Have you ever landed on a website and immediately felt captivated? The imagery was impressive, the copy personable, and somehow the overall design just seemed to pull you in and catch your attention. Websites such as these feel polished, balanced, and somehow just right. That’s the magic of a well-chosen color palette and why it’s essential that you understand how to use the color wheel for web design.
In this guide, we’ll explore the specific strategies you can apply to craft visually stunning, effective websites that guide your customers towards conversion. Whether you’re looking to rebrand or simply need a slight website refresh, we cover everything you need to know about how to make your website colors work for you
Why is Color in Web Design Important?
Color is an extremely powerful tool you can use to maximize the effectiveness of your website. The colors you choose greatly influence how your website is perceived and interacted with.
Optimize the User Experience
Prioritize legibility and navigation. Every decision you make should be centered on giving your website visitors’ a seamless, positive experience. Use tools like WebAIM’s Color Contrast Checker and Leonardo color to ensure your color combinations are accessible to all users, including those with visual impairments. Test different colors for copy, buttons, and other functions to see which will effectively catch the attention of your users. Understanding how to use the color wheel for web design is helpful to know how to make your site even more functional.
Establish Brand Identity
Convey the personality and values of your brand through the colors you use. For example, healthcare and grocery stores commonly use hues of green for their brand because they are associated with nature, wellness, and health. Certain colors align with different industries so it’s critical you choose colors that set the right tone and communicate who you are at a glance.
Guide Users
Color can effectively guide users by directing their attention to key areas of your site. For example, bright accent colors catch attention quickly and should always be used to highlight calls to action (CTAs), add to cart, or sign up forms.
Increase Brand Recognition
Something Starbucks, Coca Cola, and McDonald’s all have in common is their recognizable color palette. When people see large yellow arches, McDonalds (and their delightful big macs) are the first things that come to mind. The consistent use of strong, effective brand colors will build a strong association between those specific colors and your company.
Influence Purchasing Decisions
Depending on the action you want your customers to take (whether that’s a purchase, being part of your community, etc.) you can intentionally choose colors that encourage those actions. For example, bold warm colors like red and orange stimulate excitement and urgency. Whereas cooler colors like blue are associated with calm and trust which can help foster a sense of community and help build long term relationships.
RGB vs CMYK: Which Should You Use?
RGB and CMYK are the two color systems used for digital and print design. Understanding when and how to apply each is important because the system you choose affects the final quality of your project. Here’s the difference between them:
- RGB: (Red, Green, Blue): This color system is based on light and used for digital design. Because screens produce colors through light, RGB allows for brighter, more intense use.
- CMYK: (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key) This system is used for printed designs because it uses subtractive colors. What this means is that since the background starts off as white (imagine a piece of paper) colors are created by layering colors on top of one another. When layered, the colors of course change to the correct combination.
When you’re designing a web page, you should be using the RGB color system to make sure the colors will display correctly across all screens.
Understanding Color Relationships
The way you use various color combinations affects the emotions and experiences of your users. You can read more about how color influences your audience here. As you approach a new web design project or website revamp, consider how different color combinations work together to achieve various things.
Warm vs Cool
Warm Colors are red, yellow, orange, and the many hybrid versions of them. Their bright appearance adds a sense of urgency, passion, or excitement to the media that uses them. This is why they are commonly used in anything you want to bring attention to such as alerts, CTA buttons, or announcements.
Cool Colors are blue, purple, green, and the many hybrid versions of those. They bring a feeling of calm to the viewer and create a sense of reliability within them. Brands that are focused on building long term relationships with their customers should primarily use these as they also foster trust and establish a sense of authority.
Contrast
Contrast is when two elements on your web page stand out in relation to one another. This goes beyond just color. Contrast can be applied to size, space, foreground/background, shape, and other forms of media.
Using contrast on your page can greatly improve the accessibility and navigation of your site. When you create contrast, you can make the page more intuitive to navigate. This just means what stands out on the page, people will naturally notice and be drawn towards. Use contrast to emphasize CTAS, key copy, and other important areas of your site.
Tints vs Shades
Tints: A tint refers to a pure color with only white added. Adding white should lighten the color, without increasing its brightness or vibrancy. Tints are great for creating backgrounds where you want copy or CTAs to stand out against.
Shades: In contrast to a tint, a shade is created when black is added to a pure color, making it darker and more intense as more black is introduced. Because shades tend to be more vibrant they are great for adding emphasis in your design.
By strategically using tints and shades, you can control where and how you draw attention to key areas while maintaining a balanced, professional look.
Hue, Saturation, and Brightness
Hue: Hue simply refers to the foundation of your color. Many people interchangeably use hue and color because hue is technically the primary descriptor of a specific color. Hues are significant for web design because you’ll want to think about what the main color (hue) will be and how it will determine the emotional tone and energy of your design.
Saturation: Saturation refers to how intense a color is. A highly saturated color is extremely vivid, bright, and will stand out easily. On the other hand low saturated colors are more muted and washed out. Balancing saturation helps you control the mood and focal points of your page.
Brightness: Brightness is determined by the general lightness of a color. Lighter colors tend to be associated with freshness and open mindedness. Darker colors create depth and tend to be more associated with a professional look. A combination of bright and dark tones creates visual interest and makes it easier to emphasize navigational elements like calendars, buttons, and other key elements.
Choosing the Right Color Scheme
In addition to understanding how each color can relate to one another, web designers should always rely on fundamental color schemes within the color wheel when creating a new project. There are five primary types of color schemes, each with its own advantages that will enhance the web page and user experience in different ways. Knowing how to use the color wheel for web design helps you identify and explore each of these colors schemes.
- Monochrome: A monochromatic color scheme only uses one color. They use one base hue and a variety of that hue’s tints, shades, and tones to create an extremely cohesive look.
Use this color scheme if you want a clean, elegant look.
- Complementary: Complimentary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel. Blue/Orange, Violet/Yellow, and Red/Green are examples.
These color pallets are extremely effective for creating visual balance and drawing attention to specific areas. Use one of the colors for all optin pages, landing page optin forms, and all calls to action. Doing so will bring more attention to them ultimately resulting in higher conversion.
- Analogous: Analogous color schemes combine colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.
Use this color scheme if you want a more natural, unified look that still offers variation. It’s ideal for websites that aim for a relaxed feel such as health, lifestyle, and outdoor brands.
- Triadic: Triadic color schemes utilize colors that are evenly spaced apart on the color wheel, forming a triangle.
Use this Color Scheme if you want a more vibrant yet balanced design. It’s useful for brands that want to appear as creative and personable without losing professional credibility.
- Tetradic: Tetradic uses two sets of different complementary color combinations.
This color Scheme works well for websites that have a variety of content and long pages. It allows you to bring diversity to the many sections of your sites and products while still appearing harmonious.
Applying Color Theory to Your Website
- Identify the Goal of your Webpage: Before diving into design, take a moment to realign yourself with the goals of your brand and website. Each web page of your site should have a clear purpose. Knowing what you want to accomplish with a web page will help you identify which colors will evoke the desired emotion within your users as well as guide them towards the action you want them to take on the page.
- Align Colors with Brand Identity: Your colors should directly represent the essence of your brand. Different colors are typically associated with different industries. You want to build off of these guidelines and use col
- Consider Competitors’ colors: You don’t want to have similar colors to your competitors. It sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many people will choose similar colors anyway thinking they can still stand out. Aim for to use a color scheme that’s still relevant to your industry and will help your audience recognize you. Odds are competitors don’t know how to use the color wheel for web design so be sure to use this guide to your advantage.
- 60/30/10 rule: Choose one of your colors to make up the majority of your website (roughly 60%). Use a secondary color for the 30% and then the 10% should be dedicated just for your accent color. This is a great rule of thumb to follow to get a page that remains cohesive, visually appealing, and not too overwhelming.
- Research your target audience preferences: Your design should resonate and attract your target personas. For example, if your audience is a younger generation they’ll be more attracted to brighter, diverse color schemes. On the other hand older audiences will like more subtle, muted tones. Researching the preferences of your audience is an important part of optimizing your design for engagement.
- Mobile Optimize: Always test your colors in light and dark mode. You want the intention you set for your colors to be effective across all screens and modes. Testing your colors in various lighting conditions ensures your website will perform well in all environments.
Enhance Visual Appeal and Drive Conversions
The right color palette will take your website from good to great. Upgrading your brand with a fresh color palette or merely adjusting how you implement your colors to your layout is a great way to improve your digital presence without disrupting your business. This is all part of why it’s crucial to understand how to use the color wheel for web design.
The standards of web design will continue to evolve year to year. However, there will always be one thing that remains constant- the way you use color plays a crucial role in creating a positive user experience. As you start implementing and testing new colors, never stop considering how your changes will impact your target audience. Ultimately finding what appeals most to them will be the driving power behind engagement and conversions.
At Mintun Media, we specialize in creating websites that truly engage your audience. We know how to use the color wheel for web design and will ensure your colors align with the essence of your brand. Our team crafts 100% customized websites tailored to your brand, your goals, and your target market. Whether you need help researching your audience, aligning your branding for consistency, or building a website that amplifies your message and maximizes conversions, we’re here to help. Reach out to us today!
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