosing a colour for your website depends on the feeling you want to convey.  A combination of colours is encouraged as you shouldn’t limit yourself to one solid colour. The important thing is to ensure the colours work well together and portray positive feelings and energy.

If you have any comments or would like other colour combination suggestions, please leave a comment below!