With over 80% of businesses present in the online sphere, creating a website and social media presence that stands out from the crowd is vital to direct traffic towards a product or service. While reaching an audience via digital marketing like SEO is perhaps the first step in landing on a customers screen, gaining their attention is a different story and can be done via colour.
A quick intro to branding and the importance of colour
The number one way that businesses create their image is via branding, which comprises of a logo and other design elements that are consistently used by an organisation. Perhaps one of the most vital elements of branding design is colour, since it is accessible and memorable as explained here. Take Asda as an example, their logo, which is presented in a lime green colour, is consistently used in-store and online, and helps distinguish their brand from other supermarkets. You could walk into an ASDA supermarket without being told where you were, and you would know – the same goes for Sainsburys and its orange branding, or Morrisons and forest green.
Colour doesnt just create an identity, but it also creates meaning via setting the scene and forming a mood. Depending on an organisations brand message, the colour will therefore vary. To explain; if a brand wants to present themselves as fresh, they might opt for natural tones, whereas, if they want to present themselves as mysterious, they might choose darker tones like reds, purples, and blacks.
Yet, how important is the use of colour online and what advantages does it have? Transferring colour from real-life to the online space actually translates the brand message and provides an alternative to the tangible. In a plethora of online businesses available, this allows organisations to stand out from their competition and capture the attention of their target audience. Since fashion is the largest e-commerce market and online gaming is used by around 3 billion of the population, well look at how colour is used in these online industries to demonstrate its importance below.
Gaming
In a society where we have moved away from the board game and are now swayed towards more online games, creating a game that is appealing and exciting for the eye is essential. One particular game that has adapted over the years to suit the online space is the slot machine. In real life casinos, the slot machine would light up the room with its multitude of colours and games designers have since been successful in transporting these colours to the online space. If you read more here, you can see that, while customers can benefit from free spins, it is perhaps the slot machines’ design and use of colour that does it justice. Though, what about the brand of the casino? Often identified as mysterious, casinos can be seen using darker colours like blacks and reds, which also go a long way to replicate the colours in games like poker and Russian Roulette.
Fashion
Retail stores are often met with clothing rails for as long as the eye can see. Yet, in an online space, organisations like ASOS are taking advantage of white space, as seen here. By holding back on the colour, the simplicity actually reduces noise and allows for the audiences attention to be focused on the clothing. This is quite the contrary to the aforementioned gaming space which packs the colour in the provide for a more exciting experience. In a world where neutral is now fashions best friend, opting for neutral colours like Zara and Asos do, actually appeals to a market at first sight, more than an array of colours.
Here we have shown why colour is important for online branding and how it can be altered to suit the industry, the businesses key message, and the organisations target audience.