Colour is one of the main tools of visual expression. Colours and colour combinations are tools a designer uses to manipulate, to huge effect, the overall impression of her creation, its mood and the emotion it elicits. But colours also significantly influence a website’s ergonomics, intelligibility, usability, and accessibility. Whereas the former is a question of sensibility, “an eye for design”, taste, and talent, the latter – being more important from the perspective of industrial design – can be learnt, understood through the study of colour theory, even accurately calculated and measured. Therefore, a web graphic designer needs to know about correct colour usage, basic colour theories, rules, good practice, and standards. Taste and sensibility are, of course, also needed, at least rudimentarily; outstanding talent is, doubtlessly, an advantage, but also a considerable risk.
What elements of a website do colours influence, how do they influence them, and what major parameters do they determine?
- Overall colour tone. What primary colour information does the user perceive at very first glance, as dominant? What initial atmosphere does the website provoke: is it light or dark, bright or pastel, muted, grey, or even black-and-white, is it warm or cold, is it blueish, yellowish, or is it fully multicoloured with no specific dominant tones?
- Colour scheme. What is the base colour, what are the complementary or contrasting colours; do the colours go together, do they harmonically complement each other, or do they constantly contrast? Are similar hues from adjoining sides of the colour wheel used, or are they from opposite sides, complementary? Do the colour combinations used produce a calming and pleasing impression, or is the colour scheme lively, even restless?
- Colour perception and accessibility. Can users with colour vision impairments or deficiencies also interpret the website’s colour information correctly? Is the display of any crucial pieces of information dependent on colour, and therefore inaccessible for people with impaired colour vision (or even when printed in black and white)? Are some of the colour combinations unpleasant at certain points, do they make the content difficult, if not impossible, to understand? Is there sufficient contrast everywhere?
- A logical system. Is it possible to tell, at first sight, which are base colours and which are complementary colours? Is the meaning carried by the colours clear? Is there a clearly defined and understandable system with unambiguously assigned meanings?
- Symbolism. Do the colours influence emotions in the right way, and are they in line with the objectives of the website, as well as the cultural conventions of its target audience?
The selected overall colour tone and colour scheme can already be included in the core project specifications. Both the client and the designer, having considered the parameters of the target audience, the competition, or the general market situation and so on, can include in the specifications a requirement for the visual appearance of the website to make a certain impression. It can expressly state that the website is to be bright, light, with warm pastel colours, or the opposite, dark, with an industrial air, that the whole presentation should match the colour tone of the company logo, that the colour scheme must be in line with the brand style guide – or the opposite, that it must not use shades of purple or that it must avoid, say, the combination of green and yellow, which is typical for a key competitor. That said, such requirements only tend to crop up exceptionally, and the choice of a colour scheme is often left entirely with the designers. However, if the client’s company or product showcased by the website already has a visual identity, then (unless there is an express request to change it) the graphic designer should stick to it without further ado. This point stands even when it is not defined explicitly and no brand style guide is provided, but the style is still clearly discernible. If the client uses a blue and white logo and pulls his documents, printed on a blue and white letter-head, out of a blue and white folder, there is no need to overthink the website’s colour scheme – we know to go with the same blue and white visuals.
