Say it with Colour
Thursday, September 4th, 2008 | Art, Design Inspiration, Web Design
Colour plays a very important role in graphic design for all mediums. Whether you are designing for TV, print or for the web, your choice of colour can serve to enhance your overall message and can communicate on a more subtle level with your audience. Conversely, bad colour choices can actually contradict what you are trying to achieve and lessen the impact of your design.
As an example of how colour can work against you, think about the primary colours, red, yellow and blue. These colours are bright and vibrant, and when most people see them, they automatically think of children. The primary colours have often been used for toys, commercials aimed at children, and for children’s websites to make them feel more exciting and playful. Now imagine, if you will, that you are searching for an accountant online and you come across an accountant’s website that uses a colour scheme based on the primary colours. Is this likely to inspire your confidence? The chances are it would make you less likely to take them seriously.
A lot of research has been done into the psychology of colour, and the meanings of colours can vary depending on what country you are in. You can easily see this by looking at the websites of international companies. Lots of these companies have separate websites for each of the countries they operate in, and to a certain extent, their websites will have varying colour schemes to suit the country as well. Of course, for those corporate giants with worldwide branding, their logo and marketing materials will influence colour choice, but there should still be some subtle differences.
Some generally accepted meanings of colours here in the West include: Purple for luxury or royalty, Blue for trust and tranquillity, Green has come to signify ecological concerns as well as its traditional associations with nature, money and encouragement. Colours also tend to take on a slightly different meaning depending on the other colours around it You can use colour schemes that fit certain ideas, for example, such as a colour scheme of reds, yellows, oranges and browns for Autumn, or you could use orange and black for Halloween.
Another consideration when choosing your colour scheme is that of contrast. The eye will naturally move to the area of highest contrast whenever we look at something, and you can use this principal together with a good knowledge of colour theory to guide the viewer’s eye around your design anyway you choose.
Learning more about colour, the many meanings of colours, and how to choose an appropriate colour scheme based on the content and the target audience, is definitely time well spent. A good understanding of colour will show through in your work, adding that little extra something that makes your designs stand out from the rest.
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