Web design colour choices to avoid

Creating a website that stands out from the crowd, attracts visitors, and increases sales, is the dream goal for the majority of companies on the web. But succeeding in the digital world isn’t always as easy as it seems. And there are some simple choices that can lead to negative consequences. These include the use of imagery, the typography, and of course the colour scheme. Here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design experts. And we work with companies and businesses across Manchester and the North West to create stunning web design solutions. As a result, we have produced this guide to web design colour choices to avoid.

Web design colour choices to avoid

Colour is an essential part of web design. From the background to the text, the images to the buttons, colours play a vital role in categorizing your website and directing user attention to a range of areas. But colours can also have a negative effect, and drive people away from your website. So here are the top web design colour choices to avoid:

  • Too many colours
  • Contrasting colours
  • Neon colours

Too many colours

A website that uses more than 3 colours is a bad idea. 3 colours are the maximum colour choices you should use on a professional, serious business website. This is because too many colours can draw attention to too many different features of your webpage, all at once. And this is not just distracting, its also confusing too. And lack of clarity in your design choices actually cause an increase in the bounce rate. And you will lose out on potential business.

Instead, you should focus on three colours. One for the background, and the other two colours used as accent colours to draw attention to specific elements. It’s a good idea to use one colour for your call to action buttons, that you dont use anywhere else. This will help your call to action button stand out and be obvious. Which can help potential customers know what to do.

Contrasting colours

The only colours that should contrast on your website are your text colour, and your background colour. There needs to be a certain degree of contrast between these two, to help make the text easy to read, on all devices. However, choosing seriously contrasting colours for your navigation bar and your background, or for your image borders, is a bad idea. Contrasting colours can make your website look chaotic and unfocused. And a severe level of contrast can cause headaches and migraines in some users. And simply cause others to leave.

Instead, you should choose up to three colours that compliment each other, but also stand out from one another. Different shades of the same colour is a good choice for two of your three colours, and then use the last colour choice to choose a complementary colour, that could be useful for the call to action buttons.

Neon colours

Finally, one of the biggest web design colour choices to avoid is neon colours. While neon pink, green and orange might be your favourite colours, that doesn’t mean they will be appropriate for your website. You have to consider the usability of such bright colours, and the effect these colours can have on the readers ability to read the text.

For more information or advice about professional web design, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.