Taking a water-based product and placing it on a purple or orange site decreases marketability. Purple and orange are not immediately associated with water or nature and will give site and product a “false” impression. Placing that same product on a blue or green site will increase desire for that product. While we naturally associate water with colors blue and green, not all site designs adhere to this thought process. Sites that are nature related receive better responses when multiple colors of green are used then any other color or combination.

Multi-colored sites, or “rainbow sites,” have lowest visitation time. This is not case if site is predominantly white, while displaying only small amounts of various colors. As multiple colors decrease, time of visitation increases. Sites aimed at children, such as toy sites, often use a wide range of color to “entertain” visitor. While this is smart marketing, displaying large quantities of multiple colors decreases “fun” aspect as eye tries to focus and concentrate on overly busy page. A smart rule of thumb when using multiple colors: do not use more than 5 colors, keep them either “warm” or “cool,” and make background white. Fun is more fun when it is easy on eyes.

Warm and Cool Colors Warm colors are based on yellows, oranges, browns, yellow-greens, and orange-reds, colors commonly associated with fall or autumn. Generally, warm colors tend to be more exciting and aggressive. Many people prefer them in small doses. Purples and greens are intermediary colors, being either warm or cool, depending on how much red or yellow they contain in relation to blue. If color contains less blue then it is more likely to be a warm hue.

Cool colors are based on blues, greens, pinks, purples, blue-greens, magentas, and blue-reds, colors more commonly associated with spring and summer. Cool colors are soothing, calming colors and tend to be more popular than warm colors.

Creating a site with a combination of warm and cool colors confuses viewer. It will often make site seem busy, dirty, and untrustworthy. Site designers do not always realize that their color combinations are warm and cool. The use of a color wheel can be helpful. It shows Primary (red, yellow, and blue) and Secondary (orange, green, and purple) colors. Combining two primary colors creates secondary colors. All colors are made from some combination of white, black, and primary colors.

What does all of this mean to site designers? If you want your site to be marketable, remember that there is more to it than just graphic placement and text. Every color tells a story and it may not always fit one you are trying to portray. In informational design, distinguish functional color from decorative color. Decorative color enhances layout by making it more aesthetically appealing, creating a mood, or establishing a style. Functional color conveys information explicitly.

Last, but not least, a few rules of thumb Make sure choice of colors for a site fits intended content, and users’ expectations. Never use more colors than are necessary. Do not use colors that do not support or add to information being displayed. Remain consistent throughout site with your color choices, and leave rainbows for rainy days and for chasing pots of gold.

Don'ts 1. Don't guess at who you're trying to reach with your site. ‘Guesstimation’ is for horse shoes and card games. If you don't know your demographics then you might as well have thrown your site together. 2. Don't get too technical. Your customers are ones reading your site, so it should be written for them. Sure, your competition might read your site as well, but they already know business jargon. Besides, you aren’t trying to sell to them anyway. Remember, other business owners may browse, but your customers are your buyers. 3. Don't give your customers a headache. There are 256 colors available for site design. 216 of those are browser 'safe.' Just because there are an abundance of colors does not mean that they all should be used at once. Warm colors shouldn't be used with cool colors because of conflicting hues. Meanwhile, bright colors make eyes work harder to focus and after a few minutes will likely give your viewers a headache. 4. Don't keep content that isn't being read. Keeping track of what your customers are actually reading is very helpful. You want a customer to peruse your site as completely as possible. The more they know, better your chances are that they will purchase or sign-up. If a page isn't being read then try something else. Rewrite it. Add psychological triggers. Rephrase. Find a way to make page valuable. 5. Don't repeat same information on every page. The viewer doesn't want to read same material over and over. Give them new, fresh information on each page. If they want to go back and read previous page, give them that option. 6. Don't hide contact information. You'll find conflicting information on this topic. Some designers will tell you to put your contact information on every page, but customers tend to find that redundant. One page with multiple ways to contact you is more affective even if customer never visits page. Just having page there tells them that you can be reached and that you really are there for their convienence. 7. Don't use animations. Some would say use animations to draw attention to your ad, product, 'new' idea/newsletter/etc. but by following that suggestion you frustrate customer. Flashing, moving objects distract eyes. A customer is there looking for information, if their eyes are distracted while reading, their comprehension decreases while their frustration rises. The use of colors such as yellow and orange become helpful in this area. Bolding or italicizing words is another way to emphasize phrases, or items you want customer to notice. 8. Don't use multiple fonts. It only takes eye seconds to adjust to a new font, but those seconds are distracting to mind. Different sizes, styles, and colors are confusing. Choose one font and stick with it. Consistency is more important than creativity when it comes to text. 9. Don't take control away from viewer. Creative cursors, full screen browsers, and other 'entertaining' aspects of site design are great, if your target audience is teenagers or new internet users, but for a professional website they give appearance of being cheap, second rate, and amateurish. 10. Don't 'bunch up' text. Add spaces between paragraphs so customers don't feel overwhelmed with information. Placing a small picture pertaining to content gives eyes time to relax before reading further.