The brand colour choices you make for your website can profoundly affect your visitors. This is because different colours promote different emotional responses. So, generally speaking, the colour red, for example, indicates strength and power. And even danger. On the other hand, blue evokes a sense of calm, serenity, and dependability. Consequently, designers deploy these psychological responses to colour every day. Colours create a desired emotional response to brand colour, images, and logo designs.
Furthermore, beyond basic colour choices, colours work best within a colour palette or mix. Ultimately, this colour palette will determine how visually appealing and harmonious your website image is. So, how do colours work, and how do we choose them?
Brand Colour and Colour Theory
Isaac Newton paved the way for our current understanding of colour theory. Newton discovered the visible part of the broader electromagnetic spectrum with his famous experiments with prisms. He found that red, green, and blue were the primary additive colours that can make up all other colours of the visible spectrum.
Colour psychology has also become an essential part of colour theory. Cultural, historical and even primordial influences affect how we respond emotionally to different colours. Consequently, grasping the importance of brand colour and colour theory gives one a powerful tool to influence how your customers may react to your website.
The Colour Wheel
The basic colour wheel comprises 12 colours. Each colour is used to create colour schemes. Looking at the colour wheel, it’s apparent that different colours have different levels of warmth. Hence, colours are categorised as cold or warm. So, warm colours contain more yellow or red. They represent passion or excitement. On the other hand, cold colours have larger quantities of blue. This suggests winter and sadness but also calmness and serenity, such as a blue sky or ocean. Lastly, designers can adjust every colour in a variety of ways. These include changing saturation, hue and lightness, and tints and shades.
Use Colour Theory for Powerful Brand Colour
Understanding and employing colour theory is a powerful way to establish a memorable brand identity and design. And it’s a tool used by brand leaders worldwide. Just think of all the brands that are recognisable almost by colour alone – think Coca Cola red, Starbucks green and IBM blue. So, roll out the wheel and let’s get some serious colour happening to spice up your brand!
