Recently, I came across this article, which discusses the psychology of color to get your online visitors to do what you want them to do– whether that is to buy a product, use a service, register for a newsletter or email, download material, or fill out a form. Although much of the ideas presented are intuitive, I learned some things that surprised me.

The positive properties of basic colors are as follows:

• Black - High value, luxury, elegance
• White - Freedom, spaciousness
• Red - Excitement, strength, increased appetite
• Orange - Food, warmth
• Yellow - Optimism, friendliness, happiness
• Green - Environmental awareness, creativity
• Blue - Trust, calmness, serenity
• Violet - Spirituality, vision

What surprised me were the studies cited about preferences in color according to gender. According to the article, both men women prefer blue or green but not orange or brown. Purple is a favorite among women, but men like it less. More men than women prefer black and gray. Personally, I love gray and black with a splash of color, and, if orange is so awful, then why do so many sites use this color for action buttons?

In the end, it’s all about thoroughly testing the appropriateness of a palette to convey a site’s purpose. And there are many more factors to consider that are not addressed in the article. For example, cultural differences play a role in attitude towards a certain color. Addressing accessibility to people with visual impairments and color blindness is also important. Marc Zuckerberg is reported to have chosen blue for Facebook because he’s red-green color blind.

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Quiz Answers

1. How many hexadecimal color codes are there? 166 = 16,777,216
2. What is the number after F in hexadecimal? 10 (I heard that someone got this question on an interview.)
3. How many colors can humans see? 7,000,000!
   

Bonus: According to a recent study, what is the ugliest color in the world?

Click for answer

Now THAT is always wrong for a site!