Effectively using secondary colors in web design involves selecting hues that complement your dominant brand color and strategically applying them to enhance visual hierarchy, convey meaning, and ensure accessibility.
A secondary color typically makes up about 30% of your design's color palette, supporting the primary color (60%) and being accented by a third color (10%), following the common 60-30-10 UX rule.
Choosing Your Secondary Color
The first step is selecting the right secondary color. It should work harmoniously with your primary color.
- Explore Complementary Colors: Check out the color wheel to find colors that complement your dominant brand color. Complementary colors sit directly opposite each other on the wheel and create strong contrast, which can be visually striking.
- Use Color Palette Generators: Tools like Figma's color palette generator or others can help you explore different color combinations and find palettes that work well together, suggesting suitable secondary options based on your primary color.
Applying Secondary Colors Strategically
Once you have chosen your secondary color, consider where and how much to use it on your website.
- Apply the 60-30-10 UX Rule: This principle suggests allocating approximately 30% of your design space to the secondary color. This allows it to be significant enough to add interest and support the primary color without overpowering the layout.
- Create a Visual Hierarchy: Secondary colors are excellent for defining sections, highlighting key information, or styling elements that are important but not the absolute focus (which is typically reserved for the primary color or accent color).
- Use it for headings, subheadings, backgrounds of specific sections, or buttons that are less critical than your primary call-to-action buttons.
- This helps guide the user's eye through the page structure.
- Convey Meaning Through Color: Different colors evoke different emotions and associations. Choose a secondary color that aligns with the message or feeling you want to communicate on specific parts of your site. For example, blue can convey trust, green health, or yellow optimism.
- Build an Accessible Color Palette: Ensure that the contrast between your secondary color and the background color (or the color of text placed on it) meets accessibility standards (like WCAG guidelines). Use online contrast checkers to verify your color combinations are readable for users with visual impairments.
By carefully selecting and applying your secondary color, you can create a balanced, visually appealing, and functional web design that supports your brand and improves the user experience.
