Website Colour Combinations to Avoid

Beautiful, effective web design doesn’t happen by mistake; the intentional selection of colours, fonts, and layout makes or breaks your site’s user experience, helps accessibility, and impacts how your brand is perceived. It goes far beyond just aesthetic preferences – poor colour combinations lead to reduced readability, potential confusion for users, and can even cause eye strain. 

Accessibility laws are changing, and with WCAG standards more important now than ever, avoiding common mistakes in colour selection is a must. It’s the easiest way to build a visually appealing and user-friendly website that works for all potential users. 

Want bespoke, expert guidance? Partner with Create8 for web design that’s visually striking, user-friendly, and meets all accessibility needs. 

Colours can negatively impact website user experience

Choosing the wrong colour combinations for your website palette can reduce usability and the general visual appeal of your website. 

Overusing bright neons or heavy blacks can overwhelm your visitors, causing eye strain and ultimately reducing the time they’ll spend on your website; and relying on too many colours can dilute the overall cohesion of your design concepts. 

How can poor colour choices affect website accessibility and readability?

Bad colour palette choices don’t just harm usability – they can also actively exclude particular users, and fail the evolving accessibility legal requirements. Poor aesthetic choices can affect users with visual or colour impairments, limiting their ability to navigate your brand website. 

Using low-contrast or insufficiently distinct colours, such as black on grey or pastel on white, can make it more difficult to read text and differentiate buttons from backgrounds. Avoid using low-contrast text and backgrounds, or relying solely on colour to convey information. Prioritising accessible design ensures a positive experience for all users. 

How do clashing colours impact the overall aesthetic of a website?

Clashing colours create visual chaos, making your website difficult to navigate and engage with. Excessive clashes overwhelm the eye, distracting users for important elements such as CTAs, and reducing content clarity. 

Visual harmony and choosing the right colours for your brand is crucial for maintaining user interest, and ensuring your website design feels professional and cohesive – while still getting across your brand message. 

How do colour combinations affect the branding and perception of your website?

Colour combinations play a critical role in shaping how website users perceive your brand. Inappropriate or non-complementary palettes – like using neons for a law firm – can harm credibility and create confusion. 

There is psychology behind building an effective palette, and particular colours imply different messages and bring varying emotions. Blue is usually seen to convey trust, and relaxes users; red is a colour of vitality; yellow generally reflects freshness; and green symbolises growth.

You don’t need to feel bound to the obvious choices – but thoughtful colour schemes evoke emotions that align with your branding goals, while staying with industry standards and expectations. 

Colour combination best practices for web designers 

Limit your colour palette

Using too many colours at once overwhelms the visuals of your website and makes the design look chaotic. Stick to 2-4 shades for a clean and cohesive look – and make sure they align with your brand identity.

Choose complementary colours

Colours that work well together don’t just look great but can enhance readability, and make navigation of your website feel more intuitive. Use tools like Adobe Color to find complementary shades, and prioritise contrast to make text and buttons stand out. 

Maintain consistency

Inconsistent use of colours, or even just slightly different tones, can confuse users and reduce engagement. Use the exact same shades across your site to guide users seamlessly and build familiarity – and make sure these are clearly communicated in any internal brand guidelines.

Adapt to your audience

Certain colours resonate better with specific demographics and industries. Make sure you’ve thoroughly researched your target audience and selected a colour palette that evokes the right emotions, whilst aligning with their preferences. 

Common web design pitfalls and how to avoid them

Overusing one colour

No matter how nicely formatted it is, a website dominated by a single colour can start feeling flat and uninspired. This can also make it harder for users to distinguish important elements like CTAs. 

How to avoid? 

Create a balanced colour palette that includes between 2-4 complementary colours. Use contrasting hues to highlight interactive elements and guide user navigation.

Neglecting colour vision deficiencies

There are loads of different kinds of blindness, and it’s common for designers to forget about some of the less common ones. A colour palette can look great but still fail accessibility checks.

How to avoid? 

Use colour-blind-friendly palettes and avoid relying solely on colour to convey information or important messages. Test your combinations using tools such as WebAIM’s contrast checker. 

Ignoring contrast ratios

Low-contrast text and background colours can reduce readability and fail accessibility standards such as WCAG. 

How to avoid? 

Ensure a minimum contrast ratio of 4:5:1 for text, using tools designed to test website colour combinations. 

Culturally insensitive colour palettes

Different colours can carry a variety of meanings across cultures, so it’s important to know who your audience is – and who you’re marketing to. 

How to avoid? 

Research your target audience and select colours that align with their cultural expectations, as well as your brand message.

Best tools for web design colour scheme selection

Tools like Adobe Color and Coolors simplify the palette creation process, and allow designers to explore potential combinations effortlessly. Contrast checkers, such as WebAIM’s contrast checker, ensure compliance with WCAG standards, making your designs inclusive for all users. 

Plugins such as the Colour Contrast Analyser are invaluable for testing live designs, helping you fine-tune accessibility in real-time. 

Ready to refine your brand’s colour strategy?

Create a colour strategy that captivates and converts your audience with Create8. Get in touch for cohesive, effective branding and web design – led by experts.