aaronfalloon.com

Good color combinations in action

Posted on July 5th, 2008.

Instead of fooling around with theory, I’ve decided to do something a bit more practical in this post. I’m going to take 2 popular websites, and analyse the way in which they use color. The 2 websites I’ve chosen are Digg, and MySpace.

I’m going to break my color scheme analysis into 2 parts. The first part is concerned with the colors each site uses and what those colors represent. The second part is concerned with the relationship between the colors, and the mood which that relationship provokes.

Before we get started, you need to realise that I’m no expert. I’m learning just as you are, so what follows isn’t solid fact.

Digg

Initially, I found it quite difficult to decide on Digg.com’s base color. However, after trying out different base colors and settings in Color Schemer Studio>, I decided that dark blue was their base color.

From that, a tetradic color scheme is created with 2 other colors. The color scheme is then bolstered with different tints and shades of the 3 original colors, to take the total number of colors to 6.

The colors used imply a lot about the site. If we visit a few of the sites mentioned in my previous article on color symbolism, we learn that blue suggests stability. Green also conveys the notion of stability, and so perhaps stability is the main message communicated by Digg’s color scheme.

The relationship between the colors is also important. As I mentioned above, the color scheme is tetradic. A tetradic color scheme is essentially a double complementary scheme, so theory on complementary schemes should apply here. This complementary scheme suggests vibrancy, and life. It suggests activity, which is an important part of a social media site like Digg.

MySpace

MySpace’s base color is evidently blue. As we looked at in my previous post, blue invokes calmness and tranquillity, the perfect setting for connecting and communicating with people. It suggests a fun, and laid back site.

Blue and various shades of blue are the main colors, but there are a few others used for specific parts of the site. A bold yellow is used to make buttons stand out, and there’s often a light yellow background to highlight important navigational or informational items, such as the “Find users with similar interests” form.

I’ve been trying to choose the e relationship between these colors, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s complementary in nature. In general when creating a complimentary color scheme, a warm and cold color is used, and this is definitely the case with MySpace s color scheme. However, the number of colors has been bolstered by shades and tints of blue, and so there’s a suggestion that the color scheme used is both monochromatic, and complementary.

A monochromatic scheme suggests unity, or friendship. This makes the scheme perfect for a site which focuses on connecting people. Furthermore, the addition of complementary colors adds life, and again suggests activity. This is the perfect “color message” from a site which needs activity to keep it going.

Both sites have used a variety of colors in many different ways. It’s important to learn from sites which are already popular. Take them apart and see how they’ve been put together, then form your own ideas (copying will get you nowhere) from what you’ve learned. Choosing a color scheme is tricky, but with hard work and a little bit of studying, it’s a skill which you can pick up.

Make a Comment

Make A Comment: ( None so far )