[sjtucker]

Can someone direct me to a good source for understanding color schemes for web design? Currently, I use colors that I like or that I think compliment the content of a site. Recently, a graphic designer told a client of mine that the color scheme I chose for her site was more suited to a banker than a real estate agent and that I should have gone more for black and burgundy. Are there any books or sites that I can learn from to better develop my color schemes?

Thanks.

[seen.to]

If it works for the client, and you don't have to follow corporate color schemes, go with what you think is right. Tell your client to look at other real-estate agent sites.. are they all black and burgundy? Also tell her that the graphic designer who told her this is a bit wank... Black and burgundy are a horrible combination imo... Black for sites is soooo 1990's.

What color scheme did you use - what's the site?

[sjtucker]

Thanks for the response. The site is homes of the triad dot com. This is the first real site that I've done, so I'm kind of feeling my way. There are definately some things I would change about the site, just didn't know if the color scheme should be one of them.

So when you say a color is "soooo 1990's", how do you know? How do you keep up and know what's current?

[Narate]

I thought dark grey was the 'internet black'?

[Stefan]

Have a look at the selection of colours on http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/design/28.php3

[Narate]

There are loads of links for colour scheme stuff on

http://del.icio.us

such as - http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html

[sjtucker]

Thanks a ton for the links.

[cubesoft]

Make sure your website contains less than 3 major colors. For example, you may choose dark grey and orange. Although you have a dark orange, light orange, etc but it's still orange based. Try to choose color that matches, like red and black, orange and black, blue and orange, etc.

- Remember to use WHITE SPACE as much as possible.
- Make a bright and distinctive colors on stuff you want the customers to see. This is for a page with many links, there are probably special items or promotional items that you want the customers to see ,make sure they are distinctive from the 'crowded' site.
- GREY is the color that is most-comfortable to eyes (based on Human and Computer Interaction unit taught at University of Western Australia)

So yeah...following above rules will be enough to keep you going with your web design.

[Damion]

like the color links, cheers

[Clixxx]

Just to pile the links up... Here is a tool you can use when picking and matching colours - Colour match

[Clixxx]

Shit sorry.... this link is correct link - Colour Match

Now theres a reason why you should always check your posts...

[pgo]

Originally Posted by Clixxx

Now theres a reason why you should always check your posts...

And hit the "EDIT" button. hehe.

Anyway, those links are good - I'll probably bookmark them. I think those colors you picked are close to being alright. They're just a little off, I'd say. The ochre is a bit vomit-esque. The blue is on the bland side. Two flat, desaturated colors don't contrast very well - and you want to draw attention to the site, but also not distract from the content. It's a tricky balance.

If you are ever interested in learning about color in more depth, check out books by Johannes Itten and Josef Albers - The Interaction of Color and The Elements of Color particularly (go to the library, Elements of Color, I believe, is around 100 pages costing $40US). Those are pure color theory - probably the best of it.

Also, pick up a nice color wheel (any art supply store). The tools you get in Photoshop etc. are good, but you can't see the relationship of all the colors of the rainbow without a color wheel. Then learn about temperature, saturation levels, tone, value, and so on. All good to know to gain an understanding of the way colors work for (and against) each other.

And don't forget that colors appear quite differently on screen, because they're projected light instead of reflected like real world color.

EDIT: Also check out The Color Star by Johannes Itten. Excellent book - heck just look at the cover!

[Clixxx]

Shit eh... Cheers

[sjtucker]

Thanks for the links and book recommendations. I'll check them out.

[thaniemazz]

Since you are just starting on making a website you should know the proper color schemes on web designing coz that's what the web visitor are looking at.

http://www.websitetips.com/color/
http://dianev.com/web-design-help/we...r_schemes.html

[pat]

www.colorwhore.com