The initial stages of the design process involve a plethora of ideas, motifs, layouts, and overall project blueprints that will decide the look and feel of the site to come. When organizing the ideas and requests of the websites owner (in some cases that may be you), it is important to fully understand the theme which they wish to portray to the end user. One of the more important aspects of designing a theme is the incorporation of color. Although this may seem like a relatively simple aspect to site design, colors play a much larger role than one might think. The psychology behind colors is rooted deeply within cultural ideologies directly affecting human behavior and perception. Planning the overall design and structure of a website should be pursued in conjunction with choosing a color theme to preside throughout the site.

Color perception is rooted deeply within culture, and because this is the case, it is important to understand your audience before deciding upon a dominant color base. Lets pick a random color to use as an example. Let’s say, for instance, we are starting a new dating site and the designer really wants to use red as the primary color, as he/she believes it relays feelings of love. While this can be true, especially in western culture, there are a number of other psychological connotations behind the color red. It can also relay anger, a warning (look at stop signs), the devil, hell, arrogance, and even power. This being said, the color combined with the proper design and media can help to further the positive meanings of the color. If this dating site happened to be targeting an Asian audience, the designer would be spot on as red represents happiness and marriage in their culture. Make sure to research the cultural significance of colors before deciding one way or the other, especially if your target demographic lies within a specific culture.

• Gray - elegance, respect, stability, reverence, subtlety, wisdom, old age, , boredom, humility, dullness, dust, entanglement, balance, neutrality, mourning.
• White - light, reverence, cleanliness, purity, peace, simplicity, innocence, security, sterility, humility.
• Black - modernity, power, elitism, unhappiness, sophistication, elegance, formality, wealth, style, evil, death, fear, mourning.
• Red - strength, passion, energy, fire, love, sex, heat, excitement, speed, ambition, arrogance, leadership, power, masculinity, danger, anger, revolution, radicalism, socialism, communism, aggression.
• Blue – ocean, skies, peace, harmony, calmness, winter, coolness, tranquility, confidence, conservatism, water, ice, loyalty, unity, dependability, technology, cleanliness, depression, coldness, obscenity, air, wisdom, idealism, nobility.
• Green    Great intelligence, environment, nature, life, spring, fertility, youth, money, generosity, wealth, luck, vigor, grass, aggression, inexperience, envy,  jealousy, illness, greed, life eternal, air, earth, sincerity, hope, renewal, growth, health, balance. (In China – disgrace)
• Yellow - sunlight, joy, happiness, earth, optimism, avarice, weakness, intelligence, idealism, summer, hope, cowardice, hazards, dishonesty, femininity, sociability, gladness, summer, friendship.
• Purple - envy, spirituality, wealth, royalty, nobility, gaudiness, creativity, ceremony, confusion, wisdom, enlightenment, arrogance, flamboyance, mystery, mourning, exaggeration, pride, honor..
• Orange – happiness, energy, heat, enthusiasm, flamboyance, fire, aggression, playfulness, arrogance, balance, warning, danger, gaudiness, autumn, desire, Hinduism, Buddhism.
• Brown - boldness, depth, nature, richness, tradition, calm, fascism, boorishness, dullness, heaviness, poverty, stability, roughness, anachronism, dirt, down-to-earth, steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, filth, dependability.
• Pink - admiration, gratitude, spring, sympathy, femininity, health, appreciation, love, marriage, joy.

Equally as important to cultural significance is the effect of color psychology as it relates to the physiological effect, as compared to the psychological effect above. While the psychological effects directly spur thoughts of association, the physiological effect spurs feelings of emotion and an instant attitude. Red tends to create a warm, exciting, and energetic feeling the moment it is viewed while greens, blues, and even purples create a cool, calming, and inactive feeling. Depending on how it is used and in what portions, red is likely to stimulate a sense of anxiety and excitement while the cooler colors help to relieve anxiety.

Taking these physiological feelings into account can help to guide the overall feeling you are trying to instill within the user experience. While some designers actually recommend color consultants for larger (high budget) projects, it is simply a good idea to keep these color connotations in mind while planning out the initial makeup of the site design.