Color Theory: How to Subconsciously Connect With Site Visitors
Just as with imagery and typography, color can evoke powerful feelings that influence visitors' perceptions of your website. When you only have a few seconds to make a good first impression, these design elements, more so than the actual words on the page, might do the heavy lifting in communicating with the viewer. Viscerally, a well-constructed color palette is what will successfully engage your audience.
This phenomenon is rooted in the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that governs emotion. Different colors trigger different responses due to the way they activate specific neural pathways. Warm and vibrant colors, such as red and orange, tend to be stimulating, producing excitement and energy. Cooler tones like blue and green have a calming effect, reducing stress and instilling trust.
However, the colors that you select for your site are not presented in a vacuum, but in context with the rest of your messaging. In this way, color can take on an entirely different significance when all elements are considered together. So, then, the most important strategy is to ensure seamless integration with the rest of your design, be cohesive, avoid looking cluttered and strike a good balance of contrast.
Consider the following color palettes from some of my recent designs and see what emotions they stir up in you. The selections vary widely, but all respond to a desired mood, the tone of the imagery, the typography and even the layout and flow of content:
