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Choose & Use the Best Colours: The Psychology of Colour

by Andrew Eaton

Are you using the best colours for your web site? Many web designers often overlook the issues of colour in web design. When choosing colours for your web site there are three main areas that should be addressed:

1. The psychological effect of colours.
2. The effect on the readability of your site.
3. The complementary choice of colours for your background, graphics, links, and text.

These are all areas that must be well satisfied to create an effective and professional web site.

Listed below are a few characteristics of colour that should always be considered when designing your graphics.

• Colours have an effect on our emotions within 90 seconds of viewing.
• Colour choices can motivate, impress, and persuade your prospect to buy from you.
• Colours not only intensify the item, they greatly influence our behaviour.
• The effects of colour differ among different cultures.
• Colour choices alone are sending a specific message to your viewers.

Given the fact that people respond more to non-verbal cues than verbal cues, it’s all-important that you choose the corresponding colours for the emotional trigger you want to trip. The following colours are associated with certain emotions or qualities in North American culture.

White - Suggests truthfulness, purity, clean, devotion, mild, and contemporary. White is the best colour for a background colour on the web. For business it can be refreshing and sterile.

Black – Suggests elegance, boldness, power, authority, seductive, evil, sophistication and classic. Black is the ideal choice for text on a light background. It is hard on the eyes when used as a background on web sites.

Red – Suggests strength, sex, excitement, passion, speed, danger, aggressiveness, and demands attention. In business it is associated with debt. Red is the most emotionally intense colour. It stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing.

Blue – Suggests security, trust, reliability, coolness, faithfulness, belonging, and dignity. Blue is the most popular colour. It is the second most popular colour. In business it suggests fiscal responsibility and sanctuary.

Green - Suggests abundance, health, fertility, freedom, healing, nature, growth, jealously, and cool. In business it suggests status and wealth. It is the easiest colour on the eye.

Brown – Suggests effectiveness, politeness, richness, and helpfulness. Brown is the colour of earth, and is abundant in nature.

Gray – Suggests earnestness, authority, and practicality. In business it suggests traditional and conservative.

Pink – Suggests softness, sweet, femininity, well-being, innocence, and nurture.

Purple – Suggests dignity, spirituality, royal, luxury, wealth, authority, mournfulness, and sophistication. In business it is upscale. Purple is favored by the artistic.

Orange – Suggests playfulness, pleasure, cool, warmth, cheer, vibrant, strength, endurance, and ambition.

Yellow – Suggests sunshine, warmth, cheer, happiness, cowardice, and jealousy. In business it is appealing to intellectual types and is good for accents. Yellow enhances concentration, increases metabolism, and is the most difficult colour for the eye to take in.

Gold – Suggests expensive, and prestige.

Silver – Suggests cold, scientific, and prestige.

Whenever you begin to choose your colours, think about your target market. What emotions do you want to evoke? Give some thought to the current emotion of your prospect and to the message you want to send. Then choose your colours.

©Andrew Eaton

Andrew Eaton has created a 10 day ecourse, which includes informative articles, training videos, special offer discounts, plus lots more - finally learn to create your own amazing ecover graphics. simply send a blank email or visit http://www.graphicsecretsexposed.com/go1.html