Communicate with color

Understanding how color impacts your message

First impressions are lasting impressions, and web designers (novices and professionals) have only a fleeting moment to engage a visitor. According to the Institute for Color Research, "all human beings make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or item within 90 seconds of initial viewing, and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone." The institute's website goes into further detail.

The importance of color selection and coordination as it applies to web design is often overlooked. "Your colors are part of your message. And depending on which message you wish to convey, the colors you choose can either support, emphasize, or contradict your message," emphasized Michael Fortin, Ph.D.

So what's involved in effectively using color in website design? Factors include the influence of individual color perception, color mix, gender preferences, emotional responses to color and how culture can affect those responses. Colors convey specific meanings, but the precise interpretation is influenced by the viewer's perception and identity. There are innate perceptional differences among us. Ask a group of people to think of blue, and each will imagine a different shade and hue. Knowing that individual color perceptions exist and compensating for them speeds client site approval and overall satisfaction. To learn more about using color effectively in web design, click here.

Color impacts us in other ways as well. A noted psychologist, Dr. Deborah Serani, writes about chromotherapy - the use of color and light to bring health and balance into one's life. Serani recently wrote an article on the influence of color in our daily lives.

She said, "As a psychologist, I feel that there are many ways with which one can create a sense of well being. I am open to all kinds of experiences, and like to hear when people try something new that has been meaningful to them." For a detailed description of chromotherapy, visit Serani's blog, Psychological Perspectives.

Tags: Communication, Color, Web Design, Marketing, Chromotherapy, Psychology, Therapy, Health, Media by Sistrunk