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How to Use Colour in Web Design

Web design is incomplete without colours. It’s just difficult to imagine websites having no colours. However, dealing with colours in web design is not something designers can just randomly decide upon. There are principles, standards, and of course trends to be followed. These are things web designers across the world take into account. Freelancers or companies that provide web design in Oxford, New York, Singapore or any other part of the world take note of these as they complete web design projects.

The following pointers should be useful in using colours in web design.

Use a Strong Background

A good background helps highlight or attract attention to a specific section. It makes certain sections stand out. It also sets the tone for the site. Many websites tend to use light or neutral backgrounds so they can have more freedom in designing the different sections of the site. However, having a strong background is not a bad idea. As long as you make it match the other parts of the site, a strong background can create more advantages than disadvantages.

Use Colour to Establish Identity

Colours help establish identity. When designing a website, it only makes sense prominently using the representative colour of the company or organisation for whom the site is made. The human eyes are highly sensitive to colours; they can easily notice colours. Designers should be taking advantage of this natural instinct to come up with a website that properly complements the branding and marketing efforts of a business or organisation.

Avoid the Colours of Competitors

This is in relation to the pointer above. If you are tasked to design the website of a business, it is advisable to do some research about the competitors of your client to find out the colours they use for their websites. You don’t want to produce a site that looks similar to your clients’ competitors.

Use Colour to Serve as a Navigation Guide

Colours can facilitate site navigation. This is especially true for long single-page sites. Different prominent colours can be changed for different sections in a single page HTML5 website. Through this, website visitors are guided as to where they are on a site without having to be very mindful of the texts on the site as they scroll down or up. Different prominent colours may also be used for different main pages of a site to emphasize the switching between pages or sections.

Observe a Cohesive Colour Palette

It would be good to start with just two colours: a base colour and an accent colour. You can just add more later on if you need more. If you are not familiar with cohesive colour palettes, you can use various tools and guides online.

Colours mean a lot to websites. Working with colours is an important aspect of web design. That’s why it’s important to choose them wisely. Take note of the pointers briefly discussed above to design sites with the relevant, impactful, purposeful, and cohesive use of colours.

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