Color and Web Design

Consistency

Consistency is key to good color practice on the Web, reinforcing brand recognition and familiarity. Steady usage of color makes users feel at home, and eases the ability of a visitor to recognize when they have shifted outside the realm of your site. Other sites may have different standards with regard to security, member privacy, sales policies, and quality of product. It is important that you make it as easy as possible for users to recognize their movement outside your zone of control.

With an increase in the strength of a brand and its color association, the importance of color consistency also increases.

You will be familiar with the following examples of strong color association and uniformity:

There are some methods that you can employ which will simplify the process of standardizing your colors.

Saving Palettes

Shades and Tints

Stylesheet Comments

When your site moves further into production, comments in stylesheets are an excellent way of maintaining your custom palette. Awareness among your production team is also a good idea, guaranteeing that no one will ever source a color incorrectly, for example by second-generation color picking from a lossy JPEG screenshot. Any further colors required within the site should be sourced from, and added to, this record. An example follows:

This is also a useful reminder for times when you come to revisit a site you designed yourself some time ago.

Simplicity

Color simplicity is an often-overlooked facet of successful web design. Almost every web user will recall seeing a garish rainbow effect applied to text or a background. Doing something simply because you are able to is hardly justification for an action. A few might think it fancy, but the majority will recognize it for what it is: illegible grandstanding. Considered implementation will more likely be rewarded with success, whether that be in terms of a more appreciated design, or a better recognized brand.

Showing restraint with your color selection is a good start. The far-sighted developer will realize the value in strengthening recollection of two colors, as opposed to broadening it over four. Some of the most renowned and familiar sites rely on a compelling association with a single color.