Should I use company's logo color as a website color even if its bad?

Question

I'm building a website for the company that I'm in, but the marketing department, isn't giving me much room with the colors. They say that we need to use the #2DCCD3 everywhere because it's in the logo, but i find that saturating and limited, the website just looks like all of the others that use blue.

And the company does not have a brand strategy implemented, it's all over the place, and my idea is to build that after defining the website.

My question is, are they right? Should I use that color for brand recognition, in detriment to a memorable website?

The color palette that I suggest for the website is:

• Gradient: #ff2645 to #d05822
• Hovers in: #ff2645
• Text and solid elements in: #fff
• Icons based in: #0F8186

ps. not all pages will have gradient.

Answer 1

Any single colour can be worked into a working colour setting, even for a website. So, yes, they are right in stating that using their blue is good for brand recognition.

A good idea might be to take the original #2DCCD3 and create less bright, saturated versions of it to use next to the base colour. You can create these shades using the HSB colour model. HSB is available in most of the standard graphics editors' colour pickers, and allows you to create muted or brighter versions of a colour while keeping the actual hue identical.

I'd advise you to look up articles and other information about creating a colour scheme from an existing colour to create something that is both pleasing and usable. I find this series of three articles on Smashing Magazine a good introduction to the subject:

• Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color
• Color Theory For Designers, Part 2: Understanding Concepts And Terminology
• Color Theory For Designers, Part 3: Creating Your Own Color Palettes

Answer 2

Vincent's answer is right on the money. I would also advise you take a look at a lot of the trends in web design lately, specifically regarding the subtle use of vibrant color, and take some cues from them.

Even better, you could use this SE page as a reference. Note the way the bright red and teal are used at the top of this page. They define the tone and branding of the page, but they don't overload your eyes by using the red as the background color of the page.

Answer 3

Let's see... given your premises:

• fibersensing.com is a good site to draw inspiration from;
• client requirements are optional;
• teal is very bad indeed;
• white on a pink-to-orange fade is good;
• mouseovers the same color as the background are good;
• consistency ("looks like all of the others that use blue") is bad;
• looking "commercial" is bad.

...any answer will be difficult. I feel you are coming from a place where coming up with a good design that will satisfy your clients is next to impossible.

My recommendation, then, would be to make the website look as awesome as you possibly can within your client's constraints, respecting and using those constraints as the framework around which your design is be built. Make their vision become a reality. Give them exactly what they asked for... but ten times better than they expected or imagined!

And then, purely to satisfy yourself, make a second copy of the CSS, changing nothing but the colors (OK, you can also change the images, to match the colors), and show them how your vision is way better than theirs.

Be sure you don't cheat yourself by skimping on the awesomeness of the teal design, though: you want to give yourself a REAL challenge!

They may well not take your suggestion, of course: but in that case, you've done what they have asked, and can hold the moral high ground, while chanting "you can lead a horse to water..." in your head.

Answer 4

I agree with the other posters. If the company color makes your eyes hurt, just use it sparingly and emphasize other elements.

Also, compare your company's site with others in the same line of work and ask yourself what is working for the competition that could be done better by you and your company?