Control your colors with theory and psychology

We're excited to introduce our new color controls. With live preview, you can now experiment and customize your colors on the fly! Watch the video tutorial to learn more, and continue reading for tips on choosing impactful colors based on theory and psychology.

Color psychology

Color psychology is the study of how colors affect our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. The associations of colors can vary by culture, but there are some general principles that are universal.

Red is often associated with passion, excitement, and danger. Its stimulating nature makes it effective for grabbing attention and conveying urgency. Examples: Target, CNN, Coca-Cola, ESPN.

Orange combines the energy of red and the cheer of yellow. Its versatility lends itself to expressing enthusiasm and stimulating appetite. Examples: Fanta, Home Depot, Dunkin’ Donuts, Mastercard

Yellow is associated with happiness, optimism, and creativity. Its eye-catching vibrance draws attention. It also stimulates and energizes. Examples: McDonald's, Hertz, Nikon, DHL.

Green calms, representing nature, peace, growth and sustainability. Its tranquil qualities suit healthcare settings and eco-brands. Examples: Starbucks, Holiday Inn, Whole Foods Market, Lacoste.

Blue calms, conveying trustworthiness and credibility. Its dependable character suits websites and apps seeking trust. Examples: General Electric, Facebook, Ford, Philips.

Purple symbolizes luxury, power and creativity. Despite rarity, it enables sophistication and elegance. Examples: Taco Bell, Slack, Cadbury, FedEx.

Pink supports femininity, romance and nurturing. Its gentle nature suits children and calming spaces. Examples: Baskin-Robbins, T-Mobile, Vineyard Vines, Lyft.

Black is associated with power, mystery and sophistication. Its dramatic nature suits formal clothing and luxury goods. Examples: Chanel, Rolls-Royce, Prada, Gucci.

Color theory

Knowing color theory basics is super helpful for making designs people love. It provides guidance on combining colors harmoniously to elicit positive responses. Carefully choosing color combos can boost usability and make the overall visual experience way better. Read on for main color theory ideas and how to use them effectively.

The Color Wheel

The color wheel visually represents primary, secondary, and tertiary color relationships based on mixing. It depicts complementary colors opposite each other that contrast strongly. Analogous colors are adjacent and create harmonious palettes.

The wheel shows warm and cool colors - warm being energetic and cool being calming. Rotating around the wheel demonstrates how you can generate different color scheme combinations. It’s an excellent tool for helping designers understand how colors interact with each other. It also makes choosing the right palette a lot easier.

Understanding Color Harmonies

Color harmonies can help you choose colors that work well together and create a sense of balance and harmony in your designs.

Monochromatic palettes utilize different tints, tones, and shades of a single hue. This provides cohesion while adding subtle interest through lightness and saturation variations.

Complementary harmonies use colors opposite one another on the color wheel, creating vibrant contrast. But use complementaries sparingly as they can clash if overdone.

Analogous harmonies employ colors adjacent on the wheel for soothing, harmonious palettes. While low in contrast, they are rich and refined.

Triadic harmonies form triangles on the wheel, balancing one dominant color with two complementary supporting hues. This provides vibrant, balanced palettes.

Tetradic harmonies use two complementary pairs, creating vibrant contrast. Use sparingly and in balance to avoid discordant palettes.

While the color wheel and harmonies provide a useful starting point, color theory encompasses many concepts that can help guide your website palette selections.

Use color theory and the resources here to choose the right colors for your project, in a way that feels natural to you. The tools below make it fun to experiment with color, so you can turn theoretical concepts into beautiful designs.

The ultimate list of resources

Color psychology:

• This one goes really deep into color psychology

• And Color Psychology is a site dedicated solely to... color psychology. Don't forget to check out the "Misc" tab.

• Does Color Really Affect How You Act? — a video looking at the science of color.

• I really enjoyed this Color theory video (especially because it's by an actual designer). And here's his COMPLETE Graphic Design Course On Colour if you want to go deeper.

Color theory

• Great basic explanation about color theory (check out Sarah's other videos about color).

• And here's a great written overview of color theory

• Here you can play around with the different types of harmonies. The ring around the circle allows you to change the tone. They also have this neat palette generator.

• This is another color wheel I like. Use "back" and "next" to choose your harmony.

• Would you like a palette that blends two colors? Check this one out.

• I love Coloors' tools. Especially the color palette Visualizer and Generator.

• Monochromatic? Check out this Tailwind CSS generator and create your custom color scales.

• This is a fun generator that creates personalized palettes based on the colors you like.

• Hand-picked color palettes. Click the three dots in the top right corner for more info on the project.

• Are you more into intuitive color design? Check out Colordot.

• Here's a cool gradient generator.

• The Palleton scheme designer.

• Last but not least, check out Adobe's tools.

A special thanks to Ignas, our amazing lead designer. He shared with me some of the invaluable tools on this list. You can explore his creative work and follow him here.

Conclusion

Understanding color theory and psychology is essential for creating impactful designs. The thoughtful application of color harmonies and associations can greatly enhance the effectiveness of any visual work. Color principles provide a guide, but they should not stifle intuition and creativity. The most successful designs employ color thoughtfully but also have a personal flair.

Experiment with both traditional and unconventional methods to see what works. Use color intentionally, keep exploring new palettes, and don't be afraid to break rules when it feels right. With practice, you'll develop an intuitive knack for color. Mastering color psychology and theory takes time, but the journey brings excitement as you discover how to use this powerful tool to bring your visions to life.

Every template we build is created based on color principles, so if you need inspiration or don't want to start from scratch, check out the templates here, and let us know what you think.