Colors express your site's mood and personality

Colors express your site's values, goals, and personality (as well as that of the company it represents). To illustrate, it lets looks at two retailers interfaces:

Gap Online has carefully selected colors. The site uses a monochromatic blue and grey palette that's very effective at letting the clothing and the models stand out. The colors are relaxed, and non-saturated - as is the Gap look and feel - relaxed, and easy going. Grade: A

While BigSmart has a lot of bright , highly-saturated, and high-contrast color combos that compete for attention with the information being delivered. Additionally, any pics of clothing would be lost in the visual noise. Grade: D+

Colors set an identity

Colors of the site and those of the company logo must complement each other and work together...

The site must be designed around the logo so that the logo doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. The color harmony between the Beck Interactive site and logo are a good example. This is very important because 99% of the times the logo has been designed with specific colors in mind by the company.

Colors in context of our emotional and cultural realities

Web sites built for a global audience must choose colors based on awareness of cultural and emotional significance. Web site designers should treat the symbolism of color seriously. For example, red is the color of fire and blood and cannot be associated with tranquility or peace. A green hat in China signals that a man's wife is cheating on him, but in many other counties like India, the color green is associated with money, prosperity and well being. So be aware of color and cultural significance when appropriate.

Color for Genders

Depending on the audience or the target group of the website the colors should be chosen... "The Meaning of Color for Gender" by Natalia Khouw points out some interesting theories derived from academic studies about color and gender, such as:

Men prefer blue to red, while women red to blue.

In other cases, men prefer orange to yellow, where women prefer yellow to orange.

Like wise websites designed for younger audience should use bright colors compared to those for elders/adults, which should have more sober and restrained colors.

Color in juxtaposition with other colors


A particular color alone could be too loud or too pale –  but could come alive when coupled with other colors. Black and grey are kind of boring alone - but add orange - and BAM! - nice combo. (Tip: Actually, black and grey with ANY other single color are dynamite.)

Some common color meanings/associations:.

Red is associated with blood, and with feelings that are energetic, exciting, passionate or erotic. Most colors carry both positive and negative implications. The downside of red evokes aggressive feelings, suggesting anger or violence.

Orange is the color of flesh, or the friendly warmth of the hearth fire. The positive implications of this color suggest approachability, informality. The negative side might imply accessibility to the point of suggesting that anyone can approach-- a lack of discrimination or quality.

Yellow is the color of sunshine. This color is optimistic, upbeat, modern. The energy of yellow can become overwhelming. Therefore yellow is not a color that tends to dominate fashion for long periods of time.

Green In its positive mode, green suggests nature (plant life, forests), life, stability, restfulness, naturalness. On the other hand, green in some tones or certain contexts (such as green skin) might instead suggest decay (fungus, mold), toxicity, artificiality.

Blue suggests coolness, distance, spirituality, or perhaps reserved elegance. Some shade of blue is flattering to almost anyone. In its negative mode, we can think of the "blues"-the implication being one of sadness, passivity, alienation, or depression.

Violet is the color of fantasy, playfulness, impulsiveness, and dream states. In its negative mode, it can suggest nightmares, or madness.

Color it white

Use white. Use space. Please!

White in its nothingness acts as a wonderful balance between colors. You can also make your Web pages easy on the eyes by leaving plenty of white space, or empty space between page elements, in your layout especially if your site is rich in content (text).

(Editors note: I BEG you to try doing some designs with PLENTY of white space. There's far too much visual clutter online! – Tim Donahue, CoolHomepages.com)

When less is more

To wrap it up limit your color palette to 2 or 3 major colors (with shade variations) and a small accent of color here and there. Limited colors on web and of color palette of graphics means smaller file sizes, faster loading and most importantly, more readable and inviting sites...which might translate to more business as well. Websites like www.Apple.com, www.EddieBauer.com have used limited color space and yet look sharp, even CoolHomepages mainly uses 2 colors, Orange and Blue.

Last but not the least , My Favourite ... Weave your web in Red, Black and White. As on the web, White is the brightest color and Black holds highest contrast to it and Red provides emphasis and works well with both. If you were to visit www.oli.org ,www.sprint.com, www.oracle.com, www.coke.com, www.honda.com, www.the-rev.com they would surely agree with me : )