Colour Psychology & Its Marketing Use Cases

Ever wondered why some brands are associated with a single colour? Or why do some new brands make such a fuss over what colour their logo should be? Well, if you are a brand and you haven’t thought about this then you should. And understand the psychology of colours in Business. Colours not only make things beautiful, but they also add a feeling to it. The human brain perceives every colour differently and relates them to certain feelings or emotions.

But, how would you know, what color to choose according to your brand? Well, based on psychological study and research, there is a dedicated field of study called Color Psychology, that could help you. Now, what the psychology of colours in business is & how colours affect the perceiver is exactly what we will discuss here. So, keep reading to add colours to your brand and only the right ones!

What Is Colour Psychology?

Colour Psychology is a branch of study that focuses on studying the effects of different colours on the human brain and how we perceive each differently. Besides this, it also takes into account how each colour evokes certain feelings in our brains.

As a brand, colour is an important part for you, right from your logo to your website, since 90% of the time, consumers put colours and the visual appearance of the brand primary. Choosing the right colours is thus an important part for you. Since you want to convey your brand’s message rightly to the consumer, the colours you choose must be right too.

In this article, we have mentioned a few colours and the feelings they invoke in the viewer’s mind. Read carefully as this might help you to understand the psychology of colours In business & to decide the right colours for your brand.

Black

First off on our list, is the most formal colour, Black. It might be the darkest, but it surely does convey sophistication.

It is a very powerful and authoritative colour. Generally used by high-end brands like Puma, Chanel and The Telegraph in contrast with white, black represents the luxury and elegance of the brands.

Besides white, black can be used with bright colours sparingly as they add a little energy to the sophistication of black.

But, black as a colour also has some negative effects on the perceivers.

It often appears cold and oppressive to the viewer and should be used with caution. Being often related to evil or mourning, it should be strictly avoided by brands related to health in any way. Black is often a great fit for brands relating to fashion or sports.

White

The complete contrast to the black and white colour generally represents purity and cleanliness.

Used in an iconic way these days, brands often use white to represent a modern look and feel for the brand.

White colour represents a sense of pristine and simplicity. Brands like Prada, Jaguar and Tesla, use it to exhibit a modern, sleek and calm look.

But, using white as a dominant colour for your brand is not that easy. Since white is simple, your logo or website might appear plain or boring.

If white is not used with the right colours or is badly executed, it might lead to making your brand look very lazy or lacking personality.

It’s important to retain the design elements with white since an inappropriate design might look too loud and a too simplistic design over a white background looks distant or empty.

Pink

Often related to femininity, pink is a beautiful and calming colour. The reason most feminine brands revolve around Pink is that it invokes a feeling of care, passion, and playfulness.

It also helps add content of youth to rather formal brands. Pink is a highly positive colour and thus inspires comfort and hope.

It is often used by brands like Cosmopolitan, Barbie, and Enamor creatively and innovatively.

But, using pink for your brand excessively might as well convey flippancy or outrageousness as it is a bright colour.

So, if you want to use pink for your brand, you might want to contrast the font with colours like black or use the right shades of pink.

Purple

Besides pink, purple is also associated with femininity oftentimes. But, where pink is more playful and quirky, purple has a sense of royalty and superiority to it.

Purple is used by several different brands in a rather prestigious sense. From Yahoo to Hallmark, FedEx and even Cadbury, all use purple in a very sophisticated sense to give their brand an imaginative and wealthy look.

Green

Green is the most soothing colour for the eyes. Often related to nature and natural stuff, green is a very relaxing colour. It represents life and health and is thus ideal for health-based brands or organic or natural brands.

Besides this, green also represents prosperity and can also be used for banking and finance. Green is mostly used by brands like Animal Planet, Starbucks, John Deere, and Himalaya.

Blue

Blue is one of the most liked colours among all sorts of people. This colour is often used to depict wisdom, trust, loyalty or serenity since it has a very calming effect on the mind.

Social media brands like Facebook and Twitter brands like PayPal, Samsung and even Nivea use this colour to infuse a sense of trust for the brand.

Blue is the colour of reason and is very helpful when used to show trust or tradition. Since blue is a cool colour, it is not necessarily fit for food brands, as it suppresses appetite.

Also, using blue colour for fun brands is not a very good idea as the wrong shade might cause the brand to appear very unfriendly, cold or emotionless.

Orange

The colour of the sun. Orange is mostly related to warmth. It is a bright colour that represents courage and confidence.

If you are a fun non-corporate brand or a brand that wants to appear very fun, you should use orange, since it not only depicts friendliness but also adds energy to the designs.

On the other hand, if you are a corporate brand that believes in innovation and wants it to be represented in your logo, Orange is your ideal colour, From kid’s fun channels like Nickelodeon to brands like Mozilla Firefox, Norton Hall Estates and even Harley Davidson use orange colour dominantly to represent a sense of fun or rebellion.

On the contrary, a very bright shade of orange can look like deprivation or ignorance instead of fun. Also, many people often relate orange to being very mediocre or ordinary. If you decide to use orange as a dominant colour for your brand, you might want to select the contrasting colours carefully.

Yellow

Associated with sunshine and hope, the yellow colour represents the epitome of positivity. This colour delivers a sense of happiness, warmth, and optimism to the viewer.

Being a bright colour, it highly supports extroversion and is used by several different brands like DHL, McDonald’s, Nikon, and even Amazon.

Yellow can also represent power but only when used in contrast to dark colors. You can use yellow to appear as a brand that is creative and yet intellectual.

Our own Walnut Folks brand logo is yellow. Being too extrovert, yellow might cause your brand to look irrational and should thus be used carefully.

Though a bright colour, in colour psychology yellow, also represents caution or anxiety and should thus be used vigilantly. It represents strong positive emotions which are often offset with logistical challenges.

Red

The strongest colour of the spectrum, red is also the most attention-seeking colour. It represents strong emotions both positive as well as negative.

Having the longest wavelength, it often drives attention towards itself easily. Red represents power and fearlessness and thus brands that have a legacy or have a dominant position over others in the market, often use this colour to appear bold and powerful.

When used in contrast to other colours like black or white and at times bright colours like yellow and, red colour helps create a rather interesting effect in your logo design.

It also encourages appetite and is thus used widely by popular food brands like Kellogg’s, Eatright and Coca-Cola. Besides this, entertainment brands like Pinterest, YouTube or Netflix and also brands like Virgin, Levi’s, canon, etc. also use red primarily.

As red depicts strong emotions, it also represents a sense of danger or warning. It is often related to emotions of anger, aggression or defiance so it should not be used excessively but kept exclusively for certain parts of the website like the call to action.

Color & Marketing Statistics

Buyers Look At Visual Appearance

1 %

Cite Color As Primary Factor To Buy A Product

1 %

Increase In Brand Recognition

1 %

Think Color Gives Brands An Edge

1 %

Conclusion

Though according to colour psychology, each colour represents a set of positive and negative emotions, it should be noticed that the meaning of each colour varies highly with every individual. The gender, viewpoint, and values of the audience are a major cause of perceiving or relating certain emotions to certain colours. The emotions related to each color as mentioned above are general to most people and only given for you to understand the psychology of colors in business easily. There are no set rules for the use of colours for your brand, but it’s important to understand what colour will be successful in representing your brand the way you want it to.

For more classic and prestigious brands dark colours are often good as they depict sophistication. Likewise, for more fun brands, bright colours of higher wavelength are preferable as they capture attention and for modern brands, plain black and white do wonders.

This article was supposed to help you understand the psychology of colours in business on a brand’s marketing. If you want to understand the concept of psychology of colours in business better, here are a few reference links, where you can look for more information.

Colour Psychology

Colour Psychology -Psychological Effects Of Colors

We hope the post was helpful for you, and if you need professional help in marketing your brand and make a unique identity for it, we are here to help you. Drop your questions in the comments section below or mail them to us and we will surely get back to you as soon as possible.