Colour Themes - Quick Tips

1. Start with your company's primary logo colour, or even another website you like the look of.
2. If you don't have graphic editing software already, download Gimp or another free or open source solution
3. Create a new shape, and use your primary colour sample for this shape.
4. Copy the shape and paste, then use the colour palette within your chosen software to lighten or darken the colour.
5. Repeat for a 2nd copied shape and you have a swatch of 3 colours.

We may not all have the eye of Van Gogh when it comes to combining colours, but there is help out there if you know where to look. You could start with your company's primary colour sampled from a logo or letterhead. Then in the graphics editing program of your choice (a few examples: GIMP is free; Photoshop or Illustrator are what most people in the web or design industry would probably use) you can choose lighter or darker shades of that primary colour to complement your primary colour.

There are also various websites - just do a quick search on Google for 'online colour theme designer' and you'll have plenty of options to help you choose as many variat
ions on a colour swatch as you'll need. I've previously use one called colourschemer - quite handy as you can copy out the RGB, CMYK, or hexadecimal values as you wish depending on what program or situation you're using the colour in. Hexadecimal values are great if you're specifying the colour within your html.

Colour is all around us and it is only right to choose the best colour for your web design. But how best is best? I think there is no best answer to this question. Web visitors have moods and the right colours do help in setting the tone for delightful browsing. True, content is important, but if text is surrounded by dizzying, dazzling and flashing backgrounds, loosing potential customers is a great possibility.

You can have a choice of warm or cool colours or a variety of monochromatic, analogous, complementary or contrasting colour schemes depending on the overall theme of your website. There is no rule-of-thumb in deciding what colours are best for a website. Different clients have different tastes, and colour choice is often a matter of personal preference. While customers wants should be considered when creating your web design, it is almost impossible to please everybody. To be on the safe side, neutral colours, subtle shades and lighter tones are generally acceptable.