The Visual Psychology of Website Colors

The more the Internet grows, the more websites serve as a marketing tool to draw the potential customers in for the conversion. As more companies search for business online, there is a massive scramble to design websites that are aesthetically pleasing and psychologically comforting. Nearly all companies who hire professionals get an eye-pleasing page that pops, but some businesses don’t carry that consistency over to the color of the site. Most stick to the company colors of the logo, which may have been a standard since 1963. Unfortunately for some, there are some colors that are more “marketable” than others, and their company standard is on the losing end. If your website has the luxury and flexibility of color choice, keep these tips in mind when choosing your color palette.

RED is associated with love, passion, danger, excitement, impulsive, action, and adventure.

BLUE is associated with success, seriousness, trustworthiness, calmness, power, and professionalism.

GREEN is associated with nature, animals, money, health, healing, life, and harmony.

ORANGE is associated with creativity, comfort, celebration, fun, youth, affordability

PURPLE is associated with royalty, justice, ambiguity, luxury, fantasy, dreams, and uncertainty.

WHITE is associated with purity, cleanliness, innocence, and simplicity.

YELLOW is associated with playfulness, cheerfulness, amusement, and curiosity.

PINK is associated with softness, sweetness, youthfulness, and tenderness.

BROWN is associated with nature, earth, tribal, primitive, and simplicity.

GREY is associated with neutrality, indifference, and reserved.

BLACK is associated with seriousness, darkness, mystery, and secrecy.

It is important to identify your market and the psychological message that needs to be sent through your site design, color palette, words, and images. When choosing the color palette it is important to use contrasting colors and complementary color palettes. Before you go live with your site, use a test audience with several difference color combinations to choose from. This could help the decision process out when finalizing your site design.