Question:
Okay. So I finally have a bit o' breathing space in my quest to open a fiber-based website. The question my logo gal (Hi, Tanya!) and website gal (Hi, Sharon!) are waiting on is this: what's the colour scheme.
I figured I'd post here - where the fiber-folks live - rather than in the webmasters area because really I want fiber opinions. I've been leaning towards things in the purple family (because, well, I like purple) or the citrus family (same reason, but more hesitation). The website name isn't much help (there's no obvious colour direction to be had there, plus I'd rather not share until its ready to unveil) so I'm at a loss.
Any thoughts on colours for fiber sites that encourage shoppers to stay?
Answer:
Well, I personally love purple...any shade! But I looked through some of the fabric websites in my favorites and it seems like light blue is a popular color choice.
In all honesty, the color scheme would have to be absolutely atrocious for me to to leave a site if it had items I was interested in. So I guess I'm not a good judge as apparently color isn't that important to me as far as site design goes.
Answer:
Originally Posted by jenanne Okay. So I finally have a bit o' breathing space in my quest to open a fiber-based website. The question my logo gal (Hi, Tanya!) and website gal (Hi, Sharon!) are waiting on is this: what's the colour scheme.
I figured I'd post here - where the fiber-folks live - rather than in the webmasters area because really I want fiber opinions. I've been leaning towards things in the purple family (because, well, I like purple) or the citrus family (same reason, but more hesitation). The website name isn't much help (there's no obvious colour direction to be had there, plus I'd rather not share until its ready to unveil) so I'm at a loss.
Any thoughts on colours for fiber sites that encourage shoppers to stay? I'd say it depends on WHAT you are selling...
Is it really important to see the exact colors? Or to make the colors look particularly luscious?
Pre-internet, the conventional wisdom was that you should display colors on a neutral gray background.
I wish I knew what was best now.
I think the main thing is to not overwhelm your products with your other colors, but to really enhance your product instead.
I think you can get the general idea of your site across with graphic design and layout and less with color.
Here's an idea for choosing a background...
Try putting photos of your products on a chartreuse background, then various purples.
A story to illustrate:
When I was trying to buy a special paper 10 years ago for background for 70 yrs worth of photos (this was in the pre-scrapbooking days), I found that many of the photos, especially the early color ones, looked terrible on the colors I really thought would be the 'right' ones. I ended up with a speckled yellow/grey/peachy thing that sounds horrible and I thought was really BORING, but every single photo in that whole group looked absolutely wonderful against it.
That said, I don't know how this info translates to monitors....
I'm hoping we hear from lots of people on this one...
Thanks for bringing up the topic, Jenanne.
Elaine
Answer:
Here's a site I spend a lot of time at...and $$ too..
http://www.reproductionfabrics.com/i...fab0ab9ea0 9b
One reason I stay around is that the pages load relatively quickly and it's easy to navigate...I always know where I am...
Answer:
I've been going on the assumption that I'll use either white or another pale colour as background, with black type. I think for me that's easiest to read so that's what I figured to go with.
Honestly, I like the pale blue I see where at here when I log in and post (the background on on the threads reads as a pale, pale periwinkle to me, with the "Reply to Thread" header being a medium version of the same periwinkle - lovely!).
The items I'm selling should in the end cross most colour spectrums. They'll all be photographed in a white backgrounded light box. I hadn't considered whether my colours would "go" with the items I sell in that sense - whether they'd coordinate. My focus has been more on the "what accent colour is neat-o" than this new consideration. Yikes.
I do agree that navigation and quick loading matter more than most things. That's what I'll look for when planning the rest of the layout - there's nothing that will drive me away faster than having to wait for pictures to load!
Answer:
You know, the more I think about this, I think you'll be okay whatever colors you pick for accent(s).
The thing I think is important is to have a fairly plain background - one that doesn't take any time to load and mess up your layout or items because of browser incompatibilities - and it sounds as though you are planning to do that.
The next thing may be to have something memorable...the site name and the colors and/or the layout...so people will know they are at your site no matter what page they are on and even if they've not visited for a while. Your favorite colors might do that.
You might want to consider what age your buyers are...do they like retro or country or banking/traditional/staid or ???
And will you be able to change some things about your site later without losing the 'you' look? (if it's important for brand recognition)
Anyhow, I think you've got a good team and I'd suggest just going ahead and doing it while you've got the time!
(How's your dad doing? Did you get that 'home' quilt put together?)
Elaine