Website Color Schemes: How to Pick an Effective Palette

Colors Invoke Reactions

Website color schemes play a role in the amount of time a viewer stays on your site. The study, “Impact of color on marketing,” found that up to 90% of snap judgments made about products can be based on color alone, so a conscious decision should be made about the color scheme of your website.

Picking colors may seem like an easy chore that can be done in five seconds, right? Wrong, picking a great and impactful color scheme requires some planning and thought to how well the colors work together.

To help you with your own palette, I've put together examples of website color schemes, to take for inspiration, as well as a few things to think about when you go to pick your website's color scheme.

Cool vs. Warm Hues

Using warm colors with cooler ones will create a complimentary color scheme that is bound to impress viewers whether you choose a deep blue and bright orange, or a dark purple and vibrant yellow. Something to write down so you'll remember is, warmer colors are going to pop more than cooler colors, so you'll want to make the highlights and features of your site the warmer color of your palette.

Cool colors:

Purples, blues, grays and sometimes green.

Warm colors:

Yellows, oranges, pinks and sometimes green.

Green is a color that can be both warm and cold:

Forest green is a cool color, and lime green is a warm color.

Color options to try:

• Oranges with blues and purples
• Yellows with gunmetal grays
• Pinks with Grayish Blues

A Palette of Tints and Shades

Keeping things simple is always a good thing when it comes to building website color schemes. Using tints and shades of two colors will add dimension to your website's design while keeping a minimalistic look that won't overwhelm readers.

Colors that pair nicely together:

• Blue and Grey
• Violet and Yellow
• Teal and Green
• Orange and Light blue

High Contrast Color Scheme

A high contrast website color scheme is a great way to direct readers' eyes through your website. Having a contrasting palette will allow you to highlight the key points of your website by using a pop color that stands out above all the other colors.

There are a few things to consider when choosing a high contrast color scheme:

1. Pick colors that won't irritate your eyes (no neons).
2. Choose one color to highlight, I like to use warm hues like orange or red.
3. Once you've chosen a highlight color, pick two or three more colors. Complimentary colors will work best. If you've selected pink for your highlight color use dark hues and purples so that pink really pops off the page.

The Professional Palette

Keeps things professional, while also picking a palette that is fun and modern. Grays are neutral tones that compliment any color, having some grey in your website will set you up for any color combination you choose for your professional color scheme.

A good mixture of fun and serious colors are:

• Orange, blue, with two tones of gray
• Green, dark blue, with a dark gray and lighter gray
• Spice things up a bit with a deep purple, bright green, and dark grays

Website Color Schemes that Pops

A color scheme that has one POP color paired with neutral colors is an easy way to build a dynamic palette in less than a few minutes. Neutral colors offer a professional look, by adding one bright color like cyan or a punchy pink you can have a sleek yet playful website that is bound to impress.

Neutral colors consist of:

• Greys
• Nudes
• Muted Hues

Having an impressive website color scheme will keep viewers on the page, as well as aid to the branding of your site and the business you've worked so hard to build. If you're not sure if the colors on your site are hurting your site's overall performance, let OCG Creative check it out. Our Reno web design and internet marketing team can help make your site more impactful and effective.