Colours and Fonts
Whether you have a business premises or are simply operating your website from the spare bedroom, the style of your domain creates your first impression, and colour is a very important consideration.
Different colours appeal to different genders and different personalities, and if your website is still within the construction stage, now is an excellent time to do some market research and ensure that how you’ve chosen to visually represent your company appeals to your customers. With the information learned from this you can go on to design the correct logo as well as the correct colour scheme with the same principles.
Dependent on the type of business you have and the kind of traffic you wish to attract, it’s a general rule of thumb that male customers like minimal colours- black, navy blue, red, grey and so on. Women, on the other hand, subconsciously process colour differently and like lighter, brighter shades, and pastel hues. A website built to appeal to a family or a business that caters for children would employ bright, primary colours, whilst an online presence for a professional industry, such as a solicitor or account requires a blander, smoother scheme incorporating neutral tones.
The best way to start your research is by looking at websites of competitors as well as those from other industries whose sites you admire and return to often. Observe the colours used and how their logo is incorporated into the design. Often, websites will have a scheme of maybe five complimentary colours which are used throughout. The best way to choose your colour scheme is to experiment! Design a basic page template using the information you’ve gathered already and produce different versions in different colours and tones which you can then approach potential customers with for the second part of your market research.
Whilst you are trying different colour schemes on your template, allow your eyes to relax and let your vision become blurred. This is useful as it allows you to select, using your log, fonts and colours, which element should be the main features of the page. For example, your logo and header should be the main focal points when your eyes are blurry; these should be the brightest and most noticeable colours of your entire scheme. The next strongest feature should be your ‘breadcrumbs’, coloured accordingly, and so on until you have a strong design and colour scheme incorporated into your template.
Remember that when you’re experimenting, creating good colour scheme is akin to choosing a sharp suit. Shoes, trousers, jacket, shirt, tie, collars and cuffs all need to not just co-ordinate, but compliment each other. If your website’s colour scheme can do this, you’re already halfway there!
Another factor to consider is fonts. If you’re a newcomer to website design, it’s all too easy to spend an afternoon or two, experimenting with all of the different fonts available to you and finding the right one that suits your site, but don’t be seduced into choosing something wild and wacky! Choosing the right font to reflect your company is as important as choosing the right colour scheme and most browsers will only display five main fonts. These are known as ‘web safe’ and are usually Arial, Comic Sans MF, Tahoma, Times New Roman and Verdana.
Our Vizcom Design website uses Tahoma, which is clean and simple. In our experience, a lot of academic and professional sites use Times New Roman, and sites that are aimed at children use Comic Sans MS. When you’re experimenting with colours, try incorporating different font types into your designs too.
Different colours appeal to different genders and different personalities, and if your website is still within the construction stage, now is an excellent time to do some market research and ensure that how you’ve chosen to visually represent your company appeals to your customers. With the information learned from this you can go on to design the correct logo as well as the correct colour scheme with the same principles.
Dependent on the type of business you have and the kind of traffic you wish to attract, it’s a general rule of thumb that male customers like minimal colours- black, navy blue, red, grey and so on. Women, on the other hand, subconsciously process colour differently and like lighter, brighter shades, and pastel hues. A website built to appeal to a family or a business that caters for children would employ bright, primary colours, whilst an online presence for a professional industry, such as a solicitor or account requires a blander, smoother scheme incorporating neutral tones.
The best way to start your research is by looking at websites of competitors as well as those from other industries whose sites you admire and return to often. Observe the colours used and how their logo is incorporated into the design. Often, websites will have a scheme of maybe five complimentary colours which are used throughout. The best way to choose your colour scheme is to experiment! Design a basic page template using the information you’ve gathered already and produce different versions in different colours and tones which you can then approach potential customers with for the second part of your market research.
Whilst you are trying different colour schemes on your template, allow your eyes to relax and let your vision become blurred. This is useful as it allows you to select, using your log, fonts and colours, which element should be the main features of the page. For example, your logo and header should be the main focal points when your eyes are blurry; these should be the brightest and most noticeable colours of your entire scheme. The next strongest feature should be your ‘breadcrumbs’, coloured accordingly, and so on until you have a strong design and colour scheme incorporated into your template.
Remember that when you’re experimenting, creating good colour scheme is akin to choosing a sharp suit. Shoes, trousers, jacket, shirt, tie, collars and cuffs all need to not just co-ordinate, but compliment each other. If your website’s colour scheme can do this, you’re already halfway there!
Another factor to consider is fonts. If you’re a newcomer to website design, it’s all too easy to spend an afternoon or two, experimenting with all of the different fonts available to you and finding the right one that suits your site, but don’t be seduced into choosing something wild and wacky! Choosing the right font to reflect your company is as important as choosing the right colour scheme and most browsers will only display five main fonts. These are known as ‘web safe’ and are usually Arial, Comic Sans MF, Tahoma, Times New Roman and Verdana.
Our Vizcom Design website uses Tahoma, which is clean and simple. In our experience, a lot of academic and professional sites use Times New Roman, and sites that are aimed at children use Comic Sans MS. When you’re experimenting with colours, try incorporating different font types into your designs too.