Color Effects in Web Design

/ September 26, 2017/ Frontend

When speaking of web design, one can’t help but include colors. It is one of web designers’ most powerful tools. Colors attract; colors set a mood; colors influence emotion, perception, and actions. Therefore, how to make colors vibrant and come alive on a web page is a designer’s task. There are a few techniques which can achieve this:

Monotone

Mono means single. A monotone has a single color in different tints. This is one of the ways to use vibrant colors especially if paired with an attention-grabbing typography. It creates a memorable experience and is great technique to use for mobile apps. Another way to use monotone is with black and white accents to create a visual interest on a small screen.

Duotone

As the name suggests, duo means two. A duotone has two colors of the same or contrasting colors. This used to be an old technique in print but has revived online recently. Duotones can evoke different emotions depending on what color pairs you use. Soft and modest combinations evokes seriousness. While a combination of bright colors evokes happiness. Combined with text, duotone provides contrast. Duotones work well with both desktop and mobile screens. If you use duotone for a hero image, select a simple high quality photo that evokes a clear, single idea. Using a photograph with lots of details may lose the duotone’s power and it may be difficult to interpret.

Gradient

Gradients have made their way back this time as high-contrast complementary colors. Modern gradients can include multiple colors, can radiate from the center, and can come from a corner or fall horizontally. Gradients breathe new life into flat design. Paired with flat color palette, they can evoke a feeling of modernism. Gradients can improve visual communication, gives depth and contrast, and it creates some eye-catching visual effects. The shift from light to dark follows the natural scanning patterns of the human eye.

While the flat aesthetic is sleek and easy to look at, it lacks an element of realism. To compensate, use gradients to give depth to their backgrounds. This will likely continue to grow to incorporate more realism and 3D elements into web design. While gradients are often used as backgrounds for pages, consider using a gradient as an accent in navigation, for a secondary image or for specific types of content.

Overlay

A color overlay is probably the most useful and commonly used effects in popular design. All you need to do is cover an image with a semi-transparent colored box. By using one of the bright, saturated colors associated with material design, you can evoke a feeling of modernism. A color overlay enhances the impact of a photograph and enables the designer to modify tone and interpretation. Overlay effects can focus users on certain design elements. However, when using a single color as an overlay, think about the degree of saturation and transparency of the color. Heavy color combinations (i.e. less transparency and more saturation) put more focus on the color itself. Light combinations put more focus on the image.

Colors are fun to play with. Color effects can be dramatic, impressive, and serene. Get to experiment when using these color effects. Remember that there are no wrong colors. What matters most is how you use them well.