What is the first thing you notice about an app? It is mainly the logo, shape, and color (not necessarily in that order). While some believe that color in a UI is just for aesthetics, it serves more than one purpose. Color psychology answers many questions on users' psyche, i.e., how they react to the color scheme of any app or website, allowing designers to apply colors to the UI accordingly.
Colors have multiple roles when it comes to UX design. Our brain processes colors that stimulate our vision, inducing various emotions and reactions.
Research shows that certain hues bring out specific emotions in users, which is why businesses use color psychology to influence their target audience in many ways:
Psychologists suggest that around 60% of the time, acceptance or rejection of a product depends on the color impression. Applying a lousy color combination to the UI dramatically affects the whole UX design, like a bad copy or other misplaced design components.
With endless combinations of colors to explore, it can be a little challenging to decide which one would go well with your interface.
Knowing about different color categories and what they symbolize can help ease the process:
These colors can trigger strong emotions in viewers, like passion and vigor. But when used in excess, they make people anxious or aggressive. Designers should take special care while implementing warm colors into their designs, such as:
Cool colors induce calm and tranquility. Businesses use this color category to win their customers' trust. But their excessive use can also imply impersonality and aloofness.
Since neutral colors soften other colors, they are commonly used as background colors in a design. Colors under neutrals are the perfect mix of cool and warm tones, like:
Just because a color palette is your favorite doesn't mean the users will like it as well. They want a properly functioning interface that makes tasks easier for them, so usability should rank above aesthetics while designing. The site's Color Theory scheme should also be inclusive of color-blind users.
As for selecting colors that go with your brand's image and reel the users in, you can learn how to conduct proper user research, testing, and use various color tools and resources with the Color Theory course on ProApp.
Rashika is the brain behind the content strategy on ProApp, both in terms of courses and marketing. She is an Engineer by education but a Content Writer, UX Writer, Marketer, and Mentor by profession. She has worked with tech giants like IBM and Accenture and has spent the last 3 years working with designers and training them. Currently - Focusing on Building an army of creators via ProApp.