The Power Of Colours In Visual Design

You would agree with me that the very first thing that draws your attention to a design is its colour(s). Visual simply means sight, colours, producing mental images, and other attributes. This implies that in visual design, you can properly influence your users by colours. Visual design focuses majorly on the aesthetic of a product by making use of the right colours and other supporting elements like typography.

You might ask, why do colours hold such a great power in visual design? I will explain this in a very simple way. Visualize buying a new bag for yourself. The very first thing that comes to your mind is the colour you would like. Other specifications like size and material always come after. Now that you have an idea of the power colours have generally, let’s get into visual design and colours.

Why Colours?

When creating a design, deciding on the colour(s) to use is one of the top priorities. Colours help in grabbing the attention of a user, hence, it is extremely important that the right colour is used for the design. Also, the colours you make use of has a solid meaning and representation to it. For instance, in the health industry, the major colour used is BLUE and this symbolizes trust, credibility, calmness, professionalism, knowledge, power, e.t.c. So you see, choosing the right colour for your design is very important as it easily translates so many things to your users.

Colours And Users

Colour is a vital tool that greatly influences the mood and behavior of users. The success of a design depends largely on the colours used for the design. The properly selected colours help put users in the frame of mind that compels them to take action. Using the right, appropriate and relatable colours in your design can easily draw and keep the attention of your users, while using the wrong colours will not draw nor keep the attention of your users. The attention span of users is low and to enable maximum utilization, colours have to be used effectively.

Colours And Visual Design

I am sure by now, you know how important colours are generally and in terms of design. But, how exactly do colours come into visual design and why does it hold so much power? I’m visual design, colours are greatly used to communicate effectively through texts, images, components and other elements. Every single thing you see in a design has a colour embedded in it. Your text has a colour, your logo has a colour, your animations has a colour, your button components has a colour. Every single element in your design has a colour.

Without colours, you can’t translate what you want to design. Imagine writing a text and you do not give it a colour, would it be visible to the eye? No. I mean, how else are users expected to read your texts if it has no colour? It’s very simple, visual design can’t perform as it should without colours. It’s impossible to visualize what you can’t see.

How To Choose Colours In Visual Design

Choosing colours can be very tricky and tasking. So how do you go about this? It’s easy. First, you need to understand what each colours stand for generally. This will help you choose the right colour that suits your design.

Warm colours like red, orange and yellow simply creates excitement, warmth and vibrance. Cool colours like blue and purple simply creates coolness and calmness. Neutral colours like black, white, grey simply creates a balance between other colours.

After understanding the meaning of colours (indepth), how do you go about it in your design? It’s simple and I’ll break it down for you. Break down your colour into four; your dominant colour, your less dominant colour, your lesser dominant colour and your neutral colour.

Your dominant colour should be the main/primary colour used in your design. This colour will be associated with your design all through. Your less dominant colour will be a lighter shade of your dominant colour. This will give your dominant colour the spotlight it needs. Your lesser dominant colour will be a supporting colour in your design, it will be used sparingly across your design just to create dimension. Your neutral colour will be used majorly for your texts and descriptions in general.

Conclusion

Overall, choosing colours in visual design is very important. Hence, your designs should always be user centric and user focused. Although, choosing the right colours can be overwhelming and tasking, it holds a great power in your design.

Thank you for reading this far.