The Influence of Color Psychology

Let's Know More about Color Psychology

Color psychology is the study of how colors affect perceptions, emotions, moods, behaviors, and decisions. Color has a cultural significance that affects choices depending on different ethics, values, religion, age, gender, nationality, and various other situational factors and past experiences. Moreover, the personality of an individual can play an important role in color selection, as your color preferences always say something about you, the type of image you may be trying to show, and how you want other people to perceive you. The concept of color psychology has become a hot topic as it plays a crucial role in marketing, design and branding as a powerful communication tool, in which colors are aligned with the brand’s objective to evoke desired responses from customers.

How Do Colors Impact Our Emotions by Their Psychological Meanings?

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Regardless that the perception of colors is considered subjective, colors have universal meanings. So, some colors can make people feel happy or sad, and some can make them feel excited or relaxed. Therefore, the way colors target our emotions depends on the psychological effects of colors, and here we dive into the facts of color meanings:

• White: it represents purity or innocence, and gives a feel of safety, goodness and balance.

• Black: it represents power, elegance, mystery, authority and sophistication.

• Red: it represents love, joy, courage, action, and confidence. It also encourages appetite, creates a sense of urgency, and is associated with passion.

• Blue: it represents trust, responsibility, stability, depth and dedication.

• Yellow & Orange: it represents cheerfulness, optimism, enthusiasm and expression.

• Green: it represents health, luck, tranquility, nature, and environment.

• Purple: it represents royalty, wisdom, spirituality, and respect. 

Importance of Colors in Branding

Colors have a significant impact on branding, as the right and proper colors will help your brand to create a compelling brand identity, stand out among the competitors, attract the audience, and build strong brand loyalty. Because colors can influence people’s decisions and consumers' emotions and perceptions about goods and services, marketers and graphic designers focus on understanding the deep and psychological meaning of colors so they can spread their message clearly. When choosing the right colors, the brand's color scheme is then used consistently and logically across the whole branding strategy and brand assets to build a strong visual appearance and brand recognition. Therefore, it is important to mention that color is included in branding through the following: logo, copy, social media posts, website, landing page, call-to-action buttons, menu bars, pop-ups, links, cover photos, product design, packaging, graphics, videos, and backgrounds.

 

Turn the Color Wheel

 

The color wheel is a chart representing the relationships between colors. It is splitted into cool colors which are all on the left side of the wheel, in the blues and greens, and warm colors which are all on the right side of the wheel, in the yellows and reds. It consists of primary and secondary colors with their components. Primary colors are the main and consistent colors that barely change, while secondary colors are complementary colors that often change to accommodate new branding and marketing goals, but should not consist of more than 35% of the overall design. 

 

When it comes to color components, they include the following:

Hue: what we think of as a color

Value: the amount of white or black in the color

Tint: colors that have white added to them

Shade: colors that have black added to them

Chroma: the amount of saturation in the color

There are also 6 color wheel harmony formulas and brand color schemes:

1. Monochromatic: are all the varieties of a single color that range between lighter and darker versions.

2. Analogous: are colors next to each other on the color wheel which have similar emotional connotations. 

3. Complementary: are colors that appear opposite to each other on the color wheel, creating the highest level of contrast. 

4. Tetradic: are four colors arranged into two complementary pairs that cover rectangular color schemes.

5. Triadic: are stable colors that are of equal distance from each other around the color wheel thus offering a more stimulating variety like complementary schemes.

6. Split Complementary: are colors that include one base color and two colors adjacent to the complementary color.

There are also some critical points that you have to consider while choosing your colors, which include: 

• 60, 30, 10 Rule:

It is the classic rule of color and design that helps create a balanced color palette easily, so every palette should have three essential colors 60% Primary, 30% Secondary, and 10% Accent.

• Color Blindness:

It occurs when a person is unable to see colors in a normal way. There are two common types, "red-green" and "blue-yellow" color blindness.

So, to stay on the safe side, use high contrast when using complementary colors, and use a colorblind-friendly palette. i.e. blue/orange, blue/red, blue/brown.

• Forbidden Colors:

Are colors that do not appear in an ordinary visual functioning and that the human eye registers in an antagonistic way. These colors are Red versus Green, Blue versus Yellow, and Black versus White.

• Contrast Mistakes:

It is about contrasting colors, also known as complementary or clashing colors. So, colors that are directly opposite to one another on the color wheel have the highest contrast possible, while colors next to one another have low contrast.

The Secret Guide of How to Choose Your Brand Colors

A deep understanding of the psychology of colors, and knowing how to use each color strategically is the core of a successful brand. Therefore, there should be a careful consideration of colors that we expect to have the desired effects and results. 

Here are 10 steps to follow in choosing your brand colors:

1. Determine your brand’s message, personality, identity, and core values

2. Understand your target audience and cultures, and what colors are they likely to gravitate toward

3. Learn the emotional associations and meanings of colors to spread your message and purpose

4. Know what colors your competitors are using that resonate with their audience

5. Research for color inspiration and explore color imagery that speaks to you 

6. Create a mood board which is a composition of visual assets that represent your brand

7. Select your primary and secondary colors and better to have a balance between them

8. Start experimenting with monochromatic, analogous, and complementary pairings

9. Create and test a color palette which is a full range of colors to be used in the brand

10. Add your color palette codes (RGB, CMYK, Hex, etc…) to your brand guideline which is an instruction manual on how a brand should be communicated 

Which are your favorite colors, and do they reflect any of your personality, emotions, experiences, etc?

Published on 2022-05-30
by Aya