Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The Importance of Color Selection in Website Artwork

By Heather Truitt

How important is the color of the artwork you select for your website or your blog? It is critical in ensuring that your viewers see a harmony between your overall brand, your website and the images used on the site and on any associated social media channels.

Color powerfully conveys emotion. And it doesn’t have to be heavy-handed; some of the best websites reflect a brand designed with a minimal palette of colors.

After the color palette for your brand has been developed, you want to make sure that you stick to that palette when creating any website art – even the thumbnail art you may create to use to anchor blog posts. From graphics, to buttons, to infographics, it is important that all elements used on your blog or website keep within the chosen palette of colors in order to reinforce consistency and brand awareness.

For example, what colors come to mind when you think of the following brands?

  • Target
  • CVS
  • Walmart
  • Gap
  • Starbucks
Red, red, blue, blue, and green.

Target uses red for everything on their website design; from the logo, menu bars, and “add to cart” button, everything is consistently colored an identical red.

The same can be said for Walmart, Starbucks, CVS, Best Buy, and the list could go on to encompass the majority of major retailers.

You associate each of these companies with the colors of their brand. In fact, sometimes the association between the company and the logo in combination with its color can be so strong that companies have taken their name off of their signage. Target, for example, will often use only the red bullseye, and Starbucks often will use only its siren logo.

Maintaining color consistency of images and graphics placed on your website or blog is vital, not only for major retailers, but for small companies, too. Keeping your brand consistent throughout all mediums and platforms reinforces customer recognition and retention and strengthens your brand.

How do you use color in your website artwork? Let us know in the comments.

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