Colours set the mood and feel for visitors on your website. While the effect of colour varies by individual, there are some colour effects that have universal meaning. Colours in the red area of the colour spectrum are known as warm colours and include red, orange and yellow. Warm colours evoke emotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort to feelings of anger and hostility. Colours on the blue side of the spectrum are known as cool colours and include blue, purple and green. These colours are often described as calm, but can also call to mind feelings of sadness or indifference.

Warm Colours:

Cool Colours:

To read more about colour psychology visit Color Psychology: How Colors Impact Moods, Feelings, and Behaviors by Kendra Cherry. When creating a scheme for a website, many times designers pick a colour based on its ability to calm or excite. Corporations, computer businesses, business solutions, banks, and technical services all fall under the category of complex fields of work. Visitors on their website may be seeking a solution to a frustrating situation. A warm colour scheme could excite a frustrated visitor and cause them to leave the website. A cool colour scheme is calming and indifferent and can subdue frustrations while presenting the solution. Add a little white or gray to your choice of blue for the perfect blue to use on technical and corporate websites.

Take Computers In Personnel: HR Software, Systems & Outsourcing as an example:

The website’s colour scheme looks like this:

The website has a clean, fresh look. Light blue subconsciously reminds viewers of the sky and calm waters. Green is reminiscent of the nature, eco-friendly, and money. Gray is neutral and allows for more subtlety by contrasting just enough with the white. And the dulled purple adds just a tad more flavor while remaining ambiguous. It is easy to argue that the light and airy colour scheme above is calming when you consider the opposite. Computers In Personnel website is pictured below with inverted colors:

The orange reminds the viewer of flames, the dark grey and black have a metallic feel, and the bright purple associates with luxury and fantasy. The inverted colour scheme makes a loud statement that may work for some businesses, but doesn’t work well for the business of HR Software, Systems & Outsourcing. The HR solutions business doesn’t want to convince viewers their services are ‘exciting.’ Instead, they want to present themselves as a solution for HR problems and needs. This quick analysis shows how the use of light blue and muted colours can create a calming and subdued tone for your website. Whether the designer is conscious of it or not, the colour will affect the visitor’s mood. Presenting the wrong tone on your site can cause visitors to leave. That’s why it’s very important to consider what you want your website to communicate EMOTIONALLY with colour.

Works Cited

Cherry, Kendra . “Color Psychology – The Psychology of Color.” Psychology – Complete Guide to Psychology for Students, Educators & Enthusiasts. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2011. <http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm>.

“HR Software & Systems, HR Outsourcing – Computers In Personnel.” HR Software & Systems, HR Outsourcing – Computers In Personnel. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2011. <http://www.computersinpersonnelhr.com/>.