Colour is a key consideration in the design of any website, whether this is for a small company or major corporation. A colour scheme is one of the most significant factors in the overall look and feel of a website. In some cases, the designer may have the responsibility of making all of the colour decisions, but more often than not the colour scheme is already pre-determined. This is down to pre-existing branding and does provide designers with some limitations.

Today, we will take a look at the impact of branding on a websites colour scheme. This article will not discuss the subjects of colour choices or the psychology of colours, but rather look to see if the colours used on company’s websites and whether the branding is consistent with the rest of their marketing.

Companies spend millions of pounds each year on branding. This is often delivered to great effect but requires a great level of planning and insight. The real success comes when a company’s offline branding and online branding delivers a consistent message. So for example the colours used in a nationwide retailer should be reflected within their websites design.

The Impact a Websites Colour Has

Regardless of what type of literature someone reviews in relation to a company colour choices are critical. Today, most companies have a standard colour scheme of which they occasionally make subtle updates. This is used throughout their marketing materials and helps to reinforce the brand message within a customer’s mind. This is also true when updating or designing a new company website. Using the same colour scheme will appease existing customers and help keep that level of familiarity. It will also help to avoid confusion.

Colours are critical to building the brand’s image, just as logos are important for the same reason. You have to look no further than the retail sector to find clear evidence of this. Many retailers have the same look and feel on their website than they do in their physical stores. Again this provides consistency.

Impact of Colour on Visitors

As consumers we are exposed to hundreds of brands each day. This affects the way we see and feel about certain companies. This in turn sets expectations. So when we visit the site of a well-known brand we expect to see certain things. A large part of this is associated colours. For example with Pepsi we would expect to see a website containing a blue colour scheme while with Coca Cola we would expect to see elements of the colour red. As a designer it is our job to meet these expectations.

For many of us this seems fairly obvious but imagine a site of a well-known brand using a completely different colour scheme. This would cause confusion and lead to people questioning the validity of the site. It is also important to think about colour tones. Do they match up with the offline colour tones used?

Choosing Your Colours

The differing elements of a website means that designers often have to make a judgement call on how to use a company’s colour scheme. Which colours should feature most prominently and which colours should be used to highlight key areas of the site. These are questions every designer asks themselves and often more can be gleaned from a company’s existing literature. You may however decide to move away from this slightly and build upon the brand.

These are just some of the considerations designers have to take. The level of freedom a designer has is often dictated by the size of a company but following some of the simple rules above can help deliver a consistent feel to a site.

Susan Hornby – Brand design specialist

Susan Hornby – http://www.studionorth.co.uk/ Brand design specialist

Author Bio: Susan Hornby – Brand design specialist

Category: Internet
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