Orange Color Use in Design and its Perception
Color positively or negatively affects our emotions and the ability to change our mood. As marketers and designers, we intentionally use color when creating messages and brand materials․
According to research conducted at the University of Winnipeg, “62–90% of the preliminary assessment of a product’s personality is based on color alone”․
A few words about orange
Orange is a combination of red and yellow, warm bright color with hints of energy and luxury․ Orange is a secondary color, that is, a mixture of two primary colors: red and yellow․ In the visible spectrum of light, it is between yellow and red․ To be more accurate, օn the traditional color wheel, orange is between the warm yellow and the warm red. It is also a warm color, opposite to cold colors like blue or green. Combining the fiery energy of red with the optimism of yellow, orange is one of the most perceived colors.
Orange as the color of citrus fruits, conveys thoughts about summer, sunny, vitamin C and health․ It also symbolizes autumn and change․ Depending on your audience, you can choose a very bright yellow-orange or a more autumnal orange-brown․
To final classify orange, we can segment it into 3 categories:
- True oranges — cheerful and vibrant tones that evoke tropical flashbacks.
- Brown-oranges — burnt orange that gives a more sophisticated mood. Reminding of autumn.
- Red-oranges — orange-red that is more earthy and Mediterranean, reminiscent of terracotta clay.
Orange in web design: How to use and combine it
Orange is still a hard color, especially in design. It is hard to combine and use in web design. And as it has some typical indicators of brightness, energy and optimism, it can’t be used in some strict designs, or should necessarily be integrated into the more casual pallet.
You can use it in designs connected with creativity, health, taste, and entertainment. Use the orange color will give your design instant energy. It is less intense or aggressive than red but can draw attention and illuminate important areas of design.
Orange shades often convey a sense of friendliness, and can also maintain seriousness and professionalism.
It has also a negative side: orange sometimes is associated with cheapness. We use this mainly when we want to set discounts on certain products. And when organizing such promotions, orange is always dominant and in some sense associated with a discount. When we see a price highlighted in orange, we immediately have the same association.
In general, it can be said that orange is a beautiful color to attract attention without offending someone.
As already mentioned, you can use orange as the foreground color to highlight important elements, or as the main background color to convey feelings of enthusiasm, vitality, and warmth. Orange announces without screaming.
Highlight the points that are important for your project, understand what you want to convey to your client, what you want to hide, learn the colors and then start designing.
Useful Tips for better use of orange color
To sum up, we want to highlight and present to you some tips related to orange color:
- Orange color is great in small doses, we do not advise you to overdo it.
- Orange is particularly effective when combined with cooler colors.
- We do not recommend using orange with other hot colors․
- Avoid a combination of hot colors, so that the expected message does not lose its significance.
- Orange can be difficult to read, so avoid using it in text.
- Use orange in more subtle ways.
- Make sure that orange works for your design, topic and get a smooth combination out of it.
And don’t forget that the color schemes you choose for your site can make a big difference in how successfully it will work. The colors of your site should reflect your brand, the message you sent, and most importantly, help you achieve the desired result when a user visits the website, whether he’s buying an item, registering on your mailing list, or subscribing to your newsletter.
Of course, there are no certain methods or trial-condemned restrictions on how to form your website design, because only final results are going to prove its success. But I can’t let you go without final samples of successful samples that use orange in their design.
Wild Souls
