How to Use the Color Wheel in Web Design
In web design, color is not merely about making things look pretty. It is about establishing the appropriate mood, leading your users and making your content shine. The color wheel is one of the strongest instruments to accomplish all this. Whether it is a landing page, a blog or an online store that you are designing, knowing how to make use of the color wheel would enable you to design websites that are appealing to the eye and easy to use.
In this paper, we will demystify the fundamentals of the color wheel, demonstrate how to use it to web design well, and provide some practical advice on how to choose the ideal color scheme to use on your site.
What Is the Color Wheel?
The color wheel is a circular diagram of colors that are laid out according to their chromatic relationship. It assists designers in imagining the way colors interrelate, and the types of combinations they are likely to be visually compatible with.
The Color Wheel is Made Up of:
- Primary Colors: Yellow, red and blue.
- Secondary Colors: Orange, green and purple (formed as a combination of the primary colors)
- Tertiary Colors: Color formed by the mixture of primary and secondary colors (such as red-orange or blue-green).
These are the basic categories of color theory, which is indispensable to any designer.
Why Color Matters in Web Design
It is important to discuss why color is so significant in web design before we get down to discussing,
How to Use the Color Wheel:
User Experience (UX): Colors can make reading easier, attract attention to important details, and make it easier for users to navigate your site.
Brand Identity: Colors can be used to express brand personality and values. Consider the red of Coca-Cola or the blue of Facebook.
Emotional Influence: Colors have an emotional effect. Warm (red, orange, yellow) and cool (blue, green, purple) colors make one more active and less active, respectively.
A proper color scheme can boost interest whereas the improper one can send away visitors.
Understanding Color Relationships
The color wheel enables you to know the colors that are compatible.
Some of the Important Color Relationships are Here:
Complementary Colors
These are the colors that lie opposite to each other in the color wheel such as blue and orange or red and green.
Application in Web Design: This combination produces a high contrast and can highlight such essential elements of the web design as buttons or CTAs (calls to action).
Hint: Cooperate with the dominant color and the other one as the accent to prevent the visual overload.
Analogous Colors
These are the colors which lie directly adjacent to one another in the wheel such as blue, blue-green, and green.
Web Design: These mixes are easy on the eyes and are relaxing to use as backgrounds and content areas.
Trick: Pick one color that prevails and use the rest as highlights and accents.
Triadic Colors
These are the colors that are distributed uniformly around the wheel such as red, yellow, and blue.
Applications in Web Design: Triadic schemes are colorful and are well balanced but can be difficult to pull off.
Hint: Have one color in the foreground and two in the background to give it a balance.
Split-Complementary Colors
These are a form of complementary schemes. You do not use a color that is directly opposite, but the two adjacent to it.
Web Design: This method provides you with the complementary color contrast with a dainty touch.
Tip: Good to introduce variety and not to overwhelm the users.
Monochromatic Colors
These are various colors, shades, tints and tones of one color.
Application in Web Design: Monochromatic plans are fresh and professional.
Hack: Ideal when it comes to minimalist designs and company websites.
Choosing a Color Scheme for Your Website
Now that you have the fundamental understanding of the color relationships, here is how to apply to design a web site.
Step 1: Understand Your Brand
Begin with your brand personality. Are you playful and spirited or are you composed and business-like? Select colors that are your color.
- Red: Hell, lust, hurry.
- Blue: Reliable, relaxed, business-like.
- Green: Growth, nature, health.
- Yellow: Hope, sunshine, light.
- Purple: Luxury, imagination, wisdom.
- Orange: Trustworthiness, energy, geniality.
Step 2: Pick a Dominant Color
This is the most common color that will be used throughout your site- in headers, footers and key buttons.
Step 3: Select Supporting Colors
Select 1-2 complementary, analogous or triadic colors to complement your dominant color using the color wheel.
Step 4: Take Neutral Backgrounds
Backgrounds should be whites, grays or very light colors to make your primary colors shine. Neutral colors make balance and enhance the reading.
Tools to Help You Use the Color Wheel
You do not need to be a professional designer in order to come up with beautiful color combinations.
The Following are Some Free Web Based Tools that Make Palettes Based on The Color Wheel:
- Adobe Color (color.adobe.com)
- Coolors (coolors.co)
- Color Wheel Canva Color Wheel (canva.com/colors/color-wheel)
- Paletton (paletton.com).
These applications enable you to choose a base color and instantly view complementary, triadic or analogous palettes.
Accessibility and Colour Contrast
A beautiful color scheme cannot be sufficient when your visitors can hardly read it. Color difference comes in there.
What Is Color Contrast?
It is the contrast between the background and foreground colors (such as text). Greater contrast enhances readability particularly among individuals with sight deficiencies.
Suggestions on How to be Accessible:
- Normal text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 (see contrast checking tools such as Web AIM Contrast Checker)
- Colourblind users find it problematic to use such color combinations as red/green or blue/purple as the text.
- Make use of icons or patterns as well as color to communicate (particularly in error messages).
How to Use Color in Web Designs Best Practices
- Keep it Minimal: Use 2-3 primary colors in order not to overload the visuals.
- Be consistent: Be consistent with your colors and use them throughout the pages and elements.
- Test Across Various Devices: It is important to ensure that your color scheme is attractive across desktops, tablets, and phones.
- Make Good Use of Whitespace: Do not use just color. The spacing is equally significant in the production of a clean and easy to navigate design.
Real-World Examples
- Spotify: Has bold green with black and white accents, and this gives it a fresh and modern appearance.
- Airbnb: Uses a pink-red palette that is monochromatic to create the effect of warmth and friendliness.
- Dropbox: Blue and white are used to give a message of reliability and simplicity.
Be inspired by these brands but never stop at imitating their palette to your audience and objectives.
Bill Yeager, Co-Owner of High Point SEO & Marketing in CT
