Colour In Web Design

When we open a page, colour is the first thing that we see. Colour can evoke a memory, create a mood, grab attention, uplift, scare, excite or soothe us.

So, it is vital when we are designing a website to carefully consider the colour scheme to reflect exactly what you want to portray. In this post as an experienced colour consultant I would like to  share with you how I go about beginning a new colour scheme for a website or blog. 

HTML Colour Codes

Colour design is a creative process so it is always best to have an open mind and a blank page of white. Begin by looking at websites and designs or logo's and brand marketing on sites such Vanderley or Design Inspiration.  This will create ideas and highlight what looks good, what attracts attention, what stands out and also enable you to quickly see what you do and don’t like.

Search out websites that showcase the best designs from the previous year or current trends in design. Think about what works in your view?   Once you have an idea of what you like its time to consider exactly what your target market is going to be.

Who is going to read your site? Are they conservative, radical, traditional, cutting edge or fun?

Also think about the style you are after, is it futuristic, eclectic, technical, eco-friendly, funky or professional? Is it a personal blog or an e-commerce site? Are you after a funky, unique, fresh, vibrant,  dominant,  sleek or soft muted design?  There is a lot to consider but once accomplished it is time to have fun with colour, and the colour wheel.

The Colour Wheel 

The secret in designing any colour scheme is to choose an image from your site and pick out a colour from the image. Then use the colour wheel to choose 3-4 colours based on your first choice. By using colour schemes directly from the colour wheel you can be certain the colour palette will work. Consider; 

Monochromatic - all the same colour in different tones, 
Complementary - opposite each other on the colour wheel.

Analogous  -  next to each other on the colour wheel

Triadic -  evenly spaced around the colour wheel.

Keep it simple and apply a golden design rule of 60 - 30 - 10

Main colour  - 60%  

Contrast colour - 30%

Accent colours - 10%.

There are many web based colour tools that you can use to experiment and trial your colour choices such as Colour Scheme Designer & Colour Schemer Studio 2 Join me in my next post on 'Engaging readership through sound colour choices.'  Diyu 

Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

(With the exception of the Avatar and colour code Images)

© The Avatar image is copyright to Ramneek Narang All Rights Reserved 2013
Many thanks to Ramneek Narang, HTML colour codes and Web Designer Depot for the images on this post.

Respect ~ empowerment ~sustainability.

When I was going to school  we would occassionaly go on school excursions  to perhaps the local chocolate factory - Darrel Lea or the biscuit company of Arnotts. These outings would be met with a keen possibility that we might be able to taste or at very least enjoy the aroma of the goodies but overall it was mainly fun. 

When children today visit a chocolate factory they are more likely to be told about  the environmental, ethical, economic and social aspects of Fair Trade and I for one think it is great!

Children may learn about the interconnectedness of ecosystems and why organic farming methods are important and the concept of 'fairness' by discussing how farmers work hard and should be  looked after and paid proper wages. These fundamental aspects of human rights are now addressed in the school excursions and children are being made aware and empowered with knowledge early in life. for use later as consumers or future ethical shoppers.  The ubiquitous nature of organic food products have become the norm in our supermarkets and are an integral part of our buying decisions.  The next step in ethical shopping is to become more aware of Fair Trade and to know exactly where our purchases have come from hence the education of young people on a school excursion. 

Whether it is coffee, tea, bananas, chocolate or beautifully coloured homewares it is becoming more common to the discerning shopper to ask the questions. Who benefits from the money I spend and does the money get back to the original producer or farmer? Are the producers or craft workers treated fairly and does my dollar help them stay out of poverty and sustain a livelihood?

Fair Trade is a trading partnership that is based on a mutual respect between the producer or creator of the artworks or handiwork and the person who sells the produce.

Fair Trade ensures that the  prices paid to producers  honestly reflects their work, and that workers have the right to health, safety, and wage laws. Also that products are environmentally sustainable and go towards conserving natural resources. Overall buying Fair trade improves the terms of trade for the artists or producers so they have better wages and improved trade agreements.  Which in turn ensures that livelihoods in developing countries can be improved as often the profits from Fair Trade groups are  reinvested into community projects such as health clinics,  education and chilren's welfare.

According to recent staistics Fair trade benefits more than 1.2 million farming families in 70 developing countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.  

This is one tangible way that we as shoppers can reduce poverty around the world and show a respect for the person at the end of the supply chain rather than randomly consuming products without awareness of where they came from. If we create the demand from companies that we are ethical shoppers it in turn creates a positive impact. Companies will stand up and take notice when consumers stop buying from them in much the same way that our demand for organic produce has created the organic markets becoming so readily accessible. 

To become an ethical shopper, keep an eye out when shopping and look for the Fair Trade label and keep asking those questions. If you don't your children will for you.

Cheers

Diyu

Media across cultural boundaries

Masia 

globalenvision.org 

"The twain of East and West have not only met they've mingled, mated and produced myriad offspring, 

inhabitants of one world, with-out borders or boundaries, but with plenty of style, hype, and attitude.

In Beijing, they're wearing Levis and drinking coca cola; in New York, they're sipping tea in Annua Sui. 

While Pizzicato Five is spinning heads in the U.S. Metallica is banging them in Japan 

Pop Cosmopolitanism

According to Henry Jenkins "Is someone whose embrace of global popular media is an escape route out of local or confined community" ¹

Are You A Pop Cosmopolitanist? Consider these questions if you answer YES to some I'd say you are?

Do you seek out interesting foreign films or DVD's’s?

Do you look for varied cuisine from other cultures when you dine out?

Are you involved in online courses from other cultures?

Are you play a role in Anime and Manga?
Do you subscribe to foreign websites for entertainment or news sources?

Do you seek activities from other cultures to do in your spare time - Bollywood movies, games ?
Do you subscribe to foreign news sources online?
Do you use Skype to chat or video call friends overseas?
Do you keep in touch globally with friends around the world on Facebook and other social sites?
Do you subscribe to foreign or Indigenous sites in your interest areas?

Have you been to a Japanese tea ceremony in Australia? 

Do you search for unusual cooking ingredients?

Do you practice meditation or yoga ?

"Pop Cosmopolitanism is both participatory culture and media convergence in a global context"³

Japanese Tea Ceremony In New York

We used to think of a person who enjoyed different cultures or who had an International approach as a person of discernment or "cultured".  A person considered to have good taste, who sort out foreign films, music, literature, art and cuisine from other lands to enhance our  western lifestyle. Now we have the term - Pop Cosmopolitanism "The transcultural flow of popular culture and cultural competency” ¹ 

Teenagers in America are striving to make themselves different to their parents by participating in Anime and Japanese manga, watching martial arts films and Bollywood, as well as adopting asian rituals into their way of life such as the Tea Ceremony in New York (pictured above)

The Global Disney Audience project
11/100 countries studied for familiarity
with  MM 100% had seen a Disney movie

en wikipedia.org

These all bring a feeling of unity as likeminded people share common interests from around the globe through websites, games, social networking and fandom. On the other hand, the Asian teenagers are wearing Levi’s and following everything that says "American Culture" especially in relation to fashion, music and the entertainment industry.

I was sad to read that more American children know Pokemon than Grimms fairy tales or Hans Christian Anderson but who in the world does not know Mickey Mouse?

Jenkins describes convergence of Participatory culture in a global context in two ways;

"The top down push of corporations-media ownership and  and the bottom up pull of grassroots.- local, regional, individual and cultural" ¹ 

The grassroots level is all of us individually participating in  various new media where we now are able to play a fuller role in shaping media and cultural content.

Digital technology has meant cultures can mix and share globally. Cultures are likely to change as they adopt new experiences from other ways of life in music, dance, lifestyle, design, media and culinary habits and food.

Technology has allowed  different cultures to come together as one. The cultural changes we see occur because we can communicate between people all over the world very easily and we can express ourselves through new media via social networking sites, Internet access and Skype, blogs, websites, films, vids, and other participatory media.

 Indian Film Lagaan 

Paradoxically we see remote cultures around the world adopting mobile phone use as a priority even thought they may be undeveloped in other areas. For example the Pundits in the Himalayas with internet access yet little or no possessions and the Masai tribesmen above in the featured image above.The more connected and available new media is to indigenous, remote or minority cultures will mean the degree of change they will experience so the more connected we become the more we will see unity amongst diverse cultures. Unfortunately there are some cultures around the world in the middle east for example where access to new media is only available to the elite or as in the above examples limited to mobile phones rather than all aspects of digital technology. 

With faster internet communication foreign producers are distributing content directly to the U.S and large corporations or institutions along with grassroots organisations who can play a more direct role in cultural content in participatory culture and new media.

Peepli Live

By using social networking sites, the film industry and the internet, diversely different cultures are able to voice their opinions on world affairs that in the past would never have been heard, gain recognition for cultural works within regional, local and national levels and send a warning or plea for help with cultural adversity that previously was difficult to broadcast. As Srinivasan states " communities can use the internet to exchange information, preserve histories, generate diasporic identities, and share resources that can enable collective political and social causes to be realised" ²

The outcome of convergence is not a culture devoid differences but a culture rich in diversity and the ability to search out new means of gaining a competitive edge. 

Bollywood Dance

There are challenges to be considered but having a broader awareness of all cultures and with the clever use of the internet and digital technology we can help to preserve, protect and develop intrinsic differences thereby making cultures more stable and stronger.

The loss of languages in remote areas around the world or minority and indigenous cultures is an example of grassroots convergence.The age old language of Sanskrit for instance: Sanskrit is the oldest language known to humankind, some consider it to bethe basis of all language.Sanskrit has been neglected and is at risk of being forgotten as a language. By harnessing the power of New Media we can bring awareness to other cultures, institutions and organisations to direct change and preservation.There are many examples of initiatives using new media to foster change in Global issues some of these are ; UNESCO has been active in publishing lists of endangered languages ². The World Oral Literature Project established by Cambridge University in 2009. aims to capture these endangered languages online to secure preservation.³

The Ajam Media Collective is an online space that showcases the myriad contributions of Iranian, Asian,and Diaspora communities that foster the promotion of diverse regional views and bring them together in one site.⁴

St Peppers 1967

Since we first saw the media images of the Beatles in the 1960's with Maharishi we have had a love affair in the West and India and the exciting, colourful culture. Now today America cannot get enough of Bollywood and has a fascination with Indian culture, food, spices and especially entertainment and their film industry.

American entertainment industries not keen to loose market share are joining cultural convergence and launching companies to produce films in many countries or on corroboration with other cultures. As we saw with the popular film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" A combined production from Australia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. there are many films across the world using production and distribution companies from varied cultures - Italy, India, France, New Zealand and Japan.

I watch and enjoy the following foreign films and I wonder that does make me a pop cosmopolitanist?

Indian Film Mangel Pandey

Rang de Basanti -India

Parineeta -India 

Il Postino -Italy 

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo -Sweden 

Hidden -France                                            

Life is Beautiful -Italy
The Motor Cycle Diaries -Argentina
The Mission- UK
Lagaan -India
Cinema Paridiso-Italy

References:

1. H.Jenkins (2006). Pop Cosmospolitanism: Mapping cultural flows in an age of media convergence. In H. Jenkins, Fans, bloggers and gamers: exploring participatory culture (pp 152-172). New York: New York University Press (e-reserve)
2. Ramesh Srinivasan (2006). Indigenous, ethnic and cultural articulations of new media. Volume 9(4) (pp 497-518). Sage Publications. International Journal of Cultural Studies.
United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation: www.unesco.org/ 
3. The World Oral Literature Project : http://www.oralliterature.org
4. The Ajam media collective: http://ajammc.wordpress.com/about/