Color Theory in Web Design

So your website is up and running. You’ve followed the advice about not over-cluttering your website and you’ve ensured that it is organized in an intuitive way. All the links are up and running and hits are starting to roll in.

But how do you maximize the number of hits you get outside of what you’ve already done? There are many things one can do to achieve this, however, something that many don’t consider is color and how color theory plays a very important part in how we feel about certain things.

We’ve all gone to restaurants before. And we’ve all looked around at the walls and taken in what’s there. But next time you go, look again at the walls and notice the colors used. Chances are, you may happen upon the color red. Why? Because the color red, among other things, makes people hungry.

That same psychology applies to just about everything else, from painting to architecture. Colors do affect how people feel. And you can convey a lot just through what colors you use in your website.

For example, let’s take the color red again. What else does it do? Well red is classified as a “warm” color. And warm colors tend to project forward. Red is aggressive, arousing and stimulates the brain. Orange stimulates creativity. Orange can also generate a sense of pride, making others feel good about themselves. And yellow tends to fill one with joy. It makes people cheerful and brings out wisdom and insight.

On the contrary, cool colors recede. They are restful and calm. Blue is sedating and soothes the passions the way red excites them. Violet represents good motives and is associated with wealth. And green is the color of healing and peace. Green has even been known to soothe pain in teething infants.

However, one shouldn’t go overboard with any one color if they desire an effect. Too much red can disturb visitors, for example. And too much orange can produce nervousness.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Colors affect us in so many ways. So it makes sense to use colors, not to drown out your message, but to aid and promote it. Doing so will maximize your customer’s experience and keep them coming back.

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