Do Good Design

[Note: This is the first article in the “Colour Psychology in Web Design” series. In each article, we’ll be looking at a specific colour and how to use it in web design.]

Red is a sexy, active colour (see The Hidden Meaning of Red), but can look cheap or harsh if you use the wrong shade.

By adding a bit of blue and grey to red and you get burgundy.

Burgundy is a luscious shade that’s just right for websites wanting to project a more sophisticated image.

The colour is named for the wine produced in Burgundy, a region in France. Like the wine, the colour is rich, complex and robust.

So how can you use burgundy on a website?

Burgundy in action: private primary school

This is a site mockup I did based on a progressive, private primary school I went to called New City School.
The school is known for some unorthodox methods, but it’s also located in a very exclusive area of St. Louis and isn’t cheap to attend (good thing I was only there for 2 years).

The website needs to show quality while also projecting the school’s dynamic, energetic approach to education.

Using red on the website echoes the passion that the school has. It says: “Hey, we’ve got a lot going on here. We’re not your average stuck-in-the-mud private school.”

By using the more subtle shade, we give the website a more refined feel. The muted tones show restraint — they don’t need to shout about the school, they’re more content to let the richness of the hue speak for itself.

Just like the school is content to let its success speak for itself.

Burgundy sends a message that the school is:

• elegant
• expensive
• dignified
• majestic
• dynamic
• aristocratic

Now let’s look at a very different example: a sex club — oops, I mean “gentlemen’s” club.

Burgundy in action: upscale gentlemen’s club

This one was fun to do. For this example, I took the actual site and changed the main colour from pumpkin to burgundy.

This club targets men with a fair bit of money who, er, like the ladies.

Red, with its associations of sex and passion, is the right choice for this market. We’re talking about titillation and power, and that’s red for you.

But since this is a more expensive, exclusive club, we’ll avoid the brash feel of a bright red in favour of a wine colour. Doing this, we emphasise an upscale image.

Incidentally, black’s association with power and sex is also at work here, though in my version I again mute it with a charcoal grey pattern overlaying the black. We’ll cover grey and black later in the series.

About Do Good Design

At Do Good, we create websites for small businesses who are passionate about what they do. We combine elegant design with punchy business tactics.

Find out the 6 ways we can build the perfect website for you.

Or get in touch to discuss your website project.

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color psychology