At the end of every year and the start of a new one there are countless articles to be found speculating on web design trends, covering everything from the technical to the aesthetic and it will come as little surprise that some predictions are consistently bang on the money whilst others just don’t happen at all.
One area that did interest me however was that of colour and reading through various blogs and forums, I came across numerous discussions as to what colours are expected to be hot and which were not.
As you’d expect, opinions were wide ranging with just about every colour combination getting a mention as being the next new thing.
The issue I have with colour usage predictions when it comes to corporate websites though is that they can really only apply to newer businesses because I suspect most older and longer established businesses that unless going for a totally different look would be loathe to change something that has grown to become an essential part of their corporate identity.
Take Aviva for example; they used to be known as Norwich Union but rebranded a few years ago, but whatever else altered within the company itself, their corporate colours and logo remain the same; consequently, they are still recognisable even though the name has changed.
Building brand awareness relies as much on constant exposure of corporate colours as it does on taglines and logos, and done properly, consistently and with enough time, people should be able to recognise a particular brand by any one of these elements on their own.
Colour of course is a matter of personal preference but as I said earlier, new businesses still in the early stages of building their brands face fewer restrictions than the more established companies where following colour trends could perhaps do them more harm than good.
Until next time.
