7 Color Tips to Improve Your User Interface Design

Colors are one of the most significant components of any interface (along with whitespace and typography). They have a huge impact on how people perceive a digital offering. When it comes to user interface design, there are several things that must be done correctly in order for an interface to fulfill the demands of the target audience. Color selection is an important aspect of UI development. 

Creating a color scheme for a product may appear to be a difficult task (especially in the event that you don’t think of yourself as a graphic designer). But, it’s not as difficult as most people believe. And there are a lot of techniques we can use to quickly generate a fantastic color palette.

In this article, I’ll define 7 color tips to improve your user interface design:

1. Analyze how colors work together:

Some colors complement one other nicely, while others conflict. If you don’t consider this, you’ll wind up developing UI that makes people uncomfortable.

Hopefully, there is an easy technique to achieve a pleasing color scheme. Traditional color scheme patterns like monochromatic, analogous, and complimentary will assist you in creating a scheme that works well for your product:

• Monochromatic color schemes are composed of several tones, shades, and tints within the same hue.
• Analogous schemes are made by utilizing three colors that are near to one another on the color wheel.
• Colors from the opposing sides of the color wheel are combined to create complementary color palettes. These color schemes include just two colors in their most basic form, but tones, tints, and shades make it simple to expand them.

2. Conduct interface inventory:

One of the most prevalent issues for many UI designers is the use of too many colors in their designs. And the underlying reason for this issue is the way colors are structured. Many teams struggle with color organization. It is also advisable, to begin with, interface inventory when introducing a better way to deal with colors.

An interface inventory is a method for classifying the components that comprise an app or website. The number of colors used in your product will be displayed in the interface inventory.

• If you’re working on a website, utilize a tool like CSS Stats to determine how many different colors you have in your style sheets.
• If you’re developing an inventory in Sketch, the plugin Sketch-Style-Inventory may be used to combine all colors. Similar-looking styles can be combined.

3. Define foundational colors:

• Make your whites and blacks clear:
  
  When it comes to whites and blacks, it’s always best to avoid excessive color variations. White does not have to be completely white. Similarly, black does not have to be completely black.
  
  Depending on how precise you want to be with your color palette, you may want to incorporate a variety of tints (a color combined with white) and shades (a color mixed with black). But be careful! Having too many shades and colors might make the color-picking process more difficult for designers.
  
• Look for a low-contrast neutral color:
  
  Neutral colors with low contrast are not good for components that need to be read, but they are perfect for elements like input fields. The most important thing to consider when designing such items is to keep them unique from the rest of the UI. Because input fields do not need to stick out too much, a low-contrast neutral color can assist you in creating the ideal UI container.
  
• Limit the number of primary colors:
  
  A primary color is the one that appears the most on your app’s displays and components. There cannot be a lot of basic colors in a color scheme. You should ideally have a limited number of acceptable core colors (1-3 primary colors that reflect your brand) and a reasonable number of accent colors.
  

4. Consider color psychology:

Humans are visual creatures, and the colors we see may impact how we feel about a design. When we detect a specific color, our brain processes the information and sends messages to the body, and responsible for the mood and emotions to be released. As a result, psychology should play an important role in the color selection process. 

Each color represents a distinct feeling. However, designers must keep in mind that different people interpret colors differently. Color choices may be significantly influenced by characteristics such as age and gender. This is why website designers use the color of elements like SVG icons in such a way that it not only compliments the website but also grabs visitors’ attention. To establish a flawless color scheme, you must first understand your target audience.

5. Use the 60-30-10 color proportions rule:

Even with a small color palette, it may be difficult to establish a harmonious color scheme. Many designers struggle with color proportions – it might be difficult to determine what percentage of color in UI should be in contrast to the other colors.

A basic guideline known as ’60-30-10′ can assist you in achieving a good balance. This approach originated in interior design and is frequently used in home décor. The guideline is simple: to achieve balance in the composition, the colors should be blended in the proportions 60%-30%-10%. This guideline states that you should have 60% of your dominant color, 30% of your secondary color, and 10% of your accent color.

6. Limit the total amount of colors:

The use of color in design is heavily influenced by balance. In general, the more colors you use, the more difficult it is to produce a pleasing balance. That’s why it’s best to keep the number of colors in a scheme to a minimum. Some products, like mobile applications, may achieve spectacular results with only one primary color.

The trick is to utilize dark and bright variations of the primary color. Darker color variations may be made by reducing brightness and increasing saturation, while brighter color variations can be produced by raising brightness and decreasing saturation.

7. Don’t forget about accessibility:

The major objective of a designer while building a UI should be to ensure that everyone has a positive experience when using a product. It occurs when a design is usable by all user groups, including those with visual impairment. The color designer must be conversant with WCAG 2.1 standards and incorporate them into color choosing.

Every UI design should follow two fundamental accessibility rules:

• When text appears on colorful backgrounds, it should be readable. The color contrast between components should be sufficient so that people with poor eyesight can read the content. Color contrast accessibility may be checked using special programs such as Web aim contrast checker.
  
• Never rely just on color to convey meaning. The interface will be easier to use for those who cannot see color if there is accompanying text that describes what is happening.
  

Wrap-up:

The foundation of UI design is color. There are no incorrect colors when selecting them for your user interface. The most important factor is how you use them. Spend some time developing a palette that best suits your product, then uses it consistently across the UI.