Unify Your Web Design Colors!

As web designers, we are often required to use images from disparate sources in a web page. With a few minor tweaks in Photoshop or any other graphic program, you can make polished, subtle improvements that pull the design together. Here's one way it can be done. We will use this web design for a real estate web site as our sample:

In this web site, the images I selected all had nice tan tones to complement the color scheme of the site. However, I wanted each image to also have the same accent color. I decided to use purple as the accent color, providing a pleasing contrast to the tan shades. However, only one of the original images used on this site had purple in it--the large image of the sofa in the left side of the web page. I wanted to use the purple in the quilt on the couch throughout the design. To unify the color scheme in all the images on this page, I manipulated each image to add purple in Photoshop.

First, I added purple to the shadows in the photo of the vase, giving it a purple cast. The BEFORE picture here shows the original image. Using the color tools in Photoshop, I added purple to the shadows. Notice how it now matches the graphic of the sofa in the AFTER graphic! Next, I selected the round pillow in the second image (the chaise) and used the Hue, Saturation Tool in Photoshop to re-color it purple. Also, I also subtlety changed the color tint in the wall in the extreme left side of the photo from a tint of blue to a tint of purple. Finally, I selected the slippers in the third image, changing them from black to purple.

The end result; the images all look as if they were shot by the same photographer for this project. A unified, polished, high concept look with just a few minor tweaks of color!

Key Points From This Article:

• Use Photoshop or other graphic tools to select, add and repeat key colors in graphics and photos used in a web page design. This unifies the color scheme within all images on the page.

This web design is the project we were working on when the World Trade Center tragedy of 9/11/2001 occurred. Our office window faced downtown NYC and I can remember watching the disaster as it occurred.

Donald Peterson