Just as a cluttered, confusing layout can cause visitors to leave your site, so can an ugly or distracting color scheme. Sure, color isn’t THAT integral to your site’s success when compared to things like IDX and great content, but having a pleasant, agreeable color scheme will only add to your site’s value.
1. Start with your logo. Let your logo define the prominent color you use on your site. Have an orange logo? Use that same orange hue for other elements on your site (example: the Unit Realty Group website).
2. Play with saturation and brightness. Using the exact same shade of a color EVERYWHERE on your site can get a bit repetitive. To switch it up, keep the hue (tone of the color) the same, but change the saturation (intensity of the color) and/or the brightness (amount of black or white in the color).
3. Use a complementary color. Even with changes to saturation and brightness, a single-tone site can come across as boring or uninspired. Incorporating a second color into your site – one that doesn’t clash with your logo’s color – can help add a bit more excitement to your site’s design.
4. Just don’t go too crazy with colors. The more colors you add to your site, the more likely it is that your site will come off looking childish and unprofessional. Remember: the goal is to make your site vibrant and beautiful…you don’t want it looking like the Crayola factory exploded on your homepage.
5. Pay attention to contrast: Just as using too many colors can negatively affect your website’s design, so can using colors in the wrong places. As a general rule, always put dark-colored text on a light background and always put light-colored text on a dark background. This contrast in color will make navigation links and copy easier to read.
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