Color psychology is the study of how colors determine human emotions and behaviors. We react to colors based on a complex series of interactions between our personal tastes, our family upbringing, and our cultural backgroundColor can affect perceptions in subtle ways; for example, it can enhance or detract from the way that food tastes. The right colors can even enhance how effective pills and placebos are; blue is used for calming or sleep-inducing pills whereas red or yellow are usually used for stimulantsEvery brand and business uses colors deliberately in their product designs, packaging, advertisements, and websites. High-level graphic design relies in part on the ability to select colors that work with the brand and the company’s mission. The psychology of color can and must be used to trigger the right responses from consumers, and this is part of the graphic designer’s goal.Great graphic design also anticipates cultural differences in the way colors are perceived. The same color can mean very different things to different audiences; for example, in most cultures yellow has a bright, cheerful connotation, but in China it may have vulgar or adult connotations. In the US white symbolize purity and is often used for bridal branding, but white is a mourning color in Japan, India, China, Korea, and the Middle East. The bottom line here is to know your audience and choose wisely.
A lot has been studied about how color influences the brain to react. Different color have different outcomes.
How people respond to different color stimuli varies from person to person. In a U.S. study, blue is the top choice at 35%, followed by green (16%), purple (10%) and red (9%). Blue and green may be due to a preference for certain habitats that were beneficial in the ancestral environment as explained in evolutionary aesthetics .Orange, yellow, and brown are the least popular colors, respectively.
Color preference may also depend on ambient temperature. People who are cold often select warm colors such as red or yellow, while people who are hot favor cool colors like blue and green.[6 Introverted individuals are also found to be more attracted to cool colors, while extroverts prefer warmer colors.
Gender has also shown to influence how colors are received, with some research suggesting women and men respectively prefer “warm” and “cool” colors. Black, white, and gray, as tones or shades, were shown to be received more positively by males than females.
Humans are visual beings. The brain processes pictorial information 60,000 times faster than it processes text. In addition, 90 percent of the information sent to our brains is visual. And an important component of that visual information is color.
Color psychology, the study of how color affects human behavior, is a hugely debated topic. The debate about the specific ways color affects humans is as old as color itself. Some groups even dismiss color psychology completely because the individual perception of any color is dictated largely by personal experiences and interactions with the color.
But color does have an impact on our lives. For example, in marketing and branding, color plays a prominent role in memorability: Think of Coca-Cola’s characteristic red, or the yellow golden arches of McDonald’s.
For brands, paying attention to color psychology and applying what holds true for a majority of the populace can help in getting an edge in a highly competitive marketing scene.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways brands can use the psychology of color to their advantage.
Creating a visual identity
As mentioned earlier, one of the important ways brands use color is to create a visual identity for themselves. This helps to differentiate the brand from that of the competition. It also helps with memorability.
How do brands go about doing this? The first step is to identify the core components of your brand personality.
In her publication, Dimensions of Brand Personality, Stanford University professor and psychologist Jennifer Aaker identified five core dimensions that play a role in a brand’s personality: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness.
After identifying elements that represent your brand, you can then go about creating a color scheme that communicates those elements. Studies such as Interactive Effects of Colors have proven that it is important for a brand color to “fit” what is being sold.
Appealing to specific audiences
One of the most important lessons from color psychology is that people respond differently to color based on their gender, age and cultural background.
Research has established that blue is the most popular color for both men and women. Then women are particularly inclined toward pink as men are toward blue. Big brands have wielded this information to create powerful brands.
A good example is Victoria’s Secret. Its characteristic shade of pink was not just chosen at random—it is a favorite of the company’s target audience: women. The color also reinforces the image of the brand personality; pink is an “elusive” color, and its lighter shades are barely visible. Using pink not only plays on the “secret” in the brand name; it also shades the product, underwear.
Age is also known to influence color preferences. Whereas younger audiences might be drawn to bright, youthful colors, older audiences might prefer cooler shades.
Understanding how culture affects color perception is also important for brands targeting international markets. A color considered acceptable in one culture may be a complete turn-off in another.
By choosing colors that the audience is most receptive to, brands can get an edge over their competitors.
Associating your brand to a specific mood
Another important tip from color psychology is that certain colors put people in a specific mood.
Brand strategist Thomson Dawson explains it this way: “All colors create a specific frame of mind for people—it’s called a mood. Having people be in the most receptive mood is essential for their engagement with your brand. Color sets the mood of brand expression and, more important, creates mental associations to the meaning of your brand within the context of the world it lives in.”
Research has shown that the color red causes people to react with greater speed and force, which might prove useful during athletic activities. Little wonder car companies like Ferrari and Lamborghini combine red and black to create a balance between the powerful and the luxurious.
Coca-Cola also takes advantage of the effect of the color red. For some people, a mere sign of the characteristic red color is enough to get them thirsty.
Psychologist Andrew J. Elliot tested to see if the color of a person’s clothing could make them appear more sexually appealing. He found heterosexual men and women dressed in red were significantly more likely to attract romantic attention than women dressed in any other color. The color did not affect heterosexual women’s assessment of other women’s attractiveness. Other studies have shown men dressed in red appeal to heterosexual women.
Contrary to the adult fondness for blue, in children yellow is the most favored color, perhaps owing to its associations with happiness. However, children like colors they find to be pleasant and comforting are changeable, while adult color preference is usually easily influenced.
Cultural background has been shown to have a strong influence on color associations. Studies have shown people from the same region, regardless of ethnicity, will have the same color preferences. Common associations connecting colors to a particular emotion may also differ cross-culturally.
For instance, one study examined color relationships with emotion with participants in Germany, Mexico, Poland, Russia, and the United States; finding that red was associated with anger and viewed as strong and active
However, only Poles related purple with both anger and jealousy while Germans linked jealousy with yellow. This highlights how the influence of different cultures can potentially change perceptions of color and its relationship to emotion.
Increase conversions and click-through rates
One area where the psychology of color is particularly relevant in marketing is in the use of call-to-action buttons. Several studies have been conducted on the importance of choosing the right color for call-to-action buttons. The reason for the attention is simple: The aim of marketing is to get the consumer to take the desired action. On the web, a call-to-action button is a gate to the desired action.
An example is a study by Hubspot, which A/B tested a green button vs a red button. Again, red won. The red button outperformed the green button by 21 percent.
This in no way means that every brand should use red for their CTAs, but it does mean that paying attention to CTAs and making sure that they are prominent can determine whether they get the click or not.
This also applies to social media campaigns. Whether it’s a photo or video shared, the text or area showing the required action should stand out and convey a sense of urgency.
Conclusion
Color is a powerful visual component. Brands can not only apply the color psychology in differentiation, it can be used to appeal to specific audiences and elicit certain responses from their prospects. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the right combination of colors for any brand can only become evident through consistent testing.
