One primary task of web developers is to ensure that the website they create gives the right message to the audience and user and one of the biggest factors that make this happen is the right use of colors.

“Color is a power which directly influences the soul.” -Wassily Kandinsky — this goes true even with web development and design. Choosing the right color scheme goes beyond what your client wants, their brand colors are, and what you think would work well because there are a lot of factors to consider that are essential to come up with a beautiful and attractive website.

What are the uses of colors in web development and web design?

1. Colors increase brand awareness

In every business, increasing brand awareness is a huge deal and an important part of it is what professionals call “color branding.” Color branding is utilizing colors to help a business build an image to influence how people perceive them.

If a huge data company wants to be recognized as reliable, trustworthy, and authentic by their audience and customers, then they should consider using the colors blue or gray because these two signify being formal.

A luxurious hotel, on the other hand, may want to use black, gold or silver to represent itself.

2. Colors make specific website elements stand out

To draw attention to a specific section or button on your website without using large icons or flashing neon graphics which can be a huge turn off to your users, the right use of colors works excellently.

Colors are often used to highlight different elements on a website like subsections, buttons, and important texts.

Subsections are crucial parts of a website that you may want to give attention to because it draws the attention of your users — this section can be used to ask your users to sign up for your newsletter.

3. Colors can influence how users feel about your website

Colors impact how users feel about your website as it affects their perception more than we think. According to a research made by the Institute for Color Research, people make an ensuing assessment of a person, environment, or product with only 90 seconds of initial viewing, and 62% to 90% of their assessment is based on the effects of colors alone — as reported by COLORCOM.

Your choice of colors an either increase or decrease people’s trust on your website and eventually can turn them to loyal customers.

When a user lands on your website, there are three essential things you need for them to think or feel:

• Trust both your business and website
• They should be convinced enough to browse more about your business and products
• Motivate them to perform desired actions to increase sales

Everything you do on your website development and design should support these goals.

What are the basic colors and their impact on users’ perceptions?

Let’s discuss some basic colors and how they make an impact on users’ perception to give you an insight of which colors are suitable for certain messages.

Red – The color of passion and power

Red signifies passion, power, urgency, courage, aggressiveness, and emergency. However, its different shades have meanings too.

• Bright Red: This signifies energy, excitement — this color is excellent to use for food, beverages, adventure-related companies, and entertainment.
• Dark Red: This color signifies being authoritative and luxury too — this color is excellent to use for educational institutions or companies selling high-end products or services.

Just always be mindful of using the red color because it can make your website look domineering, resentful, violent, overbearing, aggressive, or even angry.

Blue – The color of trust

Blue is the color for creating a sense of trust, peace, calmness, and productivity. This color gives users the feeling of serenity.

This is the complete opposite of the color red — blue lets users feel that they have more time to decide on their own pace that leads to trust and believe what the company has to say.

Different shades of blue:

• Light Blue: This means creativity — this color is excellent for creative or tech companies.
• Dark Blue: This means trust and intelligence — this color is excellent for companies that need to build trust like a financial institution, government organization, or healthcare.

Green – The color of nature, balance, and wealth

Green is the center of the color spectrum which equates it to equilibrium, balance, and calmness too.

This is a versatile color and would work excellently in most industries — green is excellent for health and wellness companies, organic-friendly products, and even tech companies too.

We hope that this information gives you more knowledge and confidence in choosing the right colors for developing and designing your website.

If you’re interested in learning more about the importance of colors in web development essential elements, download our Web Development ebook.

Are you looking for help in your web development using the right colors? Talk to one of our web development specialists now!