How to choose a color palette for your small business' brand on your website

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I’ve been playing with a lot of color combinations lately. From forming my color scheme to creating others, I’ve needed to visualize ways a color scheme would look across multiple platforms, including a website.

Web design is both perplexing and rewarding. You’re able to change things as often as you wish until you determine how you want something to look for your business. 

On the other hand, it can be very unclear, having so many quickly changing parts when you don’t know what you need or want.

With some help from colormind.com, I’ve been solidifying color palettes. While it might not give you a full range color palette, you can still methodically plan out how you can use your color scheme or find one you like with Colormind’s UI Bootstrap tool.

I am not a web designer. It can be easy to say, “I’ve developed my website, now let me do yours,” but that’s not always the case. I can manage my edits, but it’s taken me months to like and appreciate my website.

Colormind allowed me to be a graphic designer and focus on my color selections without worrying much about where anything went. I could see where specific colors would go or that might have needed to be changed entirely with Colormind’s tool. 

I probably can’t follow Colormind’s proposed color scheme on my website. However, it helped me identify what I needed to focus on to create a meaningful and impactful website.

When deciding on a color scheme, Colormind allows you to see how different colors will impact your website. I found it helpful to see how they divide and create a color scheme through Colormind. Here are a few color options Colormind makes to help you devise a creative and impactful website.

Primary color

Your primary color is something that should bring your brand immediately to your mind. You won’t necessarily use it all the time. Still, it can help you recognize it before any other color within your brand identity.

You’ll use your primary color about 50% of the time with your brand, thus why it’s your primary color. When you select your primary color, make sure your other brand colors revolve around that primary color. Your primary brand color won’t matter if your supporting and contrasting colors have no relevance towards your primary color.

Usually, for primary colors, I would choose a bolder color to pop for your audience. Making your primary color pop isn’t always the case. However, this is a great place to start if you are beginning to create a brand identity for your business.

Contrast or Action color

Your contrast color selection is self-explanatory: it contrasts against your primary color. This color doesn’t need to be on the opposite side of the color wheel to contrast. All you need to make sure of is if your colors provide enough of a difference to impact your audience.

If your color scheme involves similar colors, consider a lighter tint or darker shade of your primary color. You might also consider colors next to yours on the color wheel to get a stronger contrast between the two colors.

Contrast colors get used about 20-30% of the time. Your contrast color selection is great when you are inputting buttons or essential information on your website. Your contrast color will allow you to provide a dichotomy for what you want your audience to do, especially when it comes to your website.

Light and dark accents

When you want to make something pop, try implementing a light accent color. Accents can be great for alternative action colors or to draw your customer’s eye. 

I try to prioritize the information on my website, which can help me decide when to use supporting color options. I’d consider using color options for essential details like testimonials and social media. These items are necessary but not nearly as important as your services or your email newsletter.

Most likely, these accents are tints or shades of your primary or contrasting colors. That’s ok; be sure to have enough contrast between competing colors to comply with ADA color contrast regulations.