Solipsus

Before you go jumping the gun, I do know what a colour scheme is, thank you very much! :) But seriously now guys, I thought it was about time someone showed people like Casey how to choose a colour scheme for their website!

What to look for when choosing a colour scheme.

When choosing a colour scheme you should be looking for colours (obviously!) which are not too invasive for the viewer and not make them look for the closest exit! You should also choose:

• A colour scheme which is warm and welcoming to your visitor
• A colour scheme which can be easily integrated with a layout design.
• Something which has 2 or 3 shades of the same colour to add more variation and depth to your website
• A nice contrast of colours is always a good thing to have.
• A colour which would mean text can be easily be read for the viewer!!

The above list is only a few things which you may need to take into consideration, but they are what I feel, are the most important because at the end of the day you want your visitor to enjoy their visit and to be able to easily read the content of your site, otherwise why have it?

Where can I find good colour schemes?

Everywhere we look you can find eye-catching, warming colour schemes which meet the above criteria. More obvious places to look would be magazines and the trends which are going on the web world. Take notes of the colours you like etc., but don’t steal! :P

If that doesn’t work there are colour scheme layouts which are out there! The most common ones that I use are kuler and COLOURlovers! New colour schemes are added all the time and can always act as inspiration (take this layout for instance).

Examples of colour schemes?

Using Casey’s website as an example, you can see that the colours he has chosen are very in your face, clash left, right and center, and just look like they were chosen using Microsoft Paint. But that isn’t to say that it has potential. If Casey were not to use such harsh pinks, a grey instead of black, and remove the billion different link/highlight colours, it wouldn’t be half bad.

I also thought it would be good to include some colour schemes which I feel could have potential on a website. No need to thank me :wink:

1. Plastic
2. Kismet
3. okb
4. Design*Sponge

As you can see all of these have great potential and are quiet different from each other. Though Plastic and okb use similar colours, by using different shades it can create a whole new colour scheme, atmosphere and mood - so be careful when picking yours!

At the end of the day, choosing a colour scheme is not that tasking as some people choose to make it seem! If you put in the effort to test out designs with different colour schemes, you will never progress as a ‘designer’.

Ben