What’s the Right Color for your Website?

Choosing the Right Color for your Website

The world we live in is full of colors. For some people, colors represent various meanings. They are also used to express feelings and enliven language. Some countries use colors to represent various holidays. It also applies in business. Your color can affect a consumer’s action. People notice color a lot. In other words, choosing the right color gives a huge impact in creating your image in the marketplace. When designing firms, fashion, a website.. whatever it may be.. many times the designer may choose the swatches that best provoke them. But, will that color palette be alluring to everyone, especially the market’s most devoted consumers? That is a question all designers and marketers should also contemplate.

Interpreting Colors

According to CCICOLOR – Institute for Color Research, the average person makes a subconscious judgment about a product, another person, or the environment within 90 seconds. Between 62% and 90% of that judgment is based on color alone. So, we know color is a key factor. Emotions and meanings are always associated with colors. As a designer, having this knowledge is important. Below are a few brief meaning of colors in your business:

White: Pure. Clean. Youthful. It’s a neutral color that can imply purity in fashion and sterilization in the medical profession.

Black: Power. Elegant. Secretive. The color black can target your high-end market or be used in youth marketing to add mystery to your image.

Red: Passion. Excitement. Danger. Red is the color of attention, causing the blood pressure and heart rate to rise. Use red to inject excitement into your brand.

Orange: Vibrant. Energy. Play. Add some fun to your company if you want to create a playful environment for your customers.

Yellow: Happy. Warm. Alert. Yellow can be an attractor for your business with a relaxed feeling.

Green: Natural. Healthy. Plentiful. To create a calming effect or growth image choose green. Go green go.

Purple: Royalty. Wise. Celebration. Maybe add some purple tones to your look for your premium service business.

Blue: Loyal. Peaceful. Trustworthy. Blue is the most popular and neutral color on a global scale. A safe choice for a business building customer loyalty.

Several large brand name companies are associated with their corporate colors. IBM- Big Blue signifies stability and conservatism. UPS- Brown symbolizes longevity and reliability. A color can be connected to a product like Tide; in the bold orange box, evoking the feeling of vibrancy.

Color References

If you are an international business or target different markets, keep in mind that different cultures, classes and genders have different attitudes and preferences; so each person’s reaction maybe a far cry from what you and I might expect.

Cultural Differences – Colors obtain symbolism through cultural references in the culture you grew up in. Depending upon the culture, colors can have very different meanings and may actually cause problems for your site. For example, in the East, white is the color of funerals while in the West white is the color of Weddings. In China, white symbolizes death and in Brazil it’s purple.

Class Differences – Marketing research in the United States has shown that working class people tend to prefer colors that you can name: like blue, red, green, etc. While more highly educated classes tend to prefer colors that are more obscure: like taupe, azure, mauve, etc. This is why Walmart does their store logo in blue.

Gender Differences – In many cultures, men tend to prefer cooler colors (blues and greens) while women tend to prefer warmer colors (reds and oranges).

Location – People from countries with warmer climates generally respond more favorably to warmer colors; whereas people from countries with cooler climates respond more favorably to cooler colors.

The right “look and feel” creates the right impression for your target market. It reassures website visitors and can influence them to buy. The design, with colors and graphic elements, helps reinforce your message to your market. The elements on the web page help draw the reader to key points and take action.

What you do need is someone who understands what a business website or blog needs to have. Otherwise, you might end up with something that doesn’t speak to your target market.