That’s why you’ll see that each color can hold a variety of different meanings in the chart below-these are the common color meanings in western culture curated by researcher Nick Kolenda, author of The Psychology of Color. But in China, red is an auspicious color that brings happiness and long life.Īll the 11 basic hues-red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, pink, gray, white, and black-have different meanings depending on the surrounding context. In Western culture, red is more frequently associated with bad experiences-fire alarms, red pen marks in grading, blood-than positive ones. There’s an important distinction between color symbolism and color psychology.Ĭolor symbolism is the conscious or subconscious associations we learned about each color because of our culture, religion, and life experiences.įor example, blue is the world’s favorite color because many positive things in the world, like beautiful blue skies and bodies of water, are blue.īecause culture influences our color associations, you should keep in mind color symbolism around the world to ensure you send the message that you’re trying to send. Step 2: Learn the Psychology of Color Meanings Now, to select colors that convey the appropriate message, you’ll have to learn about the psychology of color meanings. What personality do they want their site to have?Īsking these questions to your client is the first step towards solving their problems with color and web design.What emotions do they want their site visitors to feel?.

What type of site do they need (non-profit, e-commerce, informational, startup, entertainment, blog, etc)?.

Next, you’ll have to understand the goals of your client and the context of their site: But how do you choose the “right” colors?įirst, keep in mind that in psychology color theory, each color has three properties: its hue, or the name of the color its saturation, or the richness of the color and its brightness.Įach of these properties have psychological effects on us, so it’s important to create color variations by manipulating them.įortunately, many design prototyping tools like Figma easily lets us remix these properties using the HSB color system, a color system that’s more intuitive to humans than the RGB color system made for computers. Using the “right” colors can help your clients win on the internet. ‍ Step 1: Select Winning Colors For Your Client 🤑 FREE Color Psychology eBook - Download Now! 👉 🤑

Position Yourself As A High Value Web Designer.

This article will focus on how you can use the psychology of color to become a valuable web designer in 4 steps: Solving problems is how you become valuable, and color is one of the most powerful tools you have as a web designer. If you said, “because I can solve their biggest problem with web design,” you’re right on track. Why should anyone pay you thousands of dollars to design their website?

Color emotion guide wheel