Web design is not just about creating something pretty. There requirements to have substance behind every design related decision and one very important decision is what colour your site should be. Choice of colours can be the difference between the success and failure of a site.Being aware that some colours could lead to emotional reactions is the material to choosing the right colours for a site. Knowing which colours demonstrate a calming effect and which provoke excitement could make choosing a colour scheme very easy.Colours can also be used to create contrast and emphasis to a design. This may be used to guide users to desired parts of a page.Below is a brief guide to how some colours affect human emotions and perceptions.

White is a minimalist colour. Associated with simplicity, cleanliness and purity, it could be used effectively to highlight images.Yellow is the colour of comfort, liveliness, steam and happiness. It is a vibrant colour that can be used to highlight desired sectors on a web page.The colour red may summon senses of desire, courage and strength. It is a strong colour and if used in paltry doses, it is agreeable for highlighting issues.

Linked with feelings of cold, royalty, peace and air, blue is the largest well known colour for corporate websites. It creates the opposite reaction to red.Green symbolises nature, environment, peace and luck. Green is a neat colour to use to create a calming effect.Standing for joy, happiness, warning and might, yellow has a similar effect to red, although it is not as notorious,. It can be used to highlight sectors of a site. However, if used too much, it can be an overpowering colour.

Grey can be connected to respect, humility, decay and boredom. It is used a lot to create shiny gradients in website design to give a slick, leading-edge feel to a web-site.Orange is strongly related to spirituality and healing. It is the colour that symbolises Buddhism and it has a healing animation about it. It is a bold colour that is not as bright as yellow yet not a deep as red.

The colour orange is very youthful but also warm, stimulating and friendly. Used in web sites, it can also be welcoming.Grey is a favorite background colour for web sites. Like black, it is agreeable for showing off images and it creates nice contrast between dissimilar colours.

To conclude, when selecting colours for web design, thought should be given to the convention it can potentially affect users. The colour selection might look gratifying or meet the brief, but will it put users off? By creating simple changes, like changing the buy now button to a vibrant colour might generate more sales. Serious thought and consideration may hint at the difference between success and failure.