Choose Your Colours Carefully

Our brains respond to colour. It’s no accident that Coke and Ferrari use red, IBM blue and black, and the UPS courier service use brown. People tend to relax in green rooms, weightlifters have been found to perform better in blue gyms, babies cry more in yellow rooms. Prisons and hospitals now use specific colours to influence the behaviour of inmates and patients.

If you’re thinking of redesigning your website, or re-branding, it pays to research your colour choices carefully before you commit.

What does red versus green say to you? If you’re like most of us, you should have responded with ‘stop’ for red and ‘go’ for green. But the meaning and message of colour goes beyond the predictable associations.

Why Colour Matters

Understanding how colour affects your customers, and choosing the ‘correct’ colours for the image you want your company to portray, can create a positive or negative impression, whether it’s your logo colour, website background, the paint on the walls in your retail store or boardroom, or the colour you choose for your staff uniform.

The right colour choices help potential customers feel comfortable and ‘in the right place’, encouraging them to stay and look around your site or store, or focus on listening to your sales staff. Colour has also been shown to significantly help memory recall. Understanding colour is particularly important when you carry a range of products for differing needs, as the right choices in packaging and product colour will help differentiate your range.

Emotion plays a key role in our buying decisions, and the emotional association of colour should not be ignored, especially during a recession where you should be doing everything you can to keep customers on your site instead of your competitors!

Feeling Hungry?

Take most fast food restaurants. You should find an abundance of red or orange (are you thinking of McDonalds right now, like I am?), because these colours are appetite stimulants that encourage us to eat quickly and leave.

While blue is a popular colour in general, it is a poor choice for food-related companies and products. Blue food is rare in nature and researchers say when humans searched for food, they learned to avoid toxic objects, which were often blue, black, or purple. When food dyed blue is served to study subjects, they lose their appetite.

Young Versus Old

Colour associations form as we age. The younger we are the less associations have formed, hence why bright, primary colours (bright blue, fire-engine red, banana yellow) are excellent choices for appealing to children.

Warm or Cold?

All the colours that follow can be grouped into either ‘warm’ or ‘cold’ with each individual colour having both warm and cold variations depending on the shade selected.

In general, warm colours (such as a bright red or banana yellow) send an uplifting, energetic message. Cooler colours (such as a dark blue) tend to create a calmer, more reserved association. Brightening a cool colour can increase its energy and reduce its reserve. This also works in reverse when you use a cooler shade of a warm colour.

What do the Different Colours Mean?

Some colour meanings vary between cultures, situations and industries, but in general, here are the typical colour associations for western cultures:

BLACK
The colour of power and authority, black is serious, classic and bold. It creates both drama and sophistication. For fashion it is considered timeless and stylish, although some psychologists suggest black is also a colour of submission. Black is a good choice for expensive products, however when used in packaging it can make a product appear heavy.

WHITE
Pure and clean, white reflects light and is a popular neutral for decorating and fashion. Doctors and nurses wear white to imply sterility, also making white a popular choice for infant and health-related products. White helps get across a feeling of uncluttered simplicity. It is the latest trend to use white for the background colour for websites, white having taken over from the ‘heavy’ websites of the past with their dark colours and patterns. Check out most sites, including Google, and you’ll find an abundance of white, making images stand out and copy easier to read.

GREY
Grey is a colour best used as a highlight instead the main colour for branding. Grey indicates practicality, independence and self-reliance, adding strength to your message, however too much grey can feel a middle-of-the-road, leaving customers feeling ‘mostly nothing’. Some shades of grey are associated with loss, aging, death, taxes and depression. Medium and lighter shades however, can convey strength, value and timelessness. Grey works well as an alternative neutral to white, enhancing and balancing out the intensity of bright colours. This is a fashionable colour for suits as it does not invoke strong feelings and sets off shirt and tie colours well.

RED
An emotionally intense, warm colour, red stimulates appetite and actually increases heart-rate and breathing by activating your pituitary gland. It is traditionally the colour of love. Red clothing stands out, however it can make the wearer appear heavier. Red is best used as an accent colour, too much can create feelings of aggression. It is energetic and attention-grabbing. Red can also create feelings of danger, hence its choice for stop signs and traffic lights. An interesting test once proved changing the ‘buynow’ button colour from red to a friendlier colour resulted in increased online sales.

BLUE
A very popular colour with an association with the sky and ocean easy to imagine. It creates the opposite reaction to red. Typical associations are peace and tranquillity, trust and calm. The right shade of blue has been shown to produce calming chemicals in the brain, making blue a popular choice for bedroom paint and furnishings. Blue is a positive colour for clothing as it symbolises trust and loyalty. This also makes it a very safe colour for logos, implying fiscal responsibility and security, making it particularly popular with financial institutions. Workers have been shown to be more productive in blue rooms and weight lifters can handle heavier weights.

GREEN
Green is a popular colour trend at the moment in fashion and design. It symbolises safety and nature. It is easy on the eye and has been shown to actually improve vision. The right shade has a calming yet refreshing effect. ‘Green Rooms’ were named for their green walls that helped calm nerves for people waiting to appear on television. Hospitals have found green helps relax patients. Dark green is a masculine shade, a conservative colour that implies wealth and prestige. Lighter greens are calming, fresh and commonly associated with good health.

YELLOW
This cheerful colour is another attention getter but without as many negative connotations as red. Yellow is considered an optimistic colour yet it can spark tears and tantrums. People are more likely to lose their temper in yellow rooms and babies have been shown to be more prone to crying. It risks being overpowering as the eye can have difficulty ‘taking it in’ so should be used as a highlight colour only. In fact, the eye is drawn to yellow before most other colours, making it a popular colour for price tickets and signs. Yellow has been shown to highlight concentration (hence yellow legal pads) and speeds up your metabolism. It is typically associated with energy, positive thinking, light and warmth.

PINK
Seen as a ‘romantic’ feminine colour, pink can have a tranquilising effect. Sports teams have been known to paint the opposing teams changing rooms in pink to zap their energy. Hot pink conveys energy, youth and excitement and is a popular choice for trendy, less expensive products and companies who target young girls and women. Lighter pinks soften the associations, having a calming effect and adding sentiment and romance.

PURPLE
The ‘royal’ colour, deeper shades of purple are associated with luxury, wealth and sophistication. Like pink, purple is traditionally a more feminine colour. As purple is rare in nature and can indicate toxins, it risks appearing artificial, making it a less a popular choice if wanting to portray a message of being natural or healthy. It is a colour favoured by creative types with it’s blend of red and blue. It is also a ‘spiritual’ colour, envoking a sense of mystery. Pale shaes, such as lavender, are associated with sentimentality, romance and nostalgia.

ORANGE
Bright orange is a colour favoured by brands wishing to convey energy, fun, vitality and exuberance. Orange takes the drama of red and softens it with the cheerfulness of yellow. It is often associated with being social and child-like. Lighter orange appeals to an older market with peachy tones having a positive effect in health care, restaurants and beauty salons.

BROWN
This solid, reliable colour is an easy association with the earth and nature. This colour is more popular with men than woman and the wrong shade may send a message of sadness or being unclean. In its earthy shades, brown helps convey a message of stability, simplicity and durability. The more orange shades of brown, such as terracotta, can give a more upscale feel. Functionally, brown is a good choice for industries who do get dirty, like trucking companies or mechanics, as it tends to hide dirt without spoiling your company branding.

By recognising how colour affects your customers, you can induce more positive feelings with your branding. It’s about understanding your target market and choosing the best colours for your logo, website, products, uniforms and packaging; so you always send out the right message.

The first choice can be the hardest, what dominant colour is right for your company?