How important is Color Psychology in websites? I hear some people say it matters a ton, but then I turn around and see others that break the rules constantly, yet are still successful.
Is this ok? Why should or shouldn’t I use this? What sort of thing would this be appropriate for? Does it really matter as long as it looks good?
(the name of the site was changed obviously)
* I’m not talking about my design specifically that can change and probably will, it’s just something I’m playing around with. More about whether psychology of the colors matter or not or how much. You see it in lots of places where Blue = Social Media, Green = Money, Red = Food, etc.
You’re going to get a bunch of differing opinions, is my guess. Maybe the audience or intended market matters?
To me, I’d start a project with whatever I felt looked good/appropriate for the project or topic. Especially on a brand new project without a lot of data, user data, etc. Then at some point I might split test some, or get some research done on the client pool and usage habits and (color psychology, whatever floats your boat) and then make GUI changes or other functionality changes accordingly as you go?
However, if it was say, a large, well funded project that had months of planning invested? I’d be making much more careful choices. So… depends.
There’s an interesting infographic on how colors affect purchases that suggests that colours do have an effect on people’s shopping behaviour, but the effect can vary according to the shopper’s culture. It does have a list of sources at the bottom, so it should point you in the direction of some more detailed research.
Most of the data I’ve seen before was about spending habits and purchases. Would the same logic apply to say simple conversions? (Call us for a free quote)
Or to just browsing/interacting sites? Blogs, news, videos, et cetera?
Like I’m wondering if the psychology being studied in this area is more implicit to spending - say green makes me more willing to spend or whatever - or is it more of moodiness - red makes me inclined to not like (this thing)? (Random color examples)
That infographic seems to touch a little on that, just curious about you all’s thoughts…
Yeah, this is kinda what I was talking about. I’ve read about this a lot, but to me it seems like it’s being taken too seriously and everything is starting to look the same. I’ve seen quite a few of these infographics, blog posts, articles, and studies
But, it kinda made me think, does it really matter? Especially on the internet, where you’re targetting the world. First thing that comes to mind is that Purple in the West means wealth and power and things like that, because purple dye in the middle ages was the hardest to come by and the hardest to make. And it harmonizes with Yellow and gold to further strengthen that. But in the East, it means death and mourning and sadness.
Like mine above, I actually sampled the colors from the movie Drive poster, because I was going for a nighttime, but happy and alive feel. And to me, that’s more important than “Blue means more social” and all that nonsense. To me, this is more universal.
I love that colour scheme. In fact, I’m wearing a jumper in a similar kind of colour scheme. Not sure what I think about it for a web site, though. I find text on a black background generally hard to read - very tiring - so it would need to be something without a lot of text. A fun site, heavy on graphics and it might work quite well.
Color psycology is very important in designing. It has been scientifically proven that certain color influence certain moods in people. You can visit http://www.2knowmyself.com/miscellaneous/Color_psychology to know more about this.
Have you seen any health related ads in yellow, orange or in red color. No right, most of the health related designs are in white or in blue. Because both white and blue reflects purity, trust. But yellow, orange or red colors reflects enthusiasm, celebration, attraction.
In my designs, I always choose colors based on the product and target audience.
