With a tradition of colour fusions, innovative patterns and new technologies push boundaries to find new designs and fascinating trends, the designing industry moves forward on par with the technological advancements.
Let's delve into the world of viewers to learn more about how effective the design visuals play a stunt into the mind of the viewers. Different are the elements, and different are the effects they evoke in the viewers mind. Choosing a colour is the most important of all when it comes to design. Colour of the web design influences conversions.
Colours stupendously influence Shoppers' attitude and emotions. On seeing a colour, the eyes communicate with hypothalamus of the brain, from where pituitary gland receives a ray of signals, and there on signal is passed on to the endocrine system and then to thyroid glands – whoa whoa! You guys still follow what I say? Sorry about that. Forget about the science behind it. On seeing a colour, we are signalled by our brain to make a resulting behaviour and that's it. As simple as that.
Resulting behaviour differs from person to person. Meaning of colours varies from culture to culture, and a person to person symbolically as well as emotionally.
Understanding the theory behind three primary colours helps a designer to pick the right colour for their website. Let's see how the colours hold a universal significance and impact human behaviour.
Colour Red - Red makes people hungry!
Powerful, more dynamic, hot, attractive and most alerting colour is RED. It invokes emotion and passion. It symbolizes not only love, but also anger. Children's websites, Booking websites, Reservation websites will look perfect and attractive with the red theme. It is associated with love and war. Using red as an accent colour to stimulate decision making in a person is a kind of cool design idea, because Red creates a kind of sense of urgency. 'Book Now', 'Buy Now', 'Reserve Now', 'Sales', 'Ending Soon' and such Call to Action buttons in Red would bring better results.
Coco Cola, Puma, Formula One, YouTube, ESPN, Disney, and Canon are few popular brands that used Red in their logo. Red being the hottest of the three primary colours, stirs up passion and it's meaning is relatively consistent among people of all age group and culture.
Orange and Pink are tints of Red, which symbolises all emotions and moods including that red colour evoke.
Colour Yellow - The Yellow glistens!
There are two types of people. One that love yellow and other that hate the same. Yellow lovers on seeing anything yellow feels uplifted, happy and energised. Yellow haters on the other hand develop headache and irritation. With the change in intensity of any colour, the colour psychology changes. Mixing yellow with red gives the orange, and orange is a tint of not only red, but also yellow. Too much of intense primary yellow sure will be annoying to the majority of people, but toned down monochromatic yellow may elicit warmth in the beholder's mind. Also, yellow, in fact, is the most energetic colours that soothe eyes when it comes with different tints and shades. If you want to make your customers feel optimistic and cheerful, go for yellow. Though yellow is the least favourite colours, it appeals to the kid in us. The right yellow rings the chord with the viewers' spirit and self-esteem. A small advice is, do use it sparingly. Too much of it may be overwhelming.
So, yellow is a colour of self-esteem, strong emotions, faith, friendliness, and creativity. As yellow is a too bright a colour to stand on its own, it needs the outline or secondary background or outlining to work better. McDonalds, Nikon, Sprint, Ferrari, Idea, UltraTech, IKEA, and National Geographic Channel are some popular brands and channels that use yellow in their logos.
Green is a secondary colour that represents peace, prosperity and tranquillity and upholds the primary power to wring the emotional and psychological qualities associated with the colour yellow and as well as the colour Blue.
Colour Blue – You feel safe.
Blue is a source of delight. It retains its nature in all of its tones. It's an enchanting colour that evinces serenity, calm and spirituality. The darker the blue is, the more masculine it is. It stands for success and power. It's a constant favourite to Nature lovers. And it's the world's most favourite colour among all primary, secondary and tertiary colours. It doesn't confine to any particular idea or quality. It is beyond all other colour dimensions. It's vast. It's abundant. It's constant. It reflects the elements of nature, the sky and the sea. It brands trust and confidence.
It's the most used conservative colour by most popular brands. I guess, it's because of the single universal reason that it promotes confidence and trust in their customers. It has an interesting history that it personifies aristocracy – bluebloods. Blue, till date, is the colour of professionalism and professionals wear Blue suits to say that they are to be taken seriously and they are here for serious long term business. It recedes optically and creates a psychological space when it is used as a background colour. Don't use too much of blue; it may freeze people as it may be too chilling.
The list of brands that use Blue is a bit lengthy one. Ford, HP, Samsung, Facebook, Skype, HBO, Walt Disney, IBM, Intel, Paypal, Twitter, Indigo, Jet Airways, and much more.
Web Designs and Colours
The more are colours, and the more are the meanings. Design elements are to be treated with utmost care to represent the product they promote. Colours highlight the product for its category and character. The colour and combos you pick for the website is going to impact people's susceptibleness and colours play a dramatic role in your designs. Be wise, choose nice and play the dice. Wish you all the best.
Next comes is the Psychology Behind Web Designs : Typography
