Whenever we take on a new web design project for a client, we do not initiate the graphic design phase until a marketing analysis exercise has been carried out. One of the key decisions we have to make relates to the use of colour on the website – in particular, which colours we are going to use throughout the design. It may seem natural for the “colour selection” exercise to fall under the remit of graphic design, but there is actually more to colour choice than purely aesthetics.

Unbeknownst to most people, there is a psychological symbolism associated with colours that is largely subconscious. Every colour is thought to have an effect on human behaviour and feeling, even to the extent of being able to change a person’s physiology. This may sound rather far-fetched, but several high profile companies have utilised colours based on this ideology – McDonald’s, for example, use red in the majority of their advertisements and food packaging based on the belief that it can bring about the feeling of hunger.
Here at Studionet we don’t wholeheartedly subscribe to this philosophy, but we do pay homage to the general principle that colours can have certain connotations. We’ve compiled a list of the most common colour associations, which we refer to when selecting a colour palette for a new website.

• Blue: Non-threatening, confident, stable, tranquillity, peace, royalty, nobility, wisdom
• Black: Intelligence, power, sophistication, professionalism, mystery, seriousness
• White: Neutrality, purity, sterility, cleanliness, simplicity
• Red: Intensity, passion, strength, romance, heat, radicalism
• Orange: Energy, enthusiasm, playfulness, flamboyance
• Purple: Sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth
• Yellow: Happiness, optimism, wealth, summer, sunlight
• Brown: Boldness, depth, nature, richness, stability, tradition
• Green: Nature, rejuvenation, fertility, growth, health, calm
• Pink: Gratitude, appreciation, admiration, sympathy, femininity
• Grey: Elegance, stability, subtlety, balance, formality

The list isn’t exhaustive, and we are greatly influenced by the client’s requirements and the existing logo designs when we are selecting colours. One of our recent projects involved a client with an orange logo, so one of the primary colours on the site was orange in order to make the logo consistent. Choosing complementary colours is also important, and we used the available tools in Photoshop to ensure the final three colours we selected complemented each other perfectly.