Little Poll

I guess this is the right forum for this. We are creating our new website for web design and have most of it set out and are in the process of choosing colours so I thought I would also get some advice from people who between them must have hundreds of years of experience in design so here goes. Basically if you go to this site http://flatuicolors.com/ there are some nice colours there and the question is which colour would suit our new website, the website itself if very minimal except a full width, largish footer which will be one of these colours or something you can recommend, other elements to use this colour will be part of the logo, highlighted words and hover states for buttons etc. The predominant colour will be white (now comments about that not being a colour please) as well as the colour labeled 'clouds' for some elements (boxes) and the 'asbestos' colour for text.

As I said if you have a colour suggestion other than just these colours please let me know.

Rather difficult to choose a colour theme for your new site from a simple page full of large blocks of various colours which has a far different affect on the eye in that form than seeing a mocked up prototype of your site with colour theme selection choices, Sketch.

But you can try. The idea is to find which colour people find 'nice' or rather one which is good on the eye, and surely one must be able to do that from looking at a block of colour or a single letter of colour. I asked because I believe that even though a layperson may not be able to visualise it, people here on the forum with so much experience in design surely can; it is said that an interior designer can visualise a whole room in a particular colour just from a colour swatch of paint - so come on prove me right - even if it is just to say which is your favourite colour.

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it is said that an interior designer can visualise a whole room in a particular colour just from a colour swatch of paint

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Yes, but first he must see the room.

I didn't say it was correct but the qualifier was 'it is said'. Shall I rephrase? Which is your favourite colour Gary?

Green Sea

My favourite colour varies in context, Sketch. What might work for one design may not work so well for another.
If I said I like MIDNIGHT BLUE it would be true that I like MIDNIGHT BLUE, but if I saw it used for a website design where it didn't suit, then I'd not like MIDNIGHT BLUE as a colour choice.
Get it? ;)

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Get it?

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Not really, as we are on a web design forum and discussing a good colour for a web site, perhaps I should have clarified my question, what is your favourite colour for a website?

I have no 'one single' favourite colour, Sketch and neither do I think there is there one 'good colour' for a website above all others (imho). Being interested in design, graphics and photography means I like all colours in the right context. It's how those colours are used which makes them successful choices or not. Because I might like MIDNIGHT BLUE does not mean it would be the best choice for your site, it might very well be perfect or it might very well look terrible. But I haven't seen your site design and it's content (product photos etc), so I can't say what might work best or what I'd personally choose.
As I say, if you showed us a prototype with a variety of colour selections, then I could make a choice. :)

Chalky pastel shades. Blue is supposed to be the most popular colour generally - being a born-and-bred Liverpool fan I dislike admitting it and the LFC site would just look plain weird if it was blue :-O - so would attract most people in theory. As Steve says, it really does depend on the site, for yours - design etc - perhaps a bit more colourful though not to the extent of Pop-Art. Efficiency comes first in your line I would say.

You've made you point so thank you.

But I have to disagree with you on that point, a lot of market research is done this way, for instant I could ask a selection of people which colours they hate seeing on websites and which they don't and if the majority came back and said that red websites put them off a site then I would know to stay away from that particular colour.

But anyway we could probably go on discussing this point for ever or until one of us became bored, but hopefully I can get some others, to see what their thoughts are on the subject.

• Red –excitement, strength, sex, passion, speed, danger.
• Blue –(listed as the most popular color) trust, reliability, belonging, coolness.
• Yellow –warmth, sunshine, cheer, happiness
• Orange — playfulness, warmth, vibrant
• Green — nature, fresh, cool, growth, abundance
• Purple –royal, spirituality, dignity
• Pink — soft, sweet, nurture, security
• White –pure, virginal, clean, youthful, mild.
• Black –sophistication, elegant, seductive, mystery
• Gold — prestige, expensive
• Silver — prestige, cold, scientific

http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.c...l#.Ug_3vpJhBBk

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Originally Posted by skech

But anyway we could probably go on discussing this point for ever or until one of us became bored, but hopefully I can get some others, to see what their thoughts are on the subject.

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You posted in a graphics community, realise that such a community will be more sensitive to 'design and colour combinations' than any other group might be.
If I was not interested in helping you with your question I'd not have bothered posting to express my thoughts.
Sorry if I have bored you.

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Sorry if I have bored you.

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Just goes to show how bad the internet is for showing emotion and the subtleties of words. I apologies if you think that I was being sarcastic in any way that was not my intention, I was making a general point and I just wanted to know which of the colours in the link I posted someone would prefer.

John, I have come across that about the perception of colours before and tend to follow it, especially making action buttons green. Unfortunately too many people associate a strong red as either a 'bargain' colour (think of all the Sales text in red) or as somehow unprofessional - and coming from a family of Liverpool supporters let me tell you that the thought that red has been mentioned as a possible colour, I have seen some sites using a redish colour and they work really well; for instance http://struck.com/ uses red in small doses but there is no denying that it is a powerful and attention getting colour.

Another red site but quite well done http://team.bhf.org.uk/

Sketch, I doubt your quest for favourite colour combinations is going to get a satisfactory outcome.

I tend to like blue. A psychologist will no doubt say this is an indicator for my personality, but it doesn't mean I like blue in every context or that blue is appropriate for every context.

I think colour choices are guided by the viewing demographic, the subject matter/theme and the kind of emotion you wish to imbue in the visitor (as per zaphodeist).

For example, a website for a funeral director is probably not going to use red or yellow as a central theme, but is going to avoid extremes of colours altogether.

A shop specialising in Art-Deco antiques (OK, not 100 years old), is going to use colours and themes from that era.

A site for a seaside resort might see white, blue and yellow featuring strongly if it's theme was for a traditional UK seaside resort.

Decide that people don't like red too much? Not a problem for the red cross organisation.

I'm with Steve/Zaphodeist on this. You absolutely cannot choose the best colour combination with no regard to the site subject matter and audience.

Paul

Skech, Steve is right and as a designer you should recognise that he is. Using a football team website as an example is the exception that proves the rule. You do not design to a rigid set of well-researched ergonomic colour rules - you design for an audience. I don't give a rat's dinner what colours the Chelsea or Liverpool websites are because football bores me rigid. I'm not their audience, so they don't need to design for me. Determine who your audience is, then you have a basis upon which to start looking at colours.

Thanks guys, this little poll told me all I needed to know and proved a personal bet with someone.

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Originally Posted by skech

this little poll told me all I needed to know and proved a personal bet with someone.

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Would you care to share with us what the poll told you that you needed to know and what personal bet was proved?

It was personal.

:rolleyes:

I have the feeling that you never believed what you told us and was just trying to prove a point with an associate or client.

I'm not sure it was the best way to go about it if that's true.

:-(

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Originally Posted by skech

It was personal.

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You mean, "None of your business"? Then why bring this to this forum in the first place? To show your disdain you have for some here, like you have for one of your clients you call an idiot in the "Free pictures" thread? Was that personal or was that business? You are a real pro, Skech, and I admire your work but that doesn't feel too nice.

Woh! What's happened here.

I put up a thread asking what colour people like, forget the fact that I was asking about my own website.

Now it seems that some did not want to help with that therefore I now think why did I bother.

Boy - I was trying to show someone who uses the wordpress forums how good this forum is but for you to say something like 'to show your disdain' is very wrong and to be honest I find that offensive, I have never thought that way of any person on this forum like that and was tying to show a fellow web designer how helpful this forum is, looks like he won the bet. I will not even go into what I said on another thread.

Paul - my original post was made before the 'bet' with the associate and thought I could get some help on here.

Do I have to be a moderator to ask opinions from others, because it has made me feel like that is what is required.

I thought it was a fair question which is why I answered. And I don't think it was inappropriate to ask, whatever your reason for asking.

Thank you Gary, it is good to know that someone understood the good thoughts behind the question.

Sketch, no issues with the question at all.

I was a bit concerned you were playing devils advocate, but it seems not.

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I was a bit concerned you were playing devils advocate

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Never on this forum and never with the members of this forum.

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Originally Posted by skech

Now it seems that some did not want to help with that therefore I now think why did I bother.

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That is not really fair, Skech, Some had difficulty answering your question and said so. I was also in that category but did not post.

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Boy - I was trying to show someone who uses the wordpress forums how good this forum is but for you to say something like 'to show your disdain' is very wrong and to be honest I find that offensive, I have never thought that way of any person on this forum like that and was tying to show a fellow web designer how helpful this forum is, looks like he won the bet.

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Why didn't you say so right away? Why brush me of with "It was personal"? Anyway, I am happy to hear that it was all in good faith and I apologize for misreading your replies. So, you won and your colleague has lost the bet in the end! ;)

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Do I have to be a moderator to ask opinions from others, because it has made me feel like that is what is required.

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I don't quite get what you mean here. I hope you can see that you participated in creating some of the confusion.

Here we go again :D