How do you pick a color scheme for your website?

There are many important aspects that make a website interesting for visitors. Not only the content is important, but also elements such as color palette, layout, and charging times have a great impact on whether visitors decide to stay or leave. That is why choosing a color scheme might be very challenging; you have to make sure to choose wisely. Not enough color might make it seem dull and boring, while too much makes it look unprofessional. So, how can you choose the right combination? There are a few things you should keep in mind:

Identify your target audience

The first step when making any important decisions regarding your website is identifying your audience and getting to know their personality interests, hobbies, and needs. You can start by asking yourself an important question: What kind of emotions do you want to awaken in your audience? Once you know what you want to achieve, there are some elements you need to consider to better reach your audience: Consider age group: Did you know that people change their color preferences as they age? Consider the age target you’re directing to, millennials, for example, have very different tastes than boomers o generation X. Consider gender: This might not apply to all brands out there, but if you’re targeting a specific gender, you should consider preferences in each case. This research on Color Assignments can be useful.

Understand the relationship between colors and emotions

Before making any important decisions, you need to understand how colors affect human emotions. This is a key element considered by all big brands around the world, as we tend to relate colors to specific feelings. Here are a few examples:

• Red: Excitement, bold, youthful
• Blue: Strength, reliable, dependable
• Yellow: Clarity, optimism, warmth
• Green: Peaceful, growth, health
• Grey: Balance, calm, neutral

Remember, it’s not about you

If your favorite color is purple, for example, it might be tempting to use it as the main color on your website. However, your preferences shouldn’t be reflected on your website or anything related to your brand. The center of all your marketing decisions should be your audience and what you want to convey. Imagine a website offering natural beverages, using purple might be a mistake since it’s not relevant to what your brand offers. Check the color wheel You’ve probably learned about the color wheel before, but many professionals tend to forget how useful it is. It can be a tremendous help when it comes to choosing a color scheme. Depending on what you’re looking for, you can choose 2 options:

• Analog colors:

  In this case, the colors are very similar and are located next to each other on the color wheel

• Complementary colors:

  These colors are not similar, but complementary. They are located directly opposite each other on the color wheel.

Decide the number of colors

Once you’ve identified your audience and the main color you want, it is time to decide how many colors you want to use. There isn’t a rule on the right number, and it’s totally up to you, we recommend you to consider the 60-30-10 rule.

This rule is highly used in fashion and interior design and talks about creating a perfect harmony using 3 colors, broken down this way:

• 60% dominant color
• 30% secondary color
• 10% accent color

Always keep in mind that the color scheme you choose must be a reflection of your brand and your corporate values. You have to always keep in mind your brand’s personality, it is important to keep the same palette in all your platforms: website, social media, mobile app. This consistency is what makes your brand memorable.

Think of all the big brands out there, no matter the changes they make to their logo and corporate image, the color pallet is one of the things that always stay the same.

In conclusion, when choosing your color scheme there are 5 key elements you need to always keep in mind:

• Your target audience; their interests, needs, and personality
• Each color reflects and specific emotion, find the one that better express your brand
• Leave your bias behind, it’s not about you
• Revisit the color wheel to check for analog or complementary colors
• And finally, decide the number of colors wisely applying the 60-30-10 rule.