When you own an online community or dating site, you know that you never have a second chance to make first impression. Your web site design is just as important as its domain and conception. A carefully chosen template can create the right atmosphere, and put your site members in the right mood – flirty, or cheerful and ready-to-make-friends.
Did you know that a template color can greatly influence the way visitors feel about your site? There is a whole division in marketing that studies color influence on potential customers’ behavior, which can help you increase sales/attract more members to your site. In order to get the best of your dating/social networking site template, make sure it meets the color marketing principles given below.
Colors, and messages they communicate.
White – is a symbol of innocence and purity. White color chosen as a background gives your site a ‘clean’ look that does not irritate the eye. It makes the design simple and stylish, and allows you to add a large number of colorful components. White background is recommended for the sites that offer much to read on the pages.
Black – is a color of authority and power. This color evokes strong emotions, and is often associated with luxurious classics and elegance. It helps to create an atmosphere of mystery and intimacy. Too much of black color can look overwhelming. But if you add a few bright colors, your design will look catchy, colorful and attractive.
Red – is known to be a symbol of love, passion, aggression, energy and excitement. It has a stimulating effect for any kind of appetite. So if you are starting an adult dating web site, red color in your template components is a must-have.
Green – this color has calming and stabilizing effect. It is associated with health, nature and money. If your web site is health-oriented, or is about offering financial services – choosing green background or components will be a good idea.
Blue – is loved by most people. Darker shades of blue are perfect for business networks, as they symbolize trustworthiness, stability and professionalism. Light blue colors give a feeling of freshness and cleanliness, and can get your members in the careless mood.
Yellow – is a color of sunshine, happiness and laughter. It stimulates our brain to release serotonin, which gets us in the cheerful and energetic state of mind. This color used in design components and background can become a great tool for inviting new members to your social/community site.
Orange – is associated with energy, pleasure, fun and warmth. Somehow this color makes expensive products look more affordable. It is vibrant and sharp enough to make your members feel anything but calmness.
Gray – represents all the solid and practical things. Silver color, which is a hue of gray, represents high tech style. Too much of gray in web site design is sure to look dull, but adding a few gray components will give your web site a touch of solidity and seriousness that are essential for business networks.
Golden – this color is a symbol of wealth and luxury. Adding a few golden components will make your design look classy and attractive.
Once you’ve chosen the design colors that match your site conception, it’s time to think on combining them in a harmonious way.
For that we recommend to take a look at the color wheel (aka chromatic circle), and choose one of the color schemes that helps to match colors in the best way.
Monochromatic color scheme – is based on choosing colors from one color segment (for example, lighter and darker shades of green). It gives your site design an integral clean look.
Complimentary color scheme – is built on using colors that are opposite to each other on the chromatic circle. The warm-cold combination is always eye-catching. It makes your site look fresh and lively.
Analogue color scheme – is using three neighboring color segments. This combination makes design harmonious and colorful.
Triple color scheme – is about using three color segments equally standing out from each other on the color wheel (for example, red, yellow and blue). This combination looks unexpectedly stylish and pleasant to the eye.
SkaDate Dating Script has a wide range of dating and community templates for any taste and site conception. But for those who want to stand out in a crowd by developing a unique template – there is every possibility for customization, because our dating software has a 100% open source code.
Tags: color marketing principles, dating script, dating templates, site samples
Good suggestions for new developer for selecting template and color themes for their internal pages We had implemented some of your guide lines in our modifications. Check out by visiting our site http://www.beautifulmingles.com
Please provide us more information for graphics design in the future.
Thanks,
Beautifulmingles’ Associate.
“Your web site design is just as important as its domain and conception”
I totaly agree with the statement above. Domain would actually be the first thing I would look at, specially if I would do a Google search. A clean domain would appeal more than a sloppy one.
As for the design, I think it should be based on the age group visiting the site (a maturer look for sites only allowing 30+ ppl) etc.
Great insipiration in this post.
Cheers
Caspar H from Bröllopsdekorationer
So true. I use these principles about the role of color in mood and state of mind not only whenever I am setting up a web site, but also whenever I am painting a room. I’ve found, for example, that having an orange accent wall in my office boosts my productivity. May be psychosomatic, sure, but it seems to work! There are definitely particular colors that suit the goal of any site, no doubt about it.
Caspar, you said, ““Your web site design is just as important as its domain and conception.”
I would agree with this, but keeping in mind that, without traffic and good content, it won’t take off no matter what you do.
I do a travel blog and purposely used almost the opposite of what you’d expect, an muted gray and burgundy framing, figuring the colors in the photos will even pop more against this staid background.
Do the unexpected – just a thought.
Bart
What I find to be most interesting about this article is how much colors influence our minds, in more ways then just the influence on how a person perceives our websites. These colors are emotive in so many respects. I know it is pretty common to find people who wear black to be “dark and mysterious”, and pairing that with your description of the color black and how it relates to websites makes a lot of sense. It amazes me how many people do not realize the influence of colors, but there is so much importance behind the color decision. Hopefully more people will notice your website and take advantage of this good information on colors and in what circumstances to use them on their websites!
I think the templates posted here is really well put together. Online dating sites doesn’t have to look like sleazy or cheap or made to look really tacky. Nothing is more off putting than going to a site which looks like a collection of trash, which implies that the ones mingling in there can be.
I think its awesome that you have open source for your templates. It helps the body as a whole by having many people improve design. I like the colors and your descriptions just would have liked you to pick a favorite
I love how colors and shapes affect the way people feel and see things, its so interesting. It amazes me how many people do not realize the influence of colors, but there is so much importance behind the color decision.
Thank you for sharing these templates. I am a designer and love to see what other people think about templates and design.