You're probably wondering why color is such a big deal when talking about UX. Well, color has the ability to impact your website in many different ways that you might not be aware of! For example, color can make your website more accessible or less. It can even help improve conversions and lead generation rates with its power to evoke emotions from users. If you want to learn how color affects your website, then this blog post is for you!
Color Psychology
To understand the power of color, it's important to know how different colors can evoke certain emotions. Let's take a look!
- Red: This color creates a sense of urgency and increased activity in the brain, which could lead to an increase in conversion rates on your site! Dark reds are more eye-catching than lighter shades, so this might be the perfect choice for that high-converting CTA button right at the top of your page. But beware - too much use of red may create feelings of anxiety or anger; you want people viewing your website to feel calm, not stressed out when they're looking through all those gorgeous new products!
- Orange: This color is the perfect way to show others that you're energetic and fun. Orange is a great choice for an e-commerce site because it can create a feeling of warmth and safety, and it's also known for its ability to stimulate appetite. If you're trying to get people interested in your story through images or videos, orange is the best color to do it in!
- Yellow: This color creates a sense of optimism and happiness. It can also be used to add emphasis on important information, so it's great for highlighting your call to action button or the signup form on your homepage.
- Green: Represents balance and is usually associated with money and security. This is a great color to use on your homepage, particularly if you want visitors to feel safe and secure when they're looking through all your products or services.
- Blue: Creates feelings of calmness while being safe at the same time. If you want to show off some calming images without overwhelming people, then blue might be just what you need! People will associate that feeling with your website because they know it will not make them feel anxious or angry.
- Purple: This color creates feelings of luxury and imagination; it's a great choice for showing off your portfolio, especially if you're an artist who needs people to see the beauty in their work! But don't use too much purple because it can also create feelings of sadness.
- Brown: Creates safety and security while being down-to-earth at the same time. This color is perfect for your contact page or if you want to show off testimonials from past customers.
As a UX designer or consultant, you need to know how color can impact usability. The right colors will make your website more attractive and accessible while avoiding the ones that will make people feel anxious, frustrated, or even sad.
If you're not sure which color to use on your website, it might be worth talking to a UX designer! They'll be able to help you make the right decision by working with your brand colors and understanding what emotions they evoke.
Color Contrast
Color contrast is another way that color impacts UX. If you're using a dark background with light text, then your website might be hard to read for people who have low vision or trouble seeing. If you want to improve usability for people with low vision, then there are a few things that you need to be aware of.
Use more colors: The majority of the color on your website should contrast between dark and light, so it's easy for visitors who have trouble seeing different shades of one hue.
Avoid monotones: These colors blend and make them hard to distinguish from each other. This is why you'll often see websites with a pattern on the background - it's much easier for people with low vision or trouble seeing certain hues if they can use various patterns (or at least different shades) as visual cues.
Increase font size: You might want to increase the size of your text so that people with low vision aren't struggling to read what's on your website. In the WCAG guidelines, text greater than 18 pt font size or bold and greater than 14 pt can have a lower color contrast ratio of 3.5:1, so larger text can be a great way to resolve contrast issues.
Increase font contrast: Text should contrast against a background to be easy for most everyone to read. You can do this by adding a shadow or outline, using more fonts (avoiding monotones), and adjusting the color of your text to make it more readable and visually distinguishable from its background.
When designing, keep contrast in mind: You need to consider other things like photos or videos on your website. You should know what colors are used so that someone who has trouble seeing certain hues isn't left out of those images or videos.
The 60-30-10 rule
Contrast and psychology aren't all that matter. The amount of color you use and how you use it greatly affects the user experience. For best results, you should follow the 60-30-10 rule.
- 60% of your website should be dark colors. This creates a sense of professionalism and trustworthiness while giving your content an overall professional feel
- 30% of the color on your website can be used for accents or highlights to make certain parts more visible without dominating the whole page. This is especially important if you have lots of text on a page or your website is interactive so that users don't get overwhelmed by too many options
- only use bright colors for about the last ten percent of your site. This will make it feel more attractive and memorable, making it have an impactful feel without overwhelming visitors with color choices
There are many things to think about when it comes to UX and color, but the 60-30-20 rule is a great place to start!
Brand Recognition
It's important to choose colors that resonate with your brand and show off what you're all about. This could be a specific color or one of the primary ones in your logo, but it should still match up well with the content! Based on the psychology behind the colors you use in your color palette, you can evoke feelings of trustworthiness, professionalism, and dependability in your customers!
These emotions are important when it comes to converting someone into a customer. Once you have them, it's important that they stay a customer, so make sure to take advantage of the emotions behind color psychology and use your brand colors to your advantage!
Conversion rates
How you use color can help drive conversions because they make it easier for customers to find what they're looking for and complete their tasks! The better the user experience is, the more likely someone will convert into a customer, which makes all of this worth it in the end.
However, if you use too many different shades of one color (especially if you're not using contrasting colors), people won't be able to see well or differentiate things as easily from another, creating an unpleasant user experience. This decreases the chances they'll convert, which would mean less money coming in gradually. In other words, if your UX is good enough, you'll likely see an increase in conversion rates!
Conclusion
We’ve learned a lot about the power of color in webpage design. The next time you decide to make an update, be sure that you take colors into account and use them strategically to improve user interaction with your brand and increase conversions. With Look-see, you can easily find areas of your website to improve the use of color for a more delightful user experience. Have a Look-see!