Best Web Design Colours for 2016
Colour is an issue that plagues absolutely everyone. What colour do you wear to the job interview? What colour do you wear to a wedding? What are the best web design colours? What colour should you wear if you want to become a criminal mastermind hell-bent on conquering the universe? The last one is black by the way – always black.
While we can’t help you with any fashion advice (I mean come on, we work in IT) we can help you with the best web design colours of 2016. Deciding on the colours for your website isn’t a task that should be rushed and it’s vital you get it right. A clash of colours can ruin a great layout and colours can have an effect on your mood which can effect potential sales or interactions with users of your website.
With over 16 million different RGB colours available it can feel overwhelming to have to make a decision. To help you whittle it down here are some of our rules to ensure your web design colours are perfect for 2016.
How many Web Design Colours should you use?
There is no real answer to the question of how many colours you should use for your web design project but there are guidelines.
Our recommendation is to use three primary colours. This is known as a triadic colour scheme and it’s important to make sure you use a colour wheel when selecting them so you don’t get colours that clash.
If you are unsure on how a colour wheel works then you can check out this simple post which should explain it.
Once you have selected which colours you’d like to use, there are three roles for the web design colours to fill:
- The primary colour. This should cover around 60% of the space and is what your website should focus on. It’s the main theme of the design and we usually recommend that this is not the same colour as your logo. A common choice here can be white or black.
- The secondary colour should take up around 30% of the website and should contrast with the primary colour. This colour is usually one taken from the logo of your business.
- The accent colour will take up the remaining 10% of the website and should be used to provide the final touch. We recommend this colour is used for hyperlinks, highlighting and other key points.
This can be likened to a successful business suit in which 60% of the outfit is made up of the trousers and jacket (usually grey or black), 30% made up from the shirt (A contrasting white or light pink) and the final 10% comes from the tie (an accent colour such as a yellow).
If you need to use any more colours then you should start to use variations on the primary colour by making it lighter or darker (tints and shades).
Perceptions of Colours
So we know how many colours your blog should be using but we still aren’t aware on how different colours are perceived. Do you go for a light or dark scheme? Should you take that crimson red or is it too dark? Are you actually going to pull at the bar in your purple suit?
It turns out that someone has done the research for this. The results are pretty conclusive – avoid pinks and browns and stick with the traditional reds and blues. It also suggests that black is probably one of the best colours to instil confidence and it works well across both sexes so a dark website theme isn’t such a bad idea.
Although if you are feeling brave you can still go for those pinks and oranges – after all there are some big name brands that use these colours.
Pantone Colours
When it comes to colours Pantone is one of the known names. Their fashion report looks at what’s hot and what’s not and they recently released their spring 2016 canvas. Two of the recommended colours are Rose Quartz [#F7CAC9] and Serenity [#91A8D0] which would be great starting points for your triad of web design colours. We are also huge fans of the other colours in the list so we’ve included an image above.
Of course you can always choose your own colours using something like coolors which we think is an awesome tool to generate the best web design colours and make your website stand out from the crowd. If you are still stuck with creating that all important colour scheme then you should talk to an expert in web design – like us!
