Designing for the internet involves many skilful disciplines from layout to type & colour. Colour is especially serious as it provides the first impression to the user. the right colours can create a nice experience for the user, whilst inappropriate colours can have a negative impact.

To create a good site, the web designer should know how colours affect people. people often subconsciously react to colours & associate them with different emotions & feelings.

Colours do not only bring up emotions and feelings that could influence how a website is received but they can also be cleverly used to direct users to certain sections of your site.

Every colour imaginable can be used on the internet now, which means that picking the right colours can be a daunting task. here is a fast summary of how some colours can evoke certain reactions.

Green is linked to the environment, peace & envy. it's also a extremely relaxing colour & is great to use for a relaxing effect.

The colour white conjures up feelings of pureness, simplicity, emptiness & innocence. if used as a site's main colour, it creates a simple & clean feel.

Blue is most commonly associated with with corporate web sites because it is a strong colour that's linked to confidence, coldness, depression, water & peace.

Blue is about confidence, loyalty & coolness. its the best-used colour in the world & it's used by many companies to create a feeling of confidence & strength.

Black is associated with feelings of mystery & sophistication. A really popular colour in design & photo web sites, it can be used effectively to contrast & spice up other colours.

Green is associated with organic, the environment & relaxation. The paler end of the green spectrum can be used to lend a relaxed feel to a website.

Grey is connected to respect, humility, decay & boredom. its used heavily to make shiny gradients in designing web sites to give a slick, uncluttered feel to a site.

Orange is related strongly to spirituality & healing. its the colour that symbolises Buddhism & its a calming energy about it. its a bold colour that's not as lively as yellow yet not a deep as red.

Brown stands for confidence, reassurance, dirt & poverty. just like green, it could be used to make a website feel relaxed and calm. it's very popular with websites to do with nature.

Purple could be a very rich colour & it's associated with religion in addition to wealth & royalty. It does not is not so popular as other colours in web-site design but, if used effectively, it gives a website a sense of sophistication.

In conclusion, when choosing colours for designing web sites, you should give thought to the way it can potentially affect users. The selection of colour might look commendable or meet the brief, although will it put users off? by making some simple changes, like changing the purchase button to a vibrant colour may generate more sales. Serious thought & consideration often means the difference between success & failure.