Even with the wealth of color libraries online I’ve always had a bit of trouble with color selection.
Do you incorporate color from the beginning? Or wait till the end of your mockup design?
I work out a color scheme at the very beginning of a project. I’ll later fine-tune it and reiterate several times, but a rough color scheme is always present from the start.
Generally when designing I will have an idea of what kind of colours I want for my design in my head. The type of design work or topics of the elements I’m designing has a strong impact on those colours and can often change while working on my concepts. For me, colour and colour changes are incorporated almost from beginning to end. When I start a design by sketching with a grey pencil, to finishing up the design, color is mentally always there.
When do I actually incorporate colour? Usually from the very start of the digital phase of design. Colour can often have an effect on the composition of your design so it’s good to incorporate it at this stage. If you incorporate colour too late, you may find that those mental colours you were thinking of won’t fit your layout.
Sketch out your website design ideas on paper, trying out different colours and layouts, always with your end users in mind.
Play around with different logo designs as well - often the colours/style of the logo will influence the design of the website (designs & logos for kindergartens would typically be bright, primary colours so you would hardly put these on a dark or dull background webpage)
Choose your site buttons to suit the website page you have decided upon, you dont want them getting ‘lost’.
Show your sketches to the types of people likely to use your site and ask for honest feedback (kids are great here, they will not hold back on iota) try not to rely on close friends & relatives as they may not want to ‘disappoint’ you