Chosing colours for solids for the web

[Tero Ahlfors]

There’s no strict “web colors” for video like in html or such. Most internet video services/players and monitors that people are probably watching on support only 8 bit video so that limitation is something to keep in mind.

[Jerry Smith]

Thanks both.

So Dave, imagine that you have a simple frame that is the white words “TEXT” on a solid background. Only you decide that it would look great with a certain turquoise background. You even know the hex for it. So what do you do? Do you use that turquoise? Or do convert it to some other better behaved turquoise hex? If so, then how do you get the better behaved turquoise hex?

I actually have a lot of flexibility vis a vis colours. But I don’t know, for example, whether #839690 a good colour. Is it??

Thanks!

[Tero Ahlfors]

[Jerry Smith] “But I don’t know, for example, whether #839690 a good colour. Is it??”

[Jerry Smith] “So what do you do? Do you use that turquoise?”

You can use whatever you want as long as it fits the mood/idea/brand/whatever you’re trying to make. There are all kinds of color schemes and you can find examples over here: https://color.adobe.com/

[Jerry Smith]

I mean is it a good colour for computer videos? Or is a nearby colour better? It’s not an aesthetic discussion.

[Jerry Smith]

Maybe this will work:

If I am only using 6 colours in a web video, does it matter what they are as long as they aren’t ugly?

[Tero Ahlfors]

[Jerry Smith] “does it matter what they are”

No.

[Jerry Smith]

So when colours look different on different machines, all of them are looking different? And not just a few?

[Walter Soyka]

[Jerry Smith] “If I am only using 6 colours in a web video, does it matter what they are as long as they aren’t ugly?”

Because H.264 usually uses chroma subsampling (meaning that color information is stored at a lower resolution than brightness information), you can sometimes get fringing or blocky edge artifacts where two solid colors meet, especially if they are complementary, and especially when they meet at diagonals or curves.

I’d suggest doing a quick test, rendering out a few frames and encoding them to H.264, to see how this will affect your color choices.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Walter Soyka]

[Jerry Smith] “So when colours look different on different machines, all of them are looking different? And not just a few?”

You cannot guarantee identical color rendition on any two different machines, unless the entire pipeline is color-managed. And even then, there are limitations and caveats.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]