Create Better Websites By Considering Colour

Colour Schemes - Web Safe Colours - Colour Meanings And Symbolism

Designing a website these days involves more than just using a website builder software or hiring a website designer, especially when it comes to deciding upon a favourable Colour Scheme. Although you can select your own colour scheme and follow the advice of your website designer, if you have one of course, ideally you should get into the habit of knowing what colours means in the international community and what they mean for occasions.

Colour Schemes are not about what you like, what your website designer likes or even what your visitors like. They are more about what works on the human eye and what each colour means in certain countries for certain occasions for example. As an example; If your targeted audience is China you should consider the colour red in your colour scheme, even if you do not like red, because in China it symbolizes Good Fortune, Celebration and Loyalty even though in the WEST it symbolizes things like Danger, Sin and Blood.

With regards to occasions, such as Weddings and Funerals, you really need to consider your colour scheme carefully. You would not want to have a black coloured website for a wedding website and a white coloured website for a funeral for example. And it is the same for a holiday and gardening websites.

A holiday website would ideally be full of bright colours to represent a sunny holiday atmosphere. Making such a website dark and dull would not create that desired atmosphere, not unless you were purposely creating a holiday website catered for Gothic, Halloween, visitors. With gardening websites they are ideally green in colour, but that does not mean they cannot be bright orange.

The above said does not mean you have to stereotype your colour scheme or make it a boring, standard, blue for example. It just means you are playing safe by trying to cater for the general, neutral, public and at the same time are trying not to offend anyone and their colour beliefs. Obviously you cannot please everyone but you can at least try!

ARE  WEBSAFE  COLOURS  STILL  A  CONSIDERATION?

In the early years, computers could only process 8 Binary Digits (8 Bits / 1 Byte) of data at a time which basically meant it was only possible to use a maximum of 256 different colours on the monitor/desktop screen (as opposed to today's possibility of 16 Millions Colours). As a result 216 of those 256 colours were designated as cross-platform "Web Browser Safe" colours, which meant they could be displayed exactly the same on different computers and in different web browsers.

The other 40 colours were designated as "Fixed System" colors because they were not cross-platform, meaning they would display differently on different computers and web browsers. So the 216 colours, now known as WEB SAFE Colours, ensured that all computers and web browsers would display exactly the same colour palette correctly when running in 256 Colour Palette mode (8 Bit mode). In other words, orange was orange regardless of which model of computer it was displayed on - Orange would not be a different shade of orange on another computer.

So what has this got to do with your colour scheme? Well ideally it would be great to say "times have changed since the 1980s and all technologies in 2010 now use the standard 16 Million Colours colour palette" but unfortunately that cannot be said because some technologies still use a 256 Colours colour palette for their display screen (such as the Mobile Phone screen). In other words, if you put too much colour into your website some technologies might not display those colours correctly in terms of colour and shading. Hence why good paint packages still maintain WEB SAFE colour schemes.

ARE  YOU  GOING  TO  FOLLOW  TRADITION?

If you read many website articles on colour a lot of them state wordings such as "use a white background because it looks good with black text and therefore reads better" and to some degree this is true, but that does not mean you should always follow this tradition. The main reason people state those wordings is because since paper and ink was first invented it has been light paper and dark ink that has been used in newspapers, books and so on.

If you think about it; Yellow paper and Red ink for example would not of been widespread even decades after they were invented simply because of expense. Newspapers owners a century or so ago did not use colour when it was first available, even if they could afford the time and technology of printing coloured newspapers, simply because they were printing for mass production and therefore trying to keep their costs down. Hence one reason why white paper and black ink have become the "norm" in print (in books and newspapers) over the decades, if not over the centuries.

So again, what has this got to do with your colour scheme? Well I am just pointing out that things started off with a white background and black text, with regards to books and newspapers, because of expense and lack of technology; but when technology and expense were taken out of the equation decades later books and newspapers then started to appear in colour. Just like movies started out in b/w but are now made in colour too. The point being you do not necessarily need to use a white background and black text because your website will be displayed on a computer screen whereby colour is no longer an expense or lack of technology. Furthermore, our eyes are more used to colour and therefore coloured backgrounds.

With computers colour was an issue in the early days and even years later when it was no longer an issue the slowness of an internet connection became the issue. It was pointless to have a colourful website in those days, especially with a picture full of colour to download, when most people had a slow dial-up internet connection. Thankfully broadband is widespread these days whereby you can use colour rich website content without scrimping too much on colour. You only have to look at the ipad and iphone as examples of this. In other words, you do not have to be boring and standard. You are allowed to be creative with colour rich text and images.

Other wordings used in website articles, when talking about website links, is "use blue links.....all the famous websites use blue.....so why reinvent the wheel?". Quite frankly this is crap. What happens if you have a blue background! My advice; You should, if anything, blend your link colours in with your text (to compliment your text) or make them outstanding (easily identifiable). These days links come in all shapes and sizes, so you will not be reinventing the wheel but merely making your links complimentary.

WILL  YOUR  WEBSITE  BE  COLOUR-BLIND  FRIENDLY?

As well as WEB SAFE Colours and TRADITIONAL Colours another colour consideration is catering for people who are colour blind. What might be a nice bright yellow to you may seem a shade of grey to someone who is colour blind. Hence why labels are so important in image Alt (Alternative Text) Tags for example. If you put a picture of a yellow vase on your website you should ideally put the word Yellow somewhere nearby, perhaps in a description and/or in its Alt Tag.

For more information about colour blindness in relation to websites visit the Vision Check website.

WHICH  COLOUR(S)  WILL  YOU  BASE  YOUR  WEBSITE  AROUND?

If you search the internet for "Web Design And Colour" for example you will eventually come to websites repeating the same stuff about specific colours. So to limit your search I have gathered up a few of those colours and meanings for you, here:

White

WHITE - Ideal for a Marriage Website. It represents/symbolizes Purity, Innocence, Marriage, Angels and Peace (White Doves) but also represents/symbolizes Hospitals, Doctors, and Mourning (Death is symbolised by White Carnations in certain countries).

WHITE is normally used as a background colour in websites and for print work simply because almost any ink/text colour can be used with it. White ink/text on a coloured background though tends to limit the colour combinations.

Black

BLACK - Ideal for a Music Website or Funeral Website. It represents/symbolizes Darkness, Mystery, Sadness, Evil, Death (Funeral) and Bad Luck (Black Cat) but also represents Cool, Powerful and Elegance (Black Dress).

Although black and white go together well as colours, they are both great as individual background colours. A black background goes nicely with bright text colours such as red, gold and yellow for example whereas a white background goes better with darker colours such as blue, black and red but not with bright yellow. So the general rule is to use a light background with darker text and vice versa.

Red

RED - Ideal for a Love/Dating/Sex Website. It represents/symbolizes Hot, Passion, Lust, Energy, Blood, Sin, Danger, Anger, Alert (Attention Signs), Church Cardinals and Sacrifice but also represents Good Luck and Wellbeing (in China).

Red in terms of website is normally used as an Attention Grabber (Highlight Colour). "PLEASE READ ME / PLEASE NOTICE ME" in other words. It is also a colour used to heavily brand a product/service. Virgin and Santander (Abbey National Bank) spring to mind. It is an intense colour that is used to create feelings of excitement, intensity and sexuality.

Green

GREEN - Ideal for a Gardening/Florist Website. It represents/symbolizes Earth (Grass, Trees and Plants), Money, Fertility (Fruitfulness, Growth and Abundance) and Life in general but also represents Religion (Irish Catholics) and Jealousy.

On the whole GREEN is a good, tranquil, colour. With websites it can be a contrasting (bleeding) colour though. You would not want it to clash with purple or red for example. Red and Green normally only go together when designing a Christmas website. BROWN (Earth, Nature and Tribal) is normally used in combination with GREEN.

Blue

BLUE - Ideal for a Neutral Website and a Technology Website. It represents/symbolizes Trust, Success, Soothing (Reassurance/Calm), Wisdom, Freedom, Confidence, Understanding, Spiritual Matters (Faith, Devotion, Love and Harmony), Water/Ocean (Freshness and Vigour) and is general taken as a "Safe" colour.

BLUE is a popular colour with the likes of Microsoft, Yahoo and Google. This does not mean they are correct in using that colour though. If you feel your website would be better in green, even though blue would be more favourable, try green first. Monitor your visitor statistics for green and then change your website to blue to see what happens to your visitor numbers. I did this with yoingco.com years ago - It was in yellow for the first year or so before I changed it to blue and I haven't looked back since. So there is some truth about blue being a good neutral colour. Saying this, content always wins over colour.

Purple

PURPLE - Ideal for Spiritual, Tarot, Zodiac, Massage and Herbal Websites. It represents/symbolizes Psychic Ability, Spiritual Power, Magic, Self-Assurance, Enlightenment, Knowledge, Royalty (You Are Special) and Ceremony.

Dark Purples are popular with Massage and Herbal websites whereas Bright Purples are popular with children's websites. Light (Pastel) Purples on the other hand are popular with feminine websites. Watch out though because purple is a colour that people either love or hate.

Orange

ORANGE - Ideal for Fruit and Children's Websites. It represents/symbolizes Happy, Friendly, Playful, Fun, Enthusiasm, Warmth, Courage and Youth but also represents the Orange Institute (Religion: Protestants) in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Orange is normally used in combination with Red and Yellow too draw attention, and is normally used for children's websites simply because children like bright colours such as red, yellow and orange. It also is used on fruit, and food in general, websites to make those foods more appealing/appetizing.

Grey

GREY / SILVER - Ideal for an Industrial Website. It represents/symbolizes Industry, Security, Reliability, Intelligence, Modesty, Dignity, Maturity, Solid, Practical, Conservative, Professional, Sophistication, Durability and Quality but also represents Old Age and Boring!

You have to be careful with too much GREY because it is not the best colour to use on a website. What I mean by too much grey colour is those websites that insist on having ten different shades of grey to give the impression that greyscale is cool when it is usually an eyesore. Too many shades of one colour do not normally work that well. Virgin.com used to have a flash based website all in red, but even they have since changed their colour scheme. This could of been because their visitors did not like their website all in red and/or because it was made in Flash.....It would be interesting to know. I suspect a bit of both.

Shades Of Colour websites normally work when a place, brand or object is strongly known by that colour. For example. Nottingham is strongly associated with a dark shade of green (plant/leaf green), because of Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest, which the local bus company and county council use as their main colour; as do many Nottingham based/themed websites. Going back to GREY; It is one of those colours people will either love or hate when they see lots of shades of it.

IS  "COLOUR  MEANING"  NONSENSE?

NO! Although many colour meanings come from physical items such as the Sun (orange/yellow) and Metal (silver), from emotions, from superstitions (Black Cat), from Religious/Cultural Beliefs and from Colour Research there is some truth into get the right colour scheme. All of the research carried out by colour specialists over the years cannot be wrong.

For you it will be a simple matter of Trial & Error - Experiment with colour, read more about colour, look at successful websites and look at your own website statistics. At the same time remember that just because bright orange represents Happy does not mean your website visitors are going to be happy! Especially if they are emailing you with bad comments. Grey might make them happy!

At the end of the day you must think about your audience - Will you be creating an International Website? Will your visitors be Asian, European or Global? Will they be Old or Young? Male or Female? Religious? These types of thing can affect your choice of colour scheme. Although you can alter your colour scheme at any time, it is best to think about it before creating your website because altering a website later is painful.

Although there is no definite colour scheme for a specific type of website, over the years colours have been stereotyped. Meaning, you cannot definitely say "WHITE and PINK is for a Wedding website and RED and ORANGE is for a Children's website" but you can say "In general those colours are used in those type of website" simply because those colours have become synonymous with those genre websites.

Another thing to remember is that colour should only be one part of your website. Your logo, images and text content for example are also factors that can turn your visitors away or keep them attracted.