One of the more important decisions you will be making about your site will involve the color palette. A bit of color theory will help you make this decision a bit easier.
Color theory is a set of principles used to create harmonious color combinations. Color relationships can be visually represented with a color wheel – the color spectrum wrapped into a circle. The Internet is full of color scheme generators. One such generator is Color Scheme Designer 3, which allows you to selects your scheme and then export the colors in a number of formats, including text file or Photoshop ACO.
The classic color schemes are:
- Monochromatic Color Scheme – Uses variations in lightness and saturation of a single color. This scheme looks clean and elegant and is very easy on the eyes.
- Analogous Color Scheme – Uses colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. One color is used as the dominant (primary) color, while others are used to enrich the scheme. The analogous scheme is similar to the monochromatic, but offers more nuances.
- Complementary Color Scheme – Consists of two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. This scheme looks best when you place a warm color (i.e., red) against a cool color (i.e., green-blue).
- Split Complementary Color Scheme – A variation of the standard complementary scheme, the split complementary scheme uses a color and the two colors adjacent to its complementary. This provides a high contrast scheme without the tension of the complementary scheme.
- Triadic Color Scheme – Uses three colors equally spaced around the color wheel. This is popular among artists because it offers strong visual contrast while retaining harmony and color richness. While not as contrasting as the complementary scheme, the triadic color scheme looks more balanced and harmonious.
- Tetradic (Double Complementary) Color Scheme – The most varied scheme because it uses two complementary color pairs. This can be a hard to harmonize scheme that is more balanced if one color is dominant (primary).
Another color palette generator is Adobe Kuler. This tool is also free, though you do need to be signed into an Adobe account. Kuler provides various color schemes already created by Adobe and various Adobe community participants. It does not involve a color wheel where you select a color and the rest fall into place. Check it out!
| White |
Purity
Innocence
Spirituality
Cleanliness |
White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity and virginity, and is considered to be the color of perfection.
White can be used to suggest simplicity in high-tech products. White is often associated with hospitals, doctors, and sterility and thus, can be used to suggest safety when promotion medical products. |
| Black |
Elegance
Confidence
Death
Mourning
Evil |
Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. It’s a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown. As such, it often has a negative connotation.
Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth. However, a black background diminishes the readability of text. When creating a site for an art gallery or photographer, a black or gray background can be used to make the other colors stand out. It contrasts well with bright colors. |
| Red |
Passion
Heat
Power
Courage
Aggressiveness
Danger |
Red is the color of fire and blood, so it’s associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination, as well as passion, desire, and Love
Red is a very emotionally intense color, enhancing metabolism, increasing respiration rate, and raising blood pressure.
Red brings text and images to the foreground. Used as an accent color will stimulate people to make quick decisions. It can be a great color for “buy now” or “click here” buttons. |
| Blue |
Tranquility
Peace
Dedication
Loyalty
Solitude
Melancholy |
Blue is the color of the sky and sea and is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, fath, truth, and heaven. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability and is the preferred color for corporate America. |
| Green |
Life
Youth
Hope
Jealousy
Fear
Poison
Illness |
Green is the color of nature, symbolizing growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. It also has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is commonly associated with money.
Green can be used to indicate safety when advertising drugs and medical products. Directly related to nature, green can be used to promote eco-friendly (“green”) products.
Since dark green is associated with money, it is often used to promote financial products and services. |
| Yellow |
Happiness
Playfulness
Enlightenment |
Yellow is the color of sunshine and is associated with joy, happiness, intellect and energy.
If overused, yellow can have a disturbing effect. It’s highly visible when placed against black, which is why this combination is often used to issue a warning. |
| Purple |
Luxury
Wealth
Royalty |
Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red and is often associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition and conveys wealth and extravagance. |
| Brown |
Authenticity
Substance
Stability |
Brown suggests stability and denotes masculine qualities. As part of the red family, it can symbolize strength, power and determination. Is it any wonder UPS uses brown as its primary color?
Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall. |
| Orange |
Warmth
Contentment |
Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It’s associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. It represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
Orange is highly visible and can be used to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of a design. |
| Pink |
Romance
Ferminity
Love
Friendship |
Pink has the ability to reduce aggression. |
This has been but a brief summary of color theory and the meanings of color. You’re encouraged to read up on the subject more. Find books on Color Theory
on Amazon.com.
Your challenge – check out your favorite web sites. What do you like about it? What color scheme is being used? What’s the primary color used? What feelings are evoked by looking at the site?
Now, check out the web sites of some of your competitors. What do you like about the sites? What would you change, if anything? What color scheme is used and what colors? Do you think the color scheme is appropriate? How successful is each competitor?
Finally, what color scheme(s) do you think would be best suited for your site? What color(s) do you think would be most appropriate?
