Colour
A picture tells a thousand words: so I am going to show you before we get into the theories of colour. Expression Web comes complete with several templates, for Personal, Business and Organisation web sites. I have taken one of these, which no doubt you will recognise, and changed the main colours.
As you can see, from changing just the depth (hue) of the colour, you get three totally different effects, even though we are keeping the same colours.
The grey background also effects how we view the colours used, so by changing just the background, we can effect how the page looks.
Now we can rotate the colours used, to see which of the layouts suit us best. Once again this shows how the whole page differs just from changing the colours around on the page.
I hope this shows just how many different choices you have from just three basic colours, and also the possibilities available. It should also show how important the choice of colours effect your website, and how others view it.
Psychology
Colours can play a major part of your web design, as they mean different things to different people, and at the same time they bring different visions to mind. I have seen a lot of websites with a sickly green colour used for Paying Links, as green is associated with "GO" and red as a stop colour. Apparently the brain associates red with danger and green with Nature. So again it will come down to each individual how colours are perceived, but I will explain some of these concepts below.
red
The colour red is normally associated with
ENERGY, LOVE and ELEGANCE. Kings and queens wear deep reds for very regal
occasions, also the colour of wine and port giving a rich opulent feeling.
Where as at the other end of the scale the light reds and pinks, seem fragile
and delicate, pink also demands visions of little girls.
orange
Is thought to promote HAPPINESS and represents
SUNSHINE ENTHUSIASM, and
CREATIVITY. Orange is just starting
to become a common colour in web design, especially as the "Experts" have said orange
can induce hunger, and is good for promoting foods of all descriptions. So keep
an eye on the major food and restaurant sites to see if they start changing to
orange
green
All things NATURE and NATURAL, also it is said to relax and calm, green from the
deepest to the brightest, will remind you of the outdoors. Green is
also CLASSICAL, CALMING AND RELAXING. It is a very
"still" colour, at the other end red is said to be busy.
blue
Another CALMING colour, not often found in nature, except for vast expanse of
sea and sky. Also a stabilising colour, that's why it is used on most of
the Major websites, Also one of the healing colours. Blue always brings to mind
the sea and hence is used on large areas.
yellow
EXCITING and OVERPOWERING if used in large quantities, very eye-catching
in small sections, well know as a "Stand-Out" colour, hence widely used on
Taxis and warning signs.
white
A base or clean colour, the combination of all colours together, white for weddings, "CLEAN and PURE". The beauty of white is greatly overlooked as it is used mainly as a background colour. Sections of white space ease the eyes, softly from segment to another.
Positive and Negative colours
A major point worthy of mention here
is the positive and negative colours.
When we paint we use Negative colours, as when we add colours together we are
extracting the light from them. hence if you add four or five different coloured
paints together we will end up with a dark muddy colour.
On the pc screen, colours are positively mixed, hence all colours added together make white.
The Colour Wheel
A great tool to help you choose your
site colours is "The Colour Scheme Generator"
found at
http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html
Complementary Colours
Select
a single colour on the wheel. Now, move directly across the wheel in a straight
line. The corresponding colour is complementary. Complementary colours
"complete" each other. These colour schemes are exercises in opposites. In a
sense, blue is the "opposite" of orange; violet of yellow; green of red. In
design, if a certain colour is predominant the best way to control that colour
is by using its complement. An over-abundance of orange is offset by using blue;
yellow is offset by violet and vice versa. Many designers use a
split-complementary method: after selecting the complement, they move one spot
to the left or right of it and use that colour to contrast the first colour.
Split complementaries are subtle and just as effective in creating a balanced
approach.
Analogous Colours
An
analogous, or harmonious, colour scheme involves using a colour wheel. Select a
single colour on the wheel. Now, move one spot to the left or right of that
colour. The result will not be an overkill of a single colour; instead, it will
promote colour harmony. Analogous colour schemes work well when it would be
difficult to truly "match" a colour. These are the colour schemes found in
nature. A field of grass, a sunset and an animal's fur coat each demonstrate an
analogous blending of similar colours, not a true "match."
Triad Colours
A
triad colour scheme organizes colours in regard to purity. Select a spot on the
colour wheel, say red. To complete the triad, draw an equilateral triangle.
Wherever the points of the triangle meet, there is a relationship. In regard to
red, the other points meet at blue and yellow. Think about it. Red, yellow and
blue are primary colours. Now, starting at orange, trace the equilateral
triangle. The remaining two points are violet and green. Orange, violet and
green are secondary colours. As noted, this method creates relationships based
on purity of colour. When trying to effect balance in a design, consider a triad
colour scheme. If green is highly evident use purple with it. Note, you do not
have to use all three colours in the triad to achieve the effect; two will do.