Are you thinking of having a web site designed for you? Do you have the colors picked out yet? Well wait just a minute. You may like and think the color you have are beautiful but do they work well together? Do they make it easy for your viewers to read your content or do it strain their eyes? These are just a few questions you need to think about when designing a color scheme for a web site, company logo or the branding of your business. So, we would like to take a moment to explain a few things about color theory that may be helpful when you are starting a new company, web site or social presents.
What is Color Theory?
Put simply, Color Theory is the interaction of colors in a design through complementation, contrast and vibrancy.
The first part of the answer is easy to understand. But if you don’t have a degree in design it may be hard for you to understand or put to use the last 3 terms which define basic color theory. (complementation, contrast and vibrancy)
Complementation
Complementation refers to the way we see colors in terms of their relationships with other colors. When colors occupy opposite ends of the color spectrum, they lead people to consider a design visually appealing by establishing a happy medium the eye can reside in. Rather than straining to accommodate for a particular area of the color spectrum, the eye is provided a balance. There are two common uses of complementation: the Triadic and Compound color scheme that we will be discussing later. Complementation can take you to new heights of design sophistication when you can begin to master the intricacies of color combinations.
Contrast
Contrast reduces eyestrain and focuses user attention by clearly dividing elements on a page. The most apparent example of contrast is an effective selection of background and text color, as shown below:
If you’re ever in doubt, the best practice is usually to choose a very light color for the background, and a very dark color for the text itself. This is one area where color theory is crucial to the usability of a web design; In most projects, large text areas aren’t a place to try to be really creative – so keep it simple and legible.
Along with establishing readable text, contrast can also draw the viewer’s attention towards specific elements of a page. Think about highlighting a textbook: when you want to draw your attention to a specific portion of the page, you make the surrounding area look different than the rest of the text. The same principle applies to Web Design: Using a variety of contrasting colors can help focus the viewer’s attention on specific page elements.
If your website has a dark background, focus on the main content with a lighter color.
This principle also applies to Analogous colors (which we will discuss later):
Vibrancy
Not to sound silly, but vibrancy dictates the emotion of your design. Brighter colors lead the user to feel more energetic as a result of your design, which is particularly effective when you are trying to advertise a product or invoke an emotional response. Darker shades relax the user, allowing their mind to focus on other things. A great example of this is a comparison between CNN and Ars Technica:
CNN’s website features a stark red banner across the top, which leads to heightened emotions from users as they are stimulated by the vibrancy of the design (and the contrast between red, white, and black- the primary color scheme of the website).102.
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Ars Technica utilizes a darker color scheme for its background and header to relax the user and focus their attention towards their content. By doing so, their technical and detailed writing is considered the forefront of the site. And more importantly, the user is allowed to transfer the mental energy traditionally reserved for responding to vibrant colors to understanding the article’s contents.
Article Provided By: tuts+
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