Web Site Colors: Designing for Women

Studies consistently indicate that women have a more complex relationship with color than men. When your target audience consists primarily of women, this relationship can work in your favor or it can be a potential pitfall. Women are more likely than men to respond more strongly to web site colors, both positively and negatively. To choose good web site colors for a female audience, it is important to understand how women look at color.

When choosing web site colors, it's important to keep in mind that women more frequently have a "favorite" color. Be aware that a strong color preference can also carry over to a strong color dislike, as well. Women prefer softer, more muted, colors. Pastels and earthy, desaturated colors can be good choices for web site colors. Looking at examples of web sites designed to appeal primarily to women can be a surprisingly good resource for color palettes that women find attractive.

Women tend to view complementary and contrasting colors as too confusing and distracting. When choosing website colors for female viewers, analogous or monochromatic color schemes are better choices. Web site color can be a deciding factor for women in whether they continue to visit a site.

The on-line community iVillage.com is a perfect example of a site designed to appeal almost exclusively to women. On the main page, the background is a desaturated beige. Text is dark brown on an off-white background. Overall, the web site colors iVillage uses are monochromatic, with a desaturated pink used to highlight menus. In individual sections, the base monochromatic color scheme is still apparent, but menus are a desaturated rose.

A great example of analogous web site colors used on a site targeted toward women is MarthaStewart.com. The background is white, with a desaturated green and yellow accents. Even the pictures displayed on the main page tend to be primarily greens and yellows, creating an overall harmonious and coherent atmosphere. Each section of MarthaStewart.com has it's own color palette, though the use of white space and desaturated colors is constant.

When considering a specific web site color, keep the following in mind:

• Women generally like orange the least of any color.
• Women prefer tinted colors to shaded ones.
• Women tend to prefer cooler colors.

When designing a color palette tailored to female viewers, it may be tempting to stick to cool, pale web site colors but that approach can also put off a female audience. A site with grays and pale blues, for instance, may be perceived as boring or depressing. Instead, try to incorporate a couple of colors that will stand out without being overwhelming.

There are plenty of resources on the web for reading about gender and color. There are also web sites that offer pre-made color palettes, but your best resource will be web sites already popular with women. If you have difficulty choosing web site colors for your audience, there are also some software packages that can help with color selection.

One of the most common mistakes web designers make is to design a site with their own preferences in mind, rather than those of their visitors. As with any design decisions, pay attention to how your visitors react. Monitor your traffic after you make changes to colors, layout, and other design elements as that can help you to determine whether your audience is reacting positively. Another great tool to determine your visitors color preferences are on-line polls on your web site. Try asking for opinions and you may be surprised at the response.