I usually spend a lot of time deciding what colors to use for a website. Sometimes I can keep trying out different color combinations and keep changing the colors dozens of times until I’m satisfied. Usually in the end I will come up with a few options for the client to decide. Getting the right color is even more important when I’m designing a logo, since the colors used will be the corporate colors and it has to look good not only in the website but also when its printed out. Colors shown on the computer screen might look different when printed out e.g. for brochures and name cards. For logos I will refer to a book with color codes “Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color” by Leatrice Eiseman. It has many different color combinations for different moods.

There are so many different shades to choose from. Blue, Ocean Blue, Light Blue, Dark blue, it can take hours to decide. Heck, I’m a designer and even I get confused how blue is cerulean blue, turquoise blue or sapphire blue ?

Fortunately, over the years through experience and a few years in college, I’ve realized there are other ways to get the right color for your website or any design work. Colors that not only look great but something that your clients will love which suits the products and services they are trying to promote.

Common Sense

Usually, figuring out what color to use for a website is common sense. For instance, if I’m designing a website that is related to preschool kids education, then I would use lots of bright colors. If I were to design website for a vegetable store, then naturally I would use green.

Getting ideas from the client

Some clients will tell you right away what colors they want. Then its up to you get the right shade. So if they tell you they want lime green and violet, you better use those colors. You can give them a few combinations e.g. maybe a darker shade of green or a lighter shade of purple etc. It would also be helpful if the client tells me what colors they don’t want. For instance I had a client who told me she doesn’t want the design to be too pink. I also had a client who wanted her website to match her office. She hired an interior designer so she already had a color palette of mostly browns and beige. Plus I had to match the website with her blue and yellow logo. Fortunately, browns and beige actually looks quite good with blue and yellow. You’ll never know until you start designing in Photoshop and experimenting with the colors.

Getting ideas from the customer’s office interior and customer outfit

Some clients don’t know what colors they want and leave it to me to decide. That’s when I have to pay attention other things like, the color of their office furniture, in order to judge what kind of colors the client would like. I had a client who had a nice office in Kuala Lumpur. They had a nice reception area, with nice spotlights and a big vase of orchids against a beige backdrop. The cubicles and chairs was green. So I figured if they hired an interior designer to design the office I should use back the same colors because its sort of like the corporate color, even though there’s no green or beige on their name card. The logo was purple color. So, its just the right combination, green, beige and purple. Of course I also offered other color combinations like light blue but they ended up choosing the green and purple design.
Sometimes I also observe the colors of the clothes that my client wears when we meet up, especially if she has a nice outfit on. One of my clients wore something like a white top with pastel orange thingy in front and a light green skirt. She wanted to make a website for her wedding cake business. So, naturally I used a white background for the website with some very light pastel colors for the logo, masthead and navigation bar. So, as a freelance web designer, you have to pay attention to your surroundings when you meet up with a client so that you can get clues and ideas on what they like. In fact, that’s one of the advantage of working with a freelance web designer, no middle man or salesperson to get in the way. If the sales person is the one meeting up with the client, not the designer, then a lot of information may be lost along the way.

Getting color codes from other websites

Getting colors codes from other websites is another quick way to get a nice color combination for your site. Before starting on a project, I usually do some ‘research’ like browsing through other websites that have a similar business nature to the one I have to design. If I see something I like, then I’ll save the page or ‘print screen’ the page and save it in Photoshop as a jpeg. Then I use the ‘eye dropper’ tool to sample the color on the image. It’s a quick way to get the exact hexadecimal color code e.g. #EFEFEF. In Photoshop and Dreamweaver color palette (if you select only web colors), the lightest grey you can get is #CCCCCC. For years I thought that is the lightest grey that I can use and I must strictly follow the web colors. But actually you don’t have to follow the color palette in Dreamweaver or the ‘web only’ colors in Photoshop, you can insert your own color codes. So by observing and learning from other websites, it will expose you to new possibilities.

Another way to ‘copy’ colors from another site is to save the page. Usually when you save a web page using Internet Explorer it will save not only the html file but an image folder will also be generated. There will usually be a CSS file embedded in that folder so you can open up the file in Textpad to look at the code, and extract some color codes from there.

Sometimes it is necessary to follow the color combination from another website, for example, if the company has a parent company which already has a website and the client requests that they want to use back the same colors. Its just to make the website consistent with the corporate image.

Sampling color from a photograph

Another common method to get a color reference is from books and photographs. When I was studying at design school we used a lot of reference material to create our artwork. Students would get ideas from magazine ads, ideas from reference books at the library and concept art by other artists. For instance, in one class, we would be shown a photograph on a projector, usually it will be a sunset scene or something with a lot of ‘light and mood’. So we had to memorize the image and then the projector would be turned off and we had to spend the next few hours drawing and try to recreate the same mood and feel of the original image. I guess this exercise was to train us to know what colors to use for different situations. Anyway, my point is, if you have no way of meeting up the client and you are just communicating through email, you can always ask the client to send you some photos. You can also refer to photographs of nature e.g. orchids and colorful birds and insects to get inspiration for that perfect color combination.

Color is an important part of the visual arts. Even though the client doesn’t have a professional training in design, they are humans and have a natural appreciation for the color. People make choices about colors every day from what color clothes to wear to what color to paint their house, what color fonts to use in their email etc. Therefore its only natural that the client give as much attention when deciding what colors to use for their website and its up to you, as a designer to give them a suitable range of colors to choose from.

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Some people assume that there is no cost to running a web design business. They think that the income is pure profit. That is because, the product is a digital product, and there is no purchasing of raw materials required in order to produce the product. Moreover, since I’m working from home, they assume that I don’t need to spend money to pay any office rent. And since I don’t drive to work everyday, I save on parking and petrol.

Well, that’s true. I do save on parking and petrol. I also save on traveling time. No need to get stuck in traffic jams or drive one hour to get to the office. Also as a result of not going out so often, I also save money by eating at home most of the time.

But every month I do have to take care of my cash flow and balance things out with my personal expenditure. Working at home also means I have more free time and will spend money on other activities like travelling, compared to last time when I was working full time, I didn’t have time to exercise or travel, so I managed to save a lot. So, actually working at home, if you don’t have the discipline, you will end up spending more money than when you are working full time.

Below is a summary on what I spend on to run my home-based freelance web design service:

• Time – Multimedia and web design work takes up a lot of time. No raw materials, no cost. Just takes time to do some research, come up with ideas, drafts and make changes, and coding and editing the content. Also, since it is a service and I have to deal with clients, there will also be some consultancy work involved, like meeting up with clients and replying emails and answering customer enquiries. Its part of the job. Not all potential customers that I talk to will give me business. Not all quotations that I spend time to draft out will become a sale. So time is money. Quite often, I waste time creating a quote or doing work that will get rejected and helping a client do something that I won’t get paid for e.g. technical support and troubleshooting. Therefore I consider my time to be part of the cost.
• Hardware – Currently using a Dell Desktop computer, which I have been using for about 4 years. Recently spent a few hundred to upgrade the RAM and add a new hard disk for more disk space. Other equipment include scanner, digital camera, printer and fax machine. Also had to buy CD’s and DVDs to backup files. In the future probably need to buy a new laptop.
• Software, Plugin, Fonts, Templates and Stock Photos – These days I have to purchase original software license from the internet. E.g. I had to spend a few hundred to buy the latest Corel VideoStudio video editing software. I also bought the a plugin to get the Flash ‘squares’ effects. Sometimes is better to invest in good software that can get the job done fast. Makes life easier. I also buy fonts and ecommerce template. Some fonts I just can’t find it in the Free Fonts websites, and having a ready made template makes things easier to get started. I also buy stock photos, especially if the client needs high resolution photos for printing. Most of the time I will charge the client for the stock photos.
• Internet, electricity and ‘rent’ – I’m working at home, and I do have to pay for the broadband internet connection, the electricity and contribute to the household expenses. Also I have to pay my mobile phone bill.
• Petrol, toll, parking and car maintenance – Sometimes I have to drive all the way to Shah Alam to visit a client. Also have to pay for parking and toll. The Phileo Damansara parking is RM3 per hour. At one time I had to meet up a client in Bangsar several times in a day. These days, I try to do all the interaction online and my clients come to visit me nearby my house so that its more convenient.
• Staff salary & freelancer fees – My biggest expense is paying my staff salary. Well, so far I only have one person working for me on a part time basis, and I pay her a fixed salary every month. Occasionally, I also hire other freelancers for cartoon illustration and programming. You gotta be careful who you hire. Sometimes the results they produce are not what my client wants, but I pay them anyway for the effort that they already put in. So that’s an expense.
• Web hosting and domain name registration – Need to pay the hosting for my website jamiesoon.com. Sometimes I also have to pay in advance the hosting fees on behalf of my clients. Later on I will get reimbursed.
• Stationery and marketing materials – In the beginning, had to print name cards. I also have to spend time to maintain my website. I consider it an asset. My website is an essential tool in my business and is crucial in marketing my services. It also helps me to get connected with my friends. The cost is more of spending time to update it and once in a while redesign the website.
• Advertising – So far I’ve only spent money to advertise in a printed home-business newsletter. I got some response and got a 2 clients from there. Otherwise I try to look for free ways to advertise my services, e.g. in free forums and free online classifieds. So I don’t spend much on advertising, currently its through word of mouth and recommendations as well providing services to my regular clients.
• Education and Research Materials – Last time I bought a few design reference books. Also have to spend time to research and keep up to date with the latest web tools. Sometimes spending time to guide my assistant. And don’t forget the thousands of dollars and years spent to obtain a Computer Science Degree and a Design Diploma.
• Entertaining clients – Occasionally, someone gives me a referral and I buy them lunch. E.g. my uncle recommended me to his friend to design his website, so took them out for a Japanese lunch when I got my paycheck. It was fun. Normally, my clients buy me drinks / food when I have to meet up with them at a restaurant or café.
• Other costs – Sometimes, I do websites for free or at low cost for friends and non profit organizations. All these discounts I give can be considered as a cost because it takes up my time. Other costs include bank transfer fees, paypal transfer fees, exchange rates e.g. when customers pay me from overseas. In addition, I have to consider customers who don’t pay up on time or decide not to pay up at all. That is also consider a loss and expense.

Therefore, you can see, not all my income is profit. There are quite a few expenses involved and I have to keep my expenses in check every month and this is only my business expenses. Although there are no ‘raw materials’ to create this product, it is considered a service, and will take up my time. Time is money. So that’s the cost of running my business.

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