I have been working hard for the past two days on the redesign of Artpromotivate. This is something I have been considering for a long time. I thought the bright red of the past design was way too distracting from the content. So I have decided to choose a blue color scheme.
The color scheme does have a psychological effect on visitors to websites, just as we all know it has an emotional effect in painting. This may be something to think about for the design of your websites and art blogs. Blue actually has the opposite effect of red.
Psychological Effect of the Colors RED and BLUE
BLUE symbolizes calmness and tranquility. As you know, there’s nothing more soothing than relaxing under a clear blue sky. Blue has also been used to symbolize stability, peace, loyalty, security, trust, sincerity, confidence, wisdom, truth, and intelligence. Blue is also considered beneficial for health – both mental and physical. It is soothing and slows down human metabolism.
The benefits of using the color BLUE for an artist’s website are many. Visitors will be more inclined to to stay longer and explore. Since it implies trust and loyalty, people generally will be more likely to follow, and return to the website again.
RED has the opposite psychological effect. Red symbolizes danger, power, energy, speed, strength, etc. and is an intense color emotionally. Red is known to increase metabolism, blood pressure and respiration. For these reasons and more, I have decided to change the color scheme - which was pre-existing in the template I chose at the start of this website. I know I should have changed this long ago.
As for websites, red is used to alert visitors, and make certain parts highly visible. It encourages clickthrough of links, and is best used sparingly to provoke quick decisions. It is recommended for Buy Now and Click Here buttons. As I said, I think that the red of our past Artpromotivate design was too distracting – and made the site look too “busy”. The articles and artist spotlights is what this website is all about, so the color scheme was in dire need of changing.
Recent Site Changes and Design Improvements
Besides changing the color scheme, I also added a whole new layout to the top of the website, along with a redesigned Artpromotivate banner. The top bar features the main pages for this site: Contents, Tour, Faq, About, Contact. At the right of this bar is our social profiles at Facebook and Twitter, along with the subscribe by RSS button.
The menu below the Artpromotivate banner has links for the artist spotlight, resources, follow us, Showcase and free link. I am planning on optimizing this menu further to include main site categories, such as artist websites, art promotion, selling art, inspiration, etc.
Besides this, I changed the primary font from Veranda to Arial, and increased the font size. The headers for the sidebar widgets were changed from a bright red, to a light blue. I made a few other tweaks here and there which you will plainly see if you have been reading this site for awhile.
I will be also further tweaking this site to perfection in the next weeks and months. It is my goal to make this site as user friendly as possible. I also want the information here easily retrieved and read by anyone.
I certainly value your feedback!
If you have anything to recommend, please let me know.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the color change to BLUES!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm in total agreement with the thought and data behind the change.
One suggestion...the background blue on the header is coming across a little dark on my screen (my computer & moniter are less than 6 months old). I think if you lightened the color a bit your logo would POP off the screen better.
Just a suggestion.
Thank you for a GREAT artist website!!!
Sandy Edie
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteThanks! Great suggestion about the background blue... I'll see if I can lighten that a bit...
I had the same feeling, that background blue is a tad dark, on my computer anyway. That darker look takes away from your name/title, which is also in blues. Otherwise love the blue connection. Good change overall.
ReplyDeleteExcellent tips!
ReplyDeleteExcellent tips!
ReplyDelete@Graham MatthewsI agree that the header should be lighter blue. And yes, the red was very harsh. I had to put the effect of the colour scheme out of my mind when I visited the site - which I do regularly for the excellent content.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the header blue is a bit strong. The red was very harsh. I had to put that fact out of my mind when I visited the site, which I regularly do for the excellent content. Excellent changes.
ReplyDeleteYay! I've always hated the colour choices of Art Promotivate. I've often wanted to unsubscribe because it was too much overload with colour and content of extra side bars, buttons etc. etc. Well done.
ReplyDelete@Sea Dean
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for the advice about the header.. I have it lightened. I'm thrilled that you all like the new design, and appreciate you for putting up with the old one for so long.
I will also be working on simplifying the site.
Thank-you!!
Graham
The blue is fine, but the ad at the top of the page before I read your words is very distracting, especially annoying when it is repeated later down on the page. Lose the first one!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteRemoved.. thanks for suggesting that.. any thoughts on how to fill that space?.. or is it ok the way it looks now?
Hello, I agree with the color blue but just don't over do it. The letters of your logo get a litter bit confuse and the words on the top contact, showcase, ect. get loss.
ReplyDeleteBlue is much better.
ReplyDeleteFact is also that "mature" people prefer blue according to Faber Birren, it's basically a preference for the shorter wavelengths/higher frequencies the older we get while the younger prefer longer wavelengths/lower frequencies. I presume your audience is fairly mature...?
Another thing, it's proven the red actually raises the blood pressure (even if ever so slightly).
On a personal level, I'd suggest that you lighten the blue bar/banner behind the logo. This would make for easier reading (important for mature people as the eyesight declines!).
Personally I would prefer the placing of your navigation buttons from the previous site as it's an easier overview. Added benefit is you had space for an easy understandable overview over what to expect at your site.
By the way, I love what you do!
I'm just a beginner site expert. And I really would like to get some feedback and your opinion. Here is an example of my page https://edureviewer.com/services/unemployedprofessors-com-review/ so you can say? A bit about the site: This is an educational platform where you can compare the best projects for writing student work. At the moment, I used a dark blue color scheme for him to make the text look better and organically.
ReplyDelete