Exeter Web Design and Digital Marketing Agency - we've built over 900 websites for businesses, charities and public bodies. We specialise in Web development, eCommerce, Digital marketing, Branding, Positioning, Design and Print. Based in Exeter, in Devon, we have clients across the UK. Contact us for help making your marketing more effective.
Colours play a huge role in the way we perceive things in life, we’re taught from a young age that particular colours mean certain things, such as the traffic light notion, red means ‘stop’, ‘danger’ or ‘no’ and green means ‘go’, ‘yes’ and ‘happy’ so as we grow into adults we subconsciously respond to these colours in a far deeper way than we realise.
In this commercial, social media ridden world we live in, we’re constantly fed images and messages from the moment we wake up and pick up our small screen devices and immerse ourselves in a world full of products and colour. Colour psychology plays a crucial role in the way brands choose to be perceived. Most people will choose to buy a product because they are initially drawn to the colour of it, so it’s important from the offset to get your brand’s colour right and target it at your preferred audience.
We subconsciously associate colours with brands and their products. For instance If you’re walking around the supermarket you can immediately tell from afar that a bottle with a red label is Coca Cola. We associate the colour red with coke instantly, if it were to have a different colour, perhaps, blue or green we wouldn’t think of that brand. Just goes to show how important a colour can be to a brand.
If you’re thinking of updating your branding and having a change then make sure you investigate the meaning and characteristics behind a colour to match how you want to come across to your audience and what you want the logo/branding to mean to people. For instance many fast food restaurants will include the colour green in their branding as this appears less juvenile and suggests healthy, natural and earthy connotations to the consumer. This is subconscious to us all but once you really analyse these details you soon realise it’s SO important.
Red
Emotions: excitement, energy, passion, courage
Industry: entertainment, food, sport, protection and children’s products
Used to: stimulate, create urgency, draw attention, caution and encourage
Orange
Emotions: optimistic, adventurous, creative, fun and independent
Industry: art, entertainment, food, sports, transportation
Used to: stimulate, communicate fun, draw attention, express freedom, fascinate
Yellow
Emotions: enthusiasm, opportunity, spontaneity, happiness and positivity
Industry: food, sports, transportation, travel, leisure
Used to: stimulate, encourage relaxation, awareness, energise
Green
Emotions: growth, harmony, safety reliability, balance, kindness
Industry: environment, banking, real estate, farming, education, entertainment, leisure Used to: relax, balance, encourage, revitalise, nature, growth
Blue
Emotions: trust, responsibility, honesty, loyalty, wisdom, self expression, joy, freedom
Industry: security, finance, technology, health care & accounting
Used to: reduce stress, create calmness, relaxation, secure, draw attention
Purple
Emotions: imagination, spiritualty, compassion, sensitivity, mystery
Industry: humanitarian, psychic, religion
Used to: encourage creativity, inspire, combine wisdom & power, intuition
Pink
Emotions: compassion, love, immature, playful, admiration
Industry: children’s products, woman’s products, beauty and fashion
Used to: communicate energy, increase pulse, motivate action, fascinate
Grey
Emotions: neutral, practical, conservative, formal, quiet
Industry: all industries
Used to: create sense of composure, timeless, mature
Black
Emotions: power, control, authority, discipline, elegance
Industry: all Industries
Used to: authority, mystery, create elegance