So, I'm setting up a new blog and when it comes to choosing templates, it gets very difficult.
Viewability and usability aside, the colors and layouts available are overwhelming when trying to select what will eventually become part of your personal brand.
According to www.brandmarket.com:
- color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent.
- color improves readership as much as 40 percent.
- color accelerates learning from 55 to 78 percent.
- color increases comprehension by 73 percent.
- color ads are read up to 42 percent more than similar ads in black and white.
- color can be up to 85 percent of the reason people decide to buy.
According to Trendspotting, the color blue is dominating the web. Blogger Taly Weiss predicts that innovative companies trying to achieve attention will use more “daring” colors to compete with the dominating blue. The new MySpace/ Facebook ought to be more of a fusion of colors as some of the web experts suggested here.
The article concludes by pointing to the following useful links on color:
- Color and psychology http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm
- Color and marketing http://www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html
- Color and culture http://www.sibagraphics.com/colour.php
- Color dedicated websites: colormatters.com, colourlovers
With this in mind, I've decided to stay with the blue color palette with blue links. While parochial from a designer's point of view, I'm guessing that anyone viewing my content will be satisfied.
