Staying on top of color trends
Websites, no matter how much text they contain, are visually driven. Graphic designers surround text with colorful illustrations, photos, every part of a website is visually driven and at the root of these designs is a color palette that’s been choose specifically to compliment the niche of the site and the ease of reading and providing the content for the visitor to consume.
Just as the fashion industry has seasons with different variations, interior paint color choices vary and moments of time can be instantly remembered by the decade they came from, the colors that drive all of these have a huge impact. When choosing how to design graphics for any specific site, choosing a color combination is one of the most important aspects. You need complimentary, contrasting and highlight colors, nothing about the web is black and white, it never was.
Choosing colors that compliment and work within the niche or industry of the website is a start, but where do you go from there? Where can you draw inspiration on what’s happening now in terms of color patterns and what won’t look dated a year from now?
The Internet of coarse! Using sites like Adobe’s Kuler http://kuler.adobe.com Colour Lovers http://www.colourlovers.com/ for current trends of color combinations, all with cute little names that will make you melt on the inside. You may have an idea of a hue or shade you want to take the direction of your design work in, searching how others are using that as a key or accessory color will help you build a pallet that will give you a full set of ideas to work from.
How important is the color combination you use in your graphic design? Very! Colors and combination of colors can show warm and cool, happy and sad and to some extent, push viewers towards specific SEO goals. Following current trends, watching for break-out stars and utilizing the tools to create powerful, working pallets of colors will take your graphic design to the next level.
Contact Thought Mechanics Web Design for more information.