How to Choose Brand Colours for Your Website

Colour is one of the first things a visitor reacts to, long before they read a single word. The right palette makes your site feel calm, trustworthy, and on-brand. The wrong one can make it look cheap or hard to read.

You do not need a design degree to choose well. A handful of sensible rules will get you a palette that works across your website, your social media, and everything in between.

Start with one main colour

Choose a single primary colour that represents your brand and feels right for your industry. This is the colour people will most associate with you, so pick something you are happy to commit to for years.

Think about tone rather than rigid rules. Cooler blues and greens tend to feel calm and dependable, warmer reds and oranges feel energetic, and deeper, muted shades often read as premium.

Build a small, balanced palette

A common approach is one main colour, one or two supporting colours, and a couple of neutrals such as a dark grey for text and a soft off-white for backgrounds. Keeping the palette small makes your site look coherent rather than chaotic.

Add one accent colour for buttons and calls to action. This should stand out clearly from the rest so visitors instantly spot where to click.

Check it actually works

The biggest practical issue is contrast. Light grey text on a white background might look elegant on your screen but is genuinely hard to read for many people. Dark text on light backgrounds is almost always the safe choice for body copy.

Test your palette on a phone, in bright sunlight if you can, and against the accessibility contrast standards. A designer will check this for you, but it is worth knowing that readability beats fashion every time.