Believe it or not, colour plays a significant part in how your business is portrayed. It is one of the first things people notice about your website, so it is worth knowing which colour palette genuinely represents what your business stands for. A visually appealing, engaging site is easier for people to trust, and that is what eventually turns visitors into customers.
Colour Psychology
Different colours bring out different emotions, feelings and moods. You can use that to shape the experience someone has on your site. A few examples:
- Green suggests nature, health, growth, freshness, peace and rejuvenation. It works well if your site is about health and fitness, or anything to do with the outdoors.
- Purple suggests royalty, luxury, power and wisdom. Useful if your business trades on a sense of luxury and leadership.
- Pink suggests love, warmth, emotion, sensitivity, innocence and femininity. A good fit if you want the site to feel tender and personal.
- Black suggests power, formality, elegance, mystery and prestige. Hard to beat if you are selling high-end products or services.
Worth being honest about this, though: colour psychology is a useful starting point rather than a science. Associations shift between cultures and industries, and no shade will sell something on its own. Treat it as a way to narrow down sensible options, not as a formula.
Colour Trends
It is worth keeping half an eye on what is current. Minimal palettes built from beige, charcoal grey, white and black have been popular for a while now, and that pared-back look is surprisingly effective in web design. It ages slowly, which is a real advantage when you are paying for a site you want to keep for several years.
That said, do not chase a trend at the expense of recognition. If your van, your signage and your shopfront are a particular colour, your website should feel like the same business. Consistency beats fashion, and you can see that in most of the sites in our portfolio of recent work.
Accessibility Considerations
A website should be usable by everybody, which means checking that your colour combinations meet contrast requirements for people with visual impairments. The common benchmark is a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 between body text and its background, and 3 to 1 for large headings. Free online checkers will tell you in seconds.
In practice the usual offender is pale grey text on a white background. It looks elegant on a designer’s monitor and becomes unreadable on a phone in daylight. Darkening the text is one of the cheapest improvements you can make to any site.
Getting Your Palette Right
Colour has a real impact in web design. It shapes emotions, perceptions and the overall experience, so it is worth taking time over the palette rather than picking shades you happen to like. Keep it simple, keep it consistent, and check the contrast before you launch.
If you would like a hand with the colours, or with website design more generally, Strand is a small studio based in Sale and works with shops, restaurants, dentists, trades and online stores across the area. Get in touch and we can talk it through.
FAQ
How many colours should a website use?
Fewer than most people think. A main brand colour, one accent for buttons and links, and a couple of neutrals for text and backgrounds will carry an entire site. Problems usually come from having too many colours rather than too few, because nothing stands out when everything is competing for attention.
Does colour really change whether people buy?
Not on its own, no. Colour sets the tone and makes the important things easy to find, which helps, but a clear offer, honest pricing and a page that loads quickly matter far more. If your enquiries are low, colour is rarely the first thing worth changing.
Can I just use my logo colours across the whole website?
Often not directly. Logo colours are chosen to work at small sizes on a plain background, and the same shade can be far too strong across a full page or fail contrast checks behind white text. The usual answer is to keep the brand colour for accents and build around softer neutrals.
What contrast do I need for accessibility?
The common benchmark is a ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 between body text and its background, and 3 to 1 for large headings. Free checkers will tell you in seconds. Pale grey text on white is the mistake that comes up most, and it is an easy one to fix.
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
