Most advice you’ll read about starting up your blog with your chosen theme will talk about branding, and why this is important. Branding is crucial to making your site stick in readers’ minds, and building your own identity, whatever niche you are in – from a fashion site talking about the latest boutique clothing and accessories, to a recipe blog or a fan site for your favorite TV show. Color is a big part of branding, and as branding is about being consistent and memorable, this usually means that once you’ve decided on a color scheme for your blog, you need to stick with it – it is, after all, a component of the brand.
However, for certain types of blog, changing the colors of some elements of the site – while keeping everything else like fonts and navigation the same – can actually be an interesting way to keep the site fresh for regular readers. Here are some examples:
Seasonal or Event Based Changes
Everybody notices when big brands start using ‘holiday colors’ close to Christmas, for instance the famous red cups at Starbucks. Changing the colors on your site in this way can be a fun way to acknowledge a holiday or event, and less annoying to visitors than things like falling snow effects on the screen for the holidays or floating hearts for Valentine’s day. If you want to do holiday or event based color changes, make sure it is really clear why you have done them, especially if you are doing something less obvious than a Christmas color change such as a green and blue color change for Earth Day, or something personal like a pink color change because you have had a baby girl. Write a post about the change if it isn’t a really obvious one – it will add to the appeal!
Fashion Color Changes
If you blog about something affected by fashion colors, for example clothing, weddings or interior design, then it can be a fun idea to change your color scheme every few months in line with the latest color trends for the current season. You can find fashion color palettes from Pantone, the color institute, in advance of each season and change your website colors to fit. Again, it is a great idea to write a post introducing each new color scheme and connecting the colors you have picked to things within your niche.
Cause Related Color Changes
Another reason to change colors could be to show support of a cause. Many causes have a color associated with them, like pink for breast cancer, red for AIDS awareness, blue for autism, and of course the famous rainbow for LGBT rights. Changing your blog’s colors in support of a cause can be a great thing to do alongside any campaigns you might be doing on your blog to raise awareness or money.
As you can see there are some situations where changes can help your branding, rather than obscure it – see if any of these ideas suit your blog!