Designing websites involves many skilful disciplines from type to layout and colour. Colour is especially major as it gives the first impression to the user. the correct colours can create a good user experience, whereas incorrect colours can have a negative impact.

To make a good website, the designer should know how colours affect people. people subconsciously react to colours and associate them with different emotions & feelings.

Colours don't only bring up emotions & feelings that could influence how a site is seen but they can also be utilised cleverly to point users in the direction of certain sections of your web site.

Every single colour that you can think of can be used on the web these days, so picking the correct colours can be a huge task. here is a fast summary of how some colours can evoke certain reactions.

Black is linked with power, elegance, riches and mystery. in design, it can be very effective with livelier colours to create good contrast.

White is associated with cleanliness, simpleness, calm and purity. used in abundance in websites, it can convey style and demonstrates that the website's content is strong enough to stand-alone without a strong visual aid.

With connotations to lust, annoyance, fire and power, red, used lightly, can be a good way to direct the user's attention to a certain area.

The colour black can be related to death, mourning, power and style. many rock bands use black as their predominant colour due to its associations with death and evil.

Yellow summons thoughts of summer, joy and optimism. it's a colour that could be overwhelming and if used in conjunction with black, it creates a warning feel.

Like yellow, red is associated with love, sex and energy. it can also be overpowering if overused, but its exciting to attract attention.

Grey can be linked to respect, humility, decay and boredom. it is used a lot to mould shiny gradients in designing web sites to give a professional, futuristic feel to a web-site.

Orange is related strongly to spirituality and healing. it is the colour that represents Buddhism and its a calming energy about it. it is a bold colour that is not as bright as yellow yet not a deep as red.

Orange is extremely youthful although also warm, stimulating & friendly. used in web sites, it's also welcoming.

Grey is a popular background colour for sites. just like black, its excellent for highlighting images & it creates excellent contrast between colours.

Finally, when choosing colours for designing for the web, thought should be given to the way it can potentially affect users. The choice of colours may look commendable or meet the brief, although will it put users off? by making simple changes, like changing the buy now button to a lively colour may generate more sales. Serious thought and consideration can mean the difference between failure and success.