Web designing involves a meticulous process for planning and conceptualizing the design for a website so that the viewers can engage and interact as effortlessly as possible. Statistics suggest that seventy-three percent of visitors will leave a website if the page is not responsive. So, making the web design easy to navigate and appealing is a key function of the web designer.
Colors And Perception: How It Appeals To The Visitors
Color psychology is the study of the ways in which colors affect a person’s emotions and perceptions and, in turn, make them behave in a certain way. Hence, all Web Designing courses pay special attention to color psychology when teaching a course on website design.
Colors, or the balance between two or more colors, have a profound impact on the way in which visitors perceive your brand and company. So here are some key points that you should keep in mind when designing a page for your next client.
Design To Cater To Your Target Audience
Every website that you design has a core audience that it aims to target. Depending on the good or service that your customer is trying to sell, the target audience can be teenagers, homemakers, older adults, etc.
So, if you are selling medical aids and equipment used primarily by people in their sixties or seventies, you must stick to shades of blue for the primary background. Shades like sky blue and aquamarine reflect a sense of calm and evoke feelings of trust.
Also, texts are harder to read when the background or the dominant color is dark. Hence, if you are catering to older adults, it is better to stick to softer tones and nude shades. Also, to improve the readability, you can add the color white, which creates a sense of space.
Likewise, every age group, be it Gen Z, Gen X, or boomers, has a preferred type of design and color combination that they like. Youngsters are open to dark colors like black and prefer graphics on the website. Thus, depending on the age group and the regional population that you are targeting, the design of the website should be designed accordingly.
Color perception varies from place to place or culture to culture. For instance, Red denotes elation and love in Western countries, whereas it is a manifestation of purity for Hindus. In the Middle East, it is a sign of danger; in China, it indicates luck and bliss; and with politically committed people, it means communism.
Similarly, Yellow to Americans means fervor and positivity; for Germans, it is a sign of discontent and grudge; and for Egyptians, it symbolizes death and sorrow.
Color Distribution And Contrast
Color distribution is the ratio in which different colors are used on a webpage. Usually, most websites follow a 60: 30: 10 distribution for web pages. Here, 60% stands for the dominant color, which is the background for all your web pages. 30% is the secondary color, which creates a contrast with the dominant shade. And finally, 10% is for the accent, like the CTA (call to action), which is usually the clickable part of a web page.
It makes sense to create high contrast in the call to action part so that it easily attracts the viewer’s eye. Colors that are on the opposite ends of the color spectrum form the strongest contrasts. So purple and yellow make the strongest contrast. However, using purple on a yellow background or vice versa can be straining on the eye, and hence, such strong contrasts are avoided while designing a page.
Understanding The Contextual Significance Of All Shades
Every tone, hue, or shade conveys a certain feeling to the viewer. Cultural contexts also play a large role in shaping people’s perceptions of a certain shade. So, if you are planning on designing a web page, keep the following color stereotypes in mind when you design.
- Red- it stands for emergency, danger, love, romance, or even anger. Thus, web pages for e-commerce sites that are offering Valentine’s Day gifts can definitely use red. However, too much red should be avoided at all costs because it can make the web page appear aggressive.
Again, there are different types of red that a web designer can use based on the ultimate goal that is to be achieved. Bright red is attention-grabbing and is best used in logos, navigation buttons, and headlines. Dark red, on the other hand, evokes a feeling of warmth and is often used for pages where the main products are sofa covers, curtains, etc.
- Blue- it stands for calmness but can also symbolize coldness or a lack of warmth. People feel more secure when they see different, softer shades of blue, which makes it more likely that they will buy from your online store. Shades of blue balance well with other colors.
- Green- it is used to reflect themes like sustainability, emergency services, etc. Green is also associated with growth and prosperity. Hence, many brands prefer shades of Green to give a positive perception of their brand.
- Yellow- softer tones of yellow are used for reaction buttons, but yellow and stronger tones are rarely used for the dominant color, like the background of the page.
Conclusion
Appealing to the emotions of the target audience is key to developing a website that generates good engagement and, eventually, high sales. Colors not only arouse the emotions of a visitor but also push him to act. So a web designer must know how to use colors to attract his target audience.
Good web designers are in great demand, and statistics suggest that there will be 205,000 web designers in the US by 2031. This will be a sharp rise from the figures reported in 2021 (191,100). Hence, web designers will be in demand, but to excel at designing, you must take cognizance of color psychology, and such essential skills can be easily mastered when one takes up a reputable course on web designing.
