Website Design that WORKS

"In FX Digital we have experienced everything we had hoped, with a friendly, flexible and professional service putting its customer interests as the highest priority."

Paul Jessop
Managing Director
Synergy Nutrition & Fitness Ltd

"We have recommended FX Digital to several of our Customers and Suppliers who are pleasantly surprised at the cost.

I would definitely recommend FX Digital to any Company who is looking to set up a Web site, and look forward to discussing further additions to ours in the near future."

Nick Duffy
Managing Director
Nick Duffy Converting
Services Limited

"On behalf of Promark Promotions, I would like to take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to you and Julie for the excellent work that FX Digital did in designing our website."

Barry Watkins
Principle
Promark Promotions

Colour Speak...

When we, as Web builders think about color, we normally approach it from a technical or artistic stance. Often times, designers view color as an expression of their art, while programmers consider the hardware limitations that are placed upon them. This is especially true for the Web, where designers tend to out-number the technical crowd, and colors that are designed for true cross-compatibility are scaled to the lowest common denominator, which is a 216 color Web safe palette.

But aside from the artistic and technical issues, how can colors be used within your Web site to help achieve the best visitor reaction to the site, or to set a certain mood for a visitor? Colors, throughout all cultures, tend to have a very subtle, but powerful impact. Colors have the ability to both evoke emotions from Web surfers, while also influencing their browsing habits.

If anyone has ever tried to read a Web page with a pure red background, they understand what we are talking about concerning the influence of browsing habits. Due to the strain placed on the retina of the human eye by the color red, visitors will tend to browse quicker (if at all) through pages that utilize this color as their background. At the same time, how many readers have ever visited a search engine such as Excite, and then went to another search engine such as Scour-Net? Did you get any different impressions of the search engines, but can't quite explain why? They both provide similar functions, yet their corporate identities seem to differ quite a bit. It might be due to the fact that Excite's base color choice is white, while Scour's is black. Not only opposite on the color spectrum, but also white tends to be associated with more business-like activities, while black often emits a feeling of a more tech-look to it. In effect, Excite emits a business-like appearance, while Scour tends to emit a more tech-like appearance. Although graphics used play a part in this, the base color highly affects the user's perception.

By aligning your color choices to dominant consumer opinion, you can, in effect, manipulate (without the negative connotation) a visitor's mind-set concerning your site. Sometimes, this is done intentionally, while more often, it is done unintentionally. In most cases, Web builders find that a certain color-set works for a specific design, but do not think about the impression they are setting for the visitor on a more psychological scale.

So, what do consumers think of colors, and how can they affect the mood of the user? Well, we checked out Pantone's latest consumer opinion survey, and here's what we found:

• Blue was given by 35% of consumers as their favorite

  • Most often emits a soothing, calming tranquility

  • Has an anti-stress effect

• Green showed up as the favorite of 16% of consumers

  • Consumers describe it as "fresh, clean and revitalizing"

  • Green is especially favored by a demographic group called the influentials

• Purple was viewed as the third favorite color

  • 18 to 29 year olds describe the color as sexy

  • The influentials see it as powerful and sophisticated

• Red is still viewed as the most exciting color

  • Directly linked to the most secure within a society, with the most economically stable segment, or achievers

• Black by far, most mysterious and powerful color

  • Especially true with wealthy, achievement-oriented women

If you would like more information, you can find the complete survey at Pantone's site, as well as many other color related resources.

As you can see, colors sometimes say more than words. Although, don't be too quick to make judgements. There are other factors as well, that need to be taken into consideration. One, for example, are the different hues of a certain color. While green, above, is mentioned as the second favorite color in the survey, it only applies to certain hues of green. A further note from the survey states:

Similarly, the second most disliked color among adults is a strong, sulfuric yellow-green, while at the same time the youth market describes the color as "slime green."

So far from being the favorite color, certain hues can actually be the most disliked of colors. The color spectrum is a very wide place.

In addition to the social factors associated with colors, a Web builder must take into account the physical factors. The physical factors, you say? As we mentioned above, certain colors are also straining on the human eye, and produce settings which make it difficult to conduct a certain activity, first and foremost - Reading.

How many Web builders, back in their school days, tried an experiement in biology class, where they looked at a picture of an American flag for 60 seconds, then looked toward the ceiling? Remember the results? You saw the image of the flag projected on the ceiling, right? The reason for this was that the pure colors (blue and red) made an impression on the retina of your eye, causing the image to still be visible, even after being out of your view. This is an example of the strain caused by a pure red hue on the eye. To see a more recent example, just click here, for a small page that will open in a new window. After reading the text, close the window and return to this page. Wasn't that fun? We feel confident that you understand our point, after viewing the example. As with print media, the Internet tends to follow the same rules of creating readable text. The most preferred consumer choice is black text, on a white background, and white text on a black background coming in as second most popular.

These few pointers should help you better understand using colors effectively in your Web building. If you'd like to learn more in-depth, then we'd suggest you visit Pantone as a starter, and then try seeking out resources related to color and the psychological effects of its use in business.