Image courtesy of mckaysavage

I will admit, right off the bat, that I am not a designer. I have never had any formal education in designing print materials. Nor would I consider myself to have “artistic flair” when it comes to the creation and layout of websites and print advertisements. What I do have is a strong sense of what appeals to me. When I see something that catches my eye I often bookmark the site, cut out the magazine photo or take a picture. Then when I’m ready to create a new web layout or advertisement I search through these snippets for inspiration. Sometimes I find myself unhappy with the placement of an object or the combination of typographic styles. Somehow the overall design seems — off. It’s when I hit this “How To” wall that I turn to my trusty friend and close companion… the Internet.

Color Scheme Best Practices for Print

Recently I began thinking about Best Practices for web color and if there were any web rules I should master, so that I could purposefully utilize and adapt them in my work. I have read in several locations that there are certain color schemes that work well for print advertisements in capturing an audience’s attention. The combination of yellow and black is a popular choice for logos and highway signs. When it comes to using color schemes many resources also mention the psychology of colors. Color psychology and its use in marketing involves invoking the desired response in a viewer based on associations with a color. For example, many “green” companies are using the color green in their logos. This use of color helps strengthen the association between the company and it’s eco-friendly stance in the eyes of the consumer.

Many of these articles on the use of color in print advertisement and product design still apply to web based media. However, in my search I also found a number of articles and references on website usability. In particular designing websites so that they can be viewed well by people with disabilities. For example, how would your website look to a person who is color blind? Many sites also mentioned the importance of scalable type for those who have limited vision. These articles reminded me of a trip to the Stanford CCRMA Lab I did when looking to start my Masters. I met an amazing blind woman who was helping to design a mouse/software application that would let people read a website as if it were written in Braille. What a concept!

I did not find a yes or no answer to my question, but I did find some good guidelines. Below I’ve listed a few of the passages that stood out for me and some links so you can come to your own conclusions. As for my understanding? There are no recommended colors, but there are some best practices that should be followed for both information accessibility and artistic design.

Best Practices for Web Color and Accessibility

• “If you must change use an alternate color scheme for your links, consider using a close variation on the blue/purple standard. Otherwise, help make it clear to visitors which is which by using a dark/strong color for unvisited links and lighter/faded color for visited links. In this way, you de-emphasize visited links – places where visitors already know about and possibly did not find the information they were looking for.”
  (Source: Ohio State University: Web Accessibility Center)
• “Make sure when using vivid color schemes that you allow sufficient contrast between elements without using too much (such as red text on a green background). This is especially important with text, as improper contrast can make things very difficult, if not impossible, to read.”
  (Source: Noupe.com: 20 Vital Techniques & Best Practices For Effective Web Design)

Best Practices for Web Color and Marketing

• “A recent poll suggests that light designs are preferred by the general web-going audience by a whopping 47%. The main reason is readability. Most people don’t like viewing light text against a dark background on websites because it strains their eyes, making for a much less enjoyable experience.” (Source: Webdesigner Depot: The Do’s and Don’ts of Dark Web Design)
• “It really boils down to your target audience and what psychological message you want to convey in colors. ” (Source: 2CreateAWebsite.com: Color Psychology in Online Marketing)
• “Choosing the perfect chromatic palette is important in order to effectively communicate the message, in order to strengthen the idea of a unique entity and to create brand awareness.”
  (Source: Avangate.com: Choosing the Right Colors for Your Website)
• “92.6 percent said that they put most importance on visual factors when purchasing products. Only 5.6 percent said that the physical feel via the sense of touch was most important. Hearing and smell each drew 0.9 percent.” (Source: Color-Matters.com: Why Color Matters)