Using Color to Enhance Your Blog

The internet is overwhelmed with blogs. Everyone has something to say, and instead of journaling in a notebook, a vast amount of people are choosing to blog their thoughts. With so many ideas and opinions on the internet, what can a person do to make their blog stand out? We all believe that our words are important. Our opinions and thoughts are precious to us, and when we reach out to the cyberworld to share those thoughts, we want to make an impact. Beyond our words themselves, we can use a combination of colors to motivate others emotions to feel more deeply what we are trying to say. We can use color to make our blog "pop." Consider the many different pieces of art that you have seen. Which ones stand out to you the most? Many artists over the span of time have used color to evoke a certain emotion in their work, or to draw the eye to something specific in the painting. You can use color to do the very same thing in your blogs.

Different colors cause a person to feel distinct emotions or feelings..

White

White typically stands for innocence in most people's minds. It is also what is considered a neutral color. It works as a great background for a blog because it is simple and, if the text is dark, easy to read. White also allows other colors to look more vibrant. If you are choosing to use images to add to your blog, white would be an excellent choice in helping the darker or more intense images stand out more than any other color would.

Black

Black is almost the mirror opposite of the emotions invoked by white. Black represents the evil, sinister, or dark thoughts in a person. As a background color it works well for blogs containing information that reflect that dark side of life. On the flip side, however, it can also be used to heighten the sensation of writing based on power and/or authority. It evokes strong emotions, and can be used as a background color to help your readers identify with you as a person of authority concerning the things you are blogging about. Just as white works to make vibrant colors stand out, black gives lighter, paler colors a pop that they would not carry on most other colored backgrounds.

Red

Red is probably the most powerful color on the color wheel. It invokes more emotion than any other color. It has been known, in fact, to even cause a physical response in people. Often times red will cause a person's heartbeat to quicken or breathing to become heavier. It is associated with passion, love, intensity, and hunger. Blogs carrying information concerning these issues would do well to have a lot of red accents. Finding a font color that stands out well against a red background proves to be a bit trickier than most other colors, however. Because red is such a strong color, most other colors tend to get lost in its intensity.

Purple

Darker shades of purple signifies royalty, power, and wealth. Much like red, most purples are such intense colors that other colors tend to get lost in them unless balanced well. Lighter shades of purple have a sweeter, more feminine feel. In fact, light purple and pink are closely associated. Both colors help people to relax, and give a sense of softness.

Blue

Blue has always been associated with serenity. Reminding people of water, it enhances a person's thirst, but also sends out a message of peace, loyalty, and depth of thinking. On the flip side, blue also can invoke feelings of deep sadness, and often causes a loss of appetite. Using deeper shades of blue as a background, a person can intensify these emotions with their writing.

Brown and Green

Both of these colors represent nature. They go hand in hand with the kinds of feelings they invoke in a person with few exceptions. Both are relaxing colors. Both bring a sense of serenity and positive thinking. Brown gives a sense of steadfastness or solidity, while green often evokes feelings of freedom and life.

Yellow

Like red, yellow is a very vibrant, high intensity color. It is associated with happy thinking, but at the same time stimulates anxiety and frustration. Bright shades of yellow should be used sparingly in a blog, because it also trips people into argumentative behavior.

Balancing Colors

Now that you have more of an understanding of how specific colors play on our emotions, let's look into how to blend those colors for effectiveness.

Colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel work well together for impact. They are considered opposites, and work to cause one another to stand out more visibly. Look at the image of the color wheel. Do you see how yellow and purple work against each other to make the other appear more vibrant? These colors are great used together for borders or title images.

Colors that sit closer to one another on the color wheel create a harmony in color that leads the eye to follow it. Reds, oranges, and yellows are considered warm colors, and do, in fact, represent the colors of fire, warmth, and comfort. Purples, blues, and greens signify the cool colors, and often do reflect coolness or separateness.

The best colors to use for a background for large areas are neutral colors. Neutral colors are black, white, all shades of gray, pastels, and most shades of brown. Use more vibrant color combinations in images, borders, frames, or backgrounds for small text boxes.

Creating content surrounded by colors that represent the emotions you are trying to get across will greatly influence the progress of that. Blending colors such as red, orange, and yellow lead the eye to a specific place, like a road when traveling. Using a black border around a light colored image, or a white border around a dark image helps the image to become more visible. The same method works for text as well. Dark backgrounds need very light colored text, and light backgrounds need dark colored text. Afterall, why bother blogging if the information isn't legible? Maintaining color balance is not only beneficial to your blog for pulling out emotion, but it is essential to your readers so than can actually see what you are trying to say.