How to Choose the Perfect Business Website Color Scheme

Choosing the perfect business website color scheme undoubtedly requires a degree of creativity. But before you pick a color scheme it is even more important that you understand what works, and what doesn’t.

Choosing the website color scheme of your business should never be an afterthought. That’s because color has a very significant impact on your audience. It also helps to define the entire look and feel of your branding.

You should also consider that your chosen website color scheme needs to fit with your typographic style. And it needs to complement the message you want to get across. It won’t be easy, but the tips discussed in this guide should help you to get started. So, let’s go through the processes that will lead you to color scheme ideas.

As we go through color scheme ideas, we will explore commonly used color schemes, an overview of the psychology of color, and the techniques that the pros use to pick a color scheme.

Your website color scheme undoubtedly has an enormous impact on influencing your target audience. And it’s no secret that different colors evoke different emotions, including giving away different impressions. This is where understanding the psychology of color and how it impacts your own target audience is crucial to the success of your branding.

However, there are many misconceptions about the psychology of color. The subject inspires a great deal of conversation, but there are not so many hard facts and statistical data to go on. After all, colors play different roles in different cultures and contexts. And there’s also the fact that personal preference plays a major role in how we interpret colors.

Color is heavily dependent on personal preferences and experiences. So, it’s impossible to accurately assign a single color to a specific feeling. For example, you might hear people say that yellow conveys feelings of warmth and happiness. And blue shows strength and reliability. But these are very general rules.

So, what works for your business might not work at all for another. But it is important that your chosen website color scheme reflects the personality of your business. Including the preferences of your target audience. After all, a great brand doesn’t just sell a product – it sells a lifestyle.

Here is the key to understand the impact of color and the psychology of color. Consider some color scheme ideas that are commonly used and how people tend to interpret them:

•    White, black, and grey; may be referred to as neutral colors. These are rarely used as primary colors in a company’s branding. But their use can help to create contrasts to draw attention to other colors.
•    Warm bright colors: such as red, orange and yellow are the most eye-catching. Hence their frequent use to highlight important page elements such as calls to action. But they can easily be overused.
•    Warm dark colors, such as brown, gold and purple are favored amongst luxury brands. Blending in well with more elegant and traditional designs. They tend to be easy on the eye too.
•    Cold bright colors: such as silver and light blue, have a light and airy feel. This lends to subtle design styles seeking to evoke impressions of freshness and high aesthetics.
•    Cold dark colors, such as blue, green, and violet are often said to evoke impressions of stability and professionalism. They don’t attract attention like bright colors. But they can help highlight content and improve its readability.

There is no solid answer to how many colors you should use in your company’s branding. After all, a good designer can get away with using almost any number of different colors. But, generally, it’s better to use too few colors in color scheme than too many. Keep in that using too many colors in your website color scheme can detract from your website’s readability. And that includes its usability, causing your brand to lose its message. By contrast, not using enough colors lends to weak branding. Including little emphasis on important on-page elements such as calls to action.

Creating variation and visual interest is your main priority when it comes to choosing a website color scheme. It’s often a good idea to start with three main colors. Additionally, you shouldn’t use these colors in equal amounts, and many designers recommend having a dominant color accounting for about 60% of your color scheme, about 30% for the secondary color and no more than about 10% for your accent color.

For websites that feature a lot of content and different on-page elements, you might need to expand your color scheme. At this point, consider starting off with some additional shades of your primary colors. Or stick to using more neutral colors, particularly when readability is a concern.

Perhaps one of the easiest and most effective ways to pick the perfect website color scheme is to start with an appropriate photo. A suitable photo can give some inspiration. But it may also provide everything you need to come up with an excellent color palette in just a few minutes.

For example, let’s say your website has a banner image. As those found on social media profiles and blogs. So, you can use this as a starting point. By using a color scheme that fits with your existing company logo or front-page banner image. You will be better equipped to create a more uniform look that is easier on the eye. There are many color palette generators online that can provide a color palette based on a photo you upload.

 It might take some time to come up with the perfect website color scheme. Particularly since you will likely need to tweak your palette a few times to get it just right. Fortunately, there are many free tools available online which can help you. But you will also want to keep your business’s goals, industry, and target audience in mind. After all, something that works well for one business could be completely unsuitable for another. Above all, feel free to experiment until you are completely satisfied.

So, once you’ve found the optimal color scheme, be sure to use it in all your branding and online portals so people will be better able to identify and remember your company.