COLOR PSYCHOLOGY: HOW COLOR MEANINGS AFFECT YOUR BRAND

Colors are everywhere, from our favorite shoes and clothes to the wonders of nature and outer space. Everything has a color to represent. Color pretty much existed ever since the whole universe began and plays a part in everyone’s daily life. But how much do you really know about colors?

Color plays an important role in how your brand is perceived. Whether you are a fashion brand trying to connect to a youthful audience or a medical supplies store trying to strengthen customer trust, you can study color meanings to help you better attract and connect to your ideal customer. Color psychology can be used to help build a strong, reliable brand. In this article, we’ll explain what color psychology is and educate you on the color meanings for the most popular colors used.

What is Color Psychology?                                                                           

Color psychology is the study of colors in relation to human behavior. It aims to determine how color affects our day to day decisions such as the items we buy. Does the color of a dress compel us into purchase? Do the colors of a package make us choose one brand over another? Does the color of an icon make us more likely to click on it? The short answer is yes. Color meanings can have an impact on why we prefer certain colors over others. The same color can also have different meanings that are dependent on our upbringing, gender, location, values, and a variety of other factors.

Why is Color Psychology Important in Marketing?

Color evokes feeling. It incites emotion. And it’s not any different when it comes to selecting colors for your business.

Choosing the right colors for your marketing efforts can be the difference between your brand standing out from the crowd, or blending into it. By using colors strategically for your marketing efforts, you can get your audience to see what you want them to see and help them perceive you the way you aim to be perceived. This is why understanding color psychology can be so useful for your marketing efforts. Because it can help you portray your brand the way you want to.

Color can be used by marketers to influence how people think and behave toward a brand, and how they interpret any information. The choice of colors can help people decide what is important. And that’s why content marketers need to understand what different colors mean.

List of Color Meanings

RED: Marketing colors like red can capture attention. The color of passion and drama. This color attracts the most attention and is associated with strong emotions such as love and anger. Red is the color uses universally to signify danger, courage, and power. Red is stimulating, vibrant and exciting. Red inspires desire with a strong link into sexuality and increased appetites. In Chinese culture, red represents luck and prosperity. Use red when you want to get pulses racing and to inspire action. However, use carefully as red can evoke feelings of aggression and cause visual strain. Lovers of red are passionate with an enthusiasm for life.

ORANGE: In color psychology, orange represents creativity, adventure, enthusiasm, success, and balance. The color orange adds a bit of fun to any picture, website, or marketing material it’s on. Despite its attracting color, it’s not as commanding as the color red. Many marketers still use the color for call to actions or areas of a website that they want to draw the eye too.

YELLOW: In color psychology, the color meaning for yellow revolves around sunshine. It evokes feelings of happiness, positivity, optimism, and summer but also of deceit and warning. Some brands choose to use a cheerful yellow color as the background of border for their website design.

PINK: Pink is a popular color for brands that primarily serve a female audience. In color psychology, pink’s color meaning revolves around femininity, playfulness, immaturity and unconditional love. Some brands have chosen to use the color pink for the product packaging especially for girl’s toys.

BLUE: In color psychology, blue’s color meaning ties closely to the sea and the sky. Stability, harmony, peace, calm and trust are just some of the feelings your customer may feel about your brand when you integrate the color blue into your branding. Conversely, blue can also carry some negative color meanings such as depression and can bring about a sense of coldness. Blue can be used in your website’s logo or on your website’s top navigation. Some retailers add their guarantee, trust certification or free shipping icons in a blue color to strengthen the trust aspect the color is known for.

GREEN: In color psychology, green is highly connected to nature and money. Growth, fertility, health, and generosity are some of the positive color meanings for the color. The color meaning for green also carries some negative associations such as envy. If you are in the health of fitness niche, you might choose to add more green to your online store. For example, your homepage banner image or logo might include a green background.

GREY: In color psychology, grey represents neutrality and balance. Its color meaning likely comes from being the shade between white and black. However, grey does carry some negative connotations, particularly when it comes to depression and loss. Its absence of color makes it dull. Grey can be used for font color, headers, graphics, and even products to appeal to a mass audience.

BLACK: Black is a popular color in retail. In color psychology, black’s color meaning is symbolic of mystery, power, elegance, and sophistication. In contrast, the color meaning can also evoke emotions such as sadness and anger. Many fashion retailers have used black in their logos. Black is also a popular color for text as it’s an easy color to read. Some brands choose to use black and white photos for lifestyle banner images or icons to create a certain tone or consistency on their website.

BROWN: Brown is an earthy color. After all, it’s the color of earth, wood and stone. So naturally, color psychology highlights that the color meaning for brown relates to comfort, security and a down to earth nature. In marketing, you’ll find that brown is often used for natural products and food. Brown is a color that shows up in logos, banner images, and sometimes even text due to its contrast on a white background.

WHITE: In color psychology, white showcases innocence, goodness, cleanliness, and humility. Keep in mind, that this is the meaning in North American. In some parts of the world, white has the opposite meaning. You will want to keep this in mind based on the target audience you serve. The color meaning for white also has a negative side where it symbolizes sterility and cold. On an ecommerce website, white tends to be the most used color.

PURPLE: In color psychology, purple is a royal color. The color meaning for purple is connected to power, nobility, luxury, wisdom, and spirituality. But avoid using the color too much as it can cause feelings of frustration. Some perceive its overuse as arrogant. You can add hints of purple to your website’s design such as on your free shipping bar, your logo and as an accent color in your graphics.

Now that you’ve learned what color psychology is and what the most common color meanings are for each color, it is time to apply them to your business. While many niches have common colors used, such as blue for health care, you don’t always have to follow rules. Consider choosing colors that represent what you brand to be about or what you want your customers to feel when browsing your online store.

To learn more about colors and how it affects your business, enroll at Simplinteriors School of Interior Design and Entrepreneurship one of Nigerian’s top schools of interior design located at 71, Falolu road off Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria or you can visit our website at www.simplinteriors.com/school.