Color Choices - Getting in the Mood...

Remember when you are choosing your color combinations for your website that colors invoke mood. Think about the tone you want to set and and how you think your potential clients will respond to your color choices before you select the colors for your site.

Many psychological studies have shown that our perception of color can influence our mood. For example, the blue color of the sky and ocean often invokes feelings of peace or strength.It is the number 1 favorite color of Americans and therefore a favorite on many corporate websites. Red, on the other hand, is a color of excitement and power and is often used as a contrast color on websites to make the viewer stop and take notice.

Think about your target market when choosing color as well. Are your potential clients typically retired folks who prefer neutral colors with strong contrast between page and text as it is easier on the eyes?Or perhaps your audience is new moms searching for baby clothes and toys who would respond well to soft pastels. And what about the consumptive teen set that typically respond well to bright and dynamic color schemes?

Tip: Use the colors in your company's logo to help you decide the colors of your website. You may choose to use the same colors as those in your logo or merely complimentary colors, but it is important to keep your logo in mind so your colors work well with it.

Factoid from ColorMatters.com: Suicides dropped 34% when London's Blackfriar Bridge was painted green. (For in depth studies of how color effects our moods (including gender and cultural differences), check out www.colormatters.com.

Note: Most clients use PC based browsers on computers with monitors that can process millions of colors. If you are concerned that your clients use older monitors, "accelerated browsing", or hand-held devices to visit your site, then you might want to consider sticking to "web-safe" color combinations (colors that look the same on most computer monitors).

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