Colors, layout and images function on a web page much like they do in "meat space" where we in everyday life assess our knowledge, comfort and behavior appropriate for a given setting. Colors have a subtle cognitive effect as certain colors activate particular parts of the brain which produce neural responses, and if that were not enough there are cultural apprehensions of color. On the Viking Yacht site there is the maritime blue and white (water and sky) as well as the red and orange (life rings and safety supplies); the red and orange being more understated than the white and blue as vice versa there would be a strong sense of potential danger.
Layout also has cognitive effects. Interface designers speak of "cognitive resistance" being a matter of the time required to learn how to use, navigate and create results in a given environment; the longer a user spends learning, feeling their way around, the less time the user is committed to committing or responding in a constructive loop. In web design, similarly, how information is laid out—and what information is placed where—has a lot to do with the accessibility of the information no matter what exactly the information is relaying. From the moment a user appears on your site, the cognitive resistance can be 100% but well-conceived layout can diminish that resistance before you can say "sold".
In this pool of neural affects of course images play a role. As in everyday life the images—and colors present in images—can make us feel alarmed, intimidated, or at ease and even evoke memories or imaginatively placing ourselves in the world of the image. In the right setting our senses can be activated; images can bring back familiar smells and sounds, or even emotional responses. In web design, this works no less profoundly. But designers must be curators—images or images' sake is a considerable error when we consider the potential that carefully selected images (and colors and tones and active or passive appearances) can be rather seductive.
Of course, only in few cases can color, layout and image stand alone. More often they work in concert, and web designers must be in touch with not only the technical aspects of their craft but also have at least a level of familiarity with user behavior and cognition.
CSS supports both ends—it allows designers greater flexibility with more creative control and less complex documents, and this in turn unlocks greater consideration for perfecting function disguised in forms.
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