Do Good Design

I’ve just posted an article with an overview on colour psychology and how to use it to help your website stand out from the crowd.

Here at Do Good, we use quite a bit of colour psychology in our designs, and I thought I’d share some tips with you. But first, a bit about how I got into colour psychology and why I think it’s such a useful marketing tool.

[The link to the article is at the end of this post, or if you're impatient: "Colour Psychology, Web Design and Your Brand"]

A year ago, I studied to become a certified Colour Consultant, which sounds like being a makeup saleslady, but actually means learning all about colour and how to use it.

While most colour consultants go in for interior design, or product development (as in, advising Proctor & Gamble what their new shampoo bottle colour should be), I wanted to learn how to apply colour psychology to building more successful websites.

I studied hard for six months, searched high and low for actual academic and scientific research to back up what my teachers were telling me about the science of colour and how it can influence our moods, ability to concentrate, appetites, self-esteem.

There’s not a wealth of information readily available, which is why if you type in “color psychology” in a search engine, you get lots of random websites with one measly page on major colours and what they symbolize. With nothing to back up these claims, except that they probably plagiarized the content from another website, probably Wikipedia.

I trolled Google Scholar, got some excellent books like Victoria Finlay’s Colour, and pestered my tutors mercilessly for more information.

While some of the science is unproven, we do have a fair consensus on the mood that colour generally creates, and this is where I’m able to apply it to web design.

Colour, the secret weapon

The biggest challenge I face as a web designer is how to get our clients’ websites to stand out from the millions of others. There are two fronts in this war, the War on Big Business and Crappy Link Farms That Mysteriously Get Top Google Rankings.

The first front is getting websites to be seen in the first place, which means search engine optimization (SEO), Google Ads and links to your website from other good websites. These all help you move higher up search engine results and get traffic to your site. This is the area most online marketing focuses on.

The second front is capturing the attention of visitors once they arrive on your website, and there, colour psychology comes into its own. Colour psychology is a little-known but surprisingly effective (and fun) tool in aid of Good Business the cause.

Colours say who we are (or want to be)

Colours tell us what something or someone is like: the kooky eccentric who wears only bright colours and clashing patterns, the Goth who dons all black.

They also create a mood: pristine white can feel stark, minimal or even cold, earth tones feel comforting and relaxing.

Most surprising to me, colours can have a physical effect. Red knickers are called “sexy” and “racy” for good reason — some studies have shown that the colour red stimulates your hypothalamus, creating a rush of adrenaline. Restaurants use red all the time in their interior design because it’s known to encourage people to eat faster or more.

Overview of colour psychology and more to come

I need to write more articles about what some of the other colours mean, which I promise to do soon.

Read the article now: Colour Psychology, Web Design and Your Brand