How to Choose a Perfect Color Scheme for Your WordPress Site

October 19. 2020

Designing a decent website is never an easy thing. You need to carefully consider what you will use your website for. Then, you need to design it so that it is intuitive and easy to understand. When it comes to picking a decent theme, you need to create a child theme and try out different ones. And in order to pick the right theme, you first need to know how to choose the right color scheme for your WordPress site. So, to help you out, we are going to go over the basics of colors and how they can influence your content.

Understanding colors

In order to pick a decent color scheme for your WordPress site, you first need to understand how colors work. There is much more to picking colors than mere preferences. It is important to understand that colors have been with us since the dawn of time. They have a deep way of impacting our emotions and our perceptions. So much so that people spend their lives studying colors and shapes in order to understand how they can be used as art. Therefore, in order to create a decent website, you at least need to understand the basics of color psychology and how it works.

How colors impact work

Every color invokes a certain emotion. Whether it is warm colors or cold ones, every color has emotions, ideas, and even symbols behind it. A simple example is the color red. The first associations we have with it are love, fire, warmth, and passion. But, red has also been associated with blood, wine, courage, and even communism. Therefore it is easy to see that even something as simple as the plain color red has much meaning behind it.

Blue color, on the other hand, is often associated with water, calmness, coldness, and piety. Traditionally, to show one’s purity and honor, one would wear blue. We often associate tranquility, relaxation, and openness with blue, as it also represents a clear sky or a calm body of water.

Now put those colors together and you get an idea of blood with honor. Fire and water. Passion with purity. So, it stands to reason why so many traditional uniforms used red and blue.

Add white in the mix and you will get different patterns that represent flags of numerous countries like:

• the U.S.
• Russia
• the U.K
• France
• Netherlands
• Serbia

This example should serve as a straightforward way to note that colors, especially in combination, tell a powerful story that resonates deeply with our sub-counties.

How to pick the right color scheme for your WordPress site

So, with this in mind, should you simply pick a flag and orient the color scheme for your WordPress site to it? Well, not quite. While flags, almost, as a rule, have decent color schemes, you need to think through your website a bit more before picking one. After all, you need to align the content of your website with your colors. That way you will convey a clear message, and make further marketing efforts a whole lot easier.

Understand your brand

As every marketing guide will tell you, you need to develop a decent brand if you are to promote your website. A simple message that will encapsulate what your website is all about. Once you have your brand figured out, you need to orient your colors with it. It stands to reason that your brand is all about calmness and tranquility, you shouldn’t use red or orange for your website. Similarly, if the idea behind your website is about comfort and warmth, you shouldn’t use blue. Carefully consider the emotion behind your website, and then pick the color that associated with it.

Are you using images?

The second thing to consider is whether your website is using images. If not, you have the absolute freedom to mix up your colors and patterns. Such freedom can give you some truly beautiful designs and noteworthy themes. But, if your website does incorporate images, you need to dial back your theme. A website with images should help visitors focus their attention on it. If the theme of the website is too engaging you will draw the attention away from the images, therefore defeating their purpose.

Modest multicolored themes can work with images. But, we still advise you to focus on single colored ones. By doing so you will avoid the aforementioned risk of diverting attention. And, you will have a much easier time connecting a singe your color to your brand.

Which colors work together

Without prior experience, it can be hard to figure out which colors work together. Here you can stick with copying flags, as their color scheme is tried and true. But, if you wish to divert from classic color schemes, we advise you to do so carefully. While interpreting colors as emotions can give you room for creativity, know that it is much easier to come up with something ugly then something new and beautiful.

Consulting a professional

With this in mind, we give you our final advice on picking the color scheme for your WordPress site, which is to consult with a professional. As we mentioned, people spend years studying colors in order to know how they work. You now only have to figure out the shade, but also saturation, opacity, and lightness. Add to that changing the text color and size to work with your theme, and you will soon see why graphic designers cost so much. But, trust us when we tell you that a good graphic designer is well worth the money. After all, a website will beautiful colors is something that all of us appreciate.