How to Choose Colours for your Website

The majority of UK adults now shop online, with many researching purchases and services extensively before they buy. This means that your website is more important than ever. With visitors spending as little as 2 seconds assessing a website before moving on, the colours and web design you choose can be critical.

Box Chilli are experts at web design in Portsmouth and regularly discuss colour choices with our clients. Here are our 7 top tips for creating an appealing, effective website colour scheme.

It must be Readable

If your customers can’t read the text easily, they won’t bother. And frustrated internet users quickly skip away to another web page. Black text on a white background is very readable, as are other high-contrast options like dark brown on pale yellow. Colours that are similar will be hard to read.

Colours should Suit your Customers

Certain colours evoke different moods and emotions, and are associated with different businesses. Green for nature and eco-friendly efforts is an obvious example, but each industry has its own foibles. Choosing a colour your customers really don’t expect – like all black for a play group – may make them think they’ve got the wrong web site, or render your business unappealing.

Don’t Copy

It can be easy for customers to confuse two websites if they look too similar. Resist the urge to copy a competitor’s colour choices, even if they seem perfect. It’s better to stand out, as the Box Chilli rainbow logo does for web design in Portsmouth, than to be quickly forgotten.

Use Splashes of Colour

Using colours for page furniture, such as headings and heading backgrounds, is a great way to keep a page from being dull without making it harder to read or use. Colour should be used consistently though, so make sure you choose a shade that will be suitable for all your content, not just the home page.

Coordinate your Colour Palette

A good web design team will spot glaring colour clashes before you launch, but it helps to understand a little colour theory when you’re making a decision. A free online colour wheel can help you choose colours with match and contrast with your base colour, showing you how they look on screen.

Use your Brand’s Colours

It may seem obvious, but if your company is known for its purple vans, blue shop front or red checked table clothes, you can pick those colours up in your web design. This helps customer’s associate the physical business with the online one.

Keep it Simple

The golden rule of web design is to keep it simple. With half of Brits using smart phones to browse the web, your site may be served on anything from a tiny Android phone to a smart TV. Reducing visual clutter – including the number of colours and textures on your site – will help users navigate your pages easily, getting to the heart of your business.

With years of experience in web design Portsmouth, boxChilli are happy to provide our advice and expertise to our clients.

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