Humans just can NOT appreciate good visuals; its how we have been wired since day immemorial. We ‘see’ things before we ‘read’ them. First impression is the last impression, as they say. Even more so in today’s frantic age wherein people just don’t have the time to read things anymore, visual content has taken centre stage.
Also, studies have suggested an interesting fact that almost 90% of the info transmitted to our brand is entirely visual. On a similar note, another trend has unfurled in the shopping industry which states that no less than 85% shoppers choose for/against buying a product based on its colour. Staggering, isn’t it?
Ergo, website is one place where the importance of aesthetics just can’t be ignored. This is a thought shared by some of the top notch WordPress development companies out there. Even if you’re in a serious business domain, an appropriate colour scheme can make the difference between ever soaring profits and abysmal sales.
Here’s a look at some essential tips on how to choose colors for website design:
1. What Does Your Overall Demographic Look Like?
- Who are you trying to sell to through your website? What targeted audience are you trying to reach? Is there any specific location under your business scope? What emotions do you seek to arouse from individuals when it comes to your brand?
- Such questions and more are key to how you look at your website colour scheme before everyone else does.
- You have to study your potential audience at a cellular level to understand what they like, as that is the only thing that matters once everything is said and done. Consider their personality, their emotional quotient and then pick the colours.
2. Decide The Frequency of Colours to Use
- By now, we are definitely sure that you have a primary colour decided. Now you need to figure out the total number of colours you would want to use in your website.
- Looking for colours that are complimentary is a thing of the past, as every element shines in a different manner. You want website visitors to feel something different from every targeted landing page.
- However, do maintain a level of consistency in the sense that you shouldn’t go overboard. Pick 2-3 main colours and stick with them through the entirety of the website in seamless harmony.
- Do keep a track of the overall contrast of the website as you would need some elements to just pop up in front of the audience, in which case darker colour on white backgrounds really do work.
3. Understand The Depth of How Colour Affects Emotion
- First things first, familiarize yourself with the intricacies of what every colour brings to the palette of your website. Pun intended!
- Every colour traditionally invokes a certain element in a viewer on the emotional side.
- For instance, darker colours wouldn’t go along well with a website for kids and how the colour ‘green’ is ideal for an organic food related website as it denotes good health and nutrition. Lighter colours are usually safer than their darker counterparts.
4. Consider The Age of Your Targeted Audience
- This is kind of a no brainer! Even the best WordPress developer has to consider who his/her target is? A teenager who likes desserts? A professional working at a 9-5 job? A stay-at-home mom who doesn’t have time for grocery shopping?
- Needless to say, everyone’s taste is a little different. An individual’s colour preference changes with age.
- If your business website is serving a variety of age bands, try and pick colours which are more generic and common. Experimentation can be a risk here!
5. Shed Your Biased Nature:
- Might not seem like it, but this is one point which can prove to be detrimental to the success of your website in terms of its aesthetics and overall appeal.
- Don’t think on the lines of what you like and what colours/shades you prefer. You are not your customer, are you? You don’t want your taste to come in the middle of the brand’s sales.
- Give due importance to the psyche of your demographic and tread in a similar direction that is more suited to their taste.
- For eg. Don’t pick red for your kids-themed website because its your favourite colour; go for yellow or orange instead.
6. Consider The Gender:
- Right off the bat, do note that this might not be applicable for your business. However, companies catering specifically to one gender need to pay attention, like a men’s cologne brand or a women’s fashion line and so on.
- As per some common trends, men don’t respond too well to colours like purple or pink whereas women don’t tend to relate with colours like brown or orange.
- This is just another important factor that demands consideration at the start of your business website.
7. Stalk Your Competition:
- And I mean this in the politest sense; just keep a good track of what your competitors are doing. Then you can decide to either follow the herd or come up with your own creative direction.
- Given that you’re targeting the same gentry, selling the same products/services, you need to know what ‘does’ or ‘can’ work in the audience.
- For nascent companies especially, this becomes a branding pre-requisite as they get a chance to look at what some of the other established brands are doing, the colours that they’ve used, the UI/UX of their website and more.
Just a few considerations as mentioned above and your colour selection for your website would never go wrong!
Facing difficulty to decide the best colour combination for your website? Our ecommerce Web design experts would be happy to help.
