Sometimes used to give an illusion of depth, sometimes to create movement and sometimes just used to give your eye 'breathing room'. A different 'tactile' design element created by a combination of line, shape and value. Entic.net Every design you've ever done has used a combination of all of these elements, although you probably weren't conscious of it until now. So, before you throw a new color into the mix, ask yourself if you could get more benefit from adjusting one of your other five elements. If your color only exists as 'window dressing', then frankly it isn't working hard enough.
Every site needs a 'content hierarchy' or 'content ladder of importance'.
There's a good chance that your 'Latest News' might be at the top of your sites ladder of importance, and your copyright message might be at the bottom of it. The more they use your site, the more they learn to scan for certain colors and text styles. Feature Articles' and 'Hot Discussion Topics' are marked with big, clickable, rich blue text links. Scroll the landing page quickly down and up and you will notice these main links still catch the eye amongst the blur of text. Older articles are highlighted in a less eye-catching gray text, sitemap links are tagged with a sedate blue, and 'garden variety' body text is presented in plain black.