What color is your website?
Colors inspire feelings. Human beings instinctively respond to different colors in specific ways. There are some basic color rules that everyone who runs a businss should be aware of.
ROYGBIV is the classic rundown of the rainbow – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
These are the most notable colors in the visible light spectrum. In other words, these are the most clearly defined colors for us that are found in nature. Many of these colors are also commonly used in feng shui, a styling system commonly used to bring balance and life to indoor spaces.
These are all accent colors. What that means is, to have an “all (any color)” site would be visually exhausting and unattractive. The accent colors listed below are all meant to be used together with more neutral colors to give a pop” of color. Neutral colors are: black, white, all grays, and all browns. On a backdrop of neutrals, accent colors will give a site energy, personality, and life.
Red – for more energy and stimulation, choose red. It shows confidence, courage, and fearlessness. Too much can seem overly “salesy”, aggressive, or agitating. In feng shui firey red stands for fame, reputation, and ego. A little goes a long way so it is best used in websites as an accent color. Target, Overstock.com, news organizations, political groups, and sports teams have sites that use red very effectively to pound out their message.
Orange – for more creativity and friendliness use orange. It shows expressiveness, an open mind, and a fun youthful attitude. It’s a happy party color appropriate for sites that celebrate youth and creativity. Maybe not such a good choice for institutions dealing with “more serious” issues like banking or law. In feng shui, orange is used with pink to encourage strong and loving relationships. Oprah, Blogger.com, Home Depot, sites for kids merchandise, and some relationship-building sites use a lot of orange.
Yellow – increase focus and expand mental clarity with yellow. Maybe it’s related to the aromatherapy studies that show lemon oil increasing productivity, but even just the color seems to cleanse and refresh. This would be a wonderful accent color choice for many organizations. Sites that use yellow as a main color seem to use more of a gold version of the color. In feng shui, earthy yellow stands in the center for health.
Green – to inspire trust, heal, and increase prosperity… try green. It is traditionally the most common color in nature. We are comforted, soothed, and renewed by the natural world so it is no surprise that green has abundant applications online. In feng shui, green is the color of family and foundations. Numerous financial, environmental, and health-related businesses center around green.
Blue – for a calming sense of peace, relaxation, and consistency… blue is a natural choice. It is associated with logical reasoning and excellence. The colors of sky and water inspire solidarity with the everlasting things in our world. In feng shui, blue represents skills, knowledge, and wisdom. Light blue seems to help take the sting out of hot issues or aggitated feelings. Microsoft and many legal, political, and educational institutions utilize blue.
Indigo – cut through the visual clutter with indigo. Many people consider navy a neutral, but in my opinion, they really mean indigo… who doesn’t love deep blue denim and think of it as an essential part of modern style? Indigo has a deep energy of it’s own and encourages efficiency because it helps you focus on the big picture. This is a good color for meditation and the resulting action that comes from good meditation. Indigo or navy is not just the color of the essential suit for all white-collar professionals and many of our most trusted emergency responders. Open Office, artists and spiritual healers tend to use this color a lot too.
Violet – to help connect with a higher plane, touch your inner humanity, and inspire compassion… violet is your color. In nature it is relatively very rare and of course, anything rare usually becomes precious and regal. In feng shui, purple is the richest color of prosperity and abundance. In some studies, children were consistently drawn to violet more than any other color. Violet is romantic, unique, and spiritual. It is drama without aggression, it implies compassion that takes peaceful action, it reminds us to improve humanity while not losing our own.
We use a gentle mix of several colors but because our main focus for the website is inspiring trust in our skills… our main color is blue. Let us know what you think, we would love to hear from you.