What is Color Psychology?

Color psychology study of how different colors impact your emotions and behavior.

close-up-hands-holding-color-palettes

Why Is Color Psychology Important?

Choosing the right color is highly important for your business. Whether it’s for your logo, your brand or the way you want to communicate with your customers. Color psychology study of how different colors impact your emotions and behavior.

Color psychology is an important aspect to consider as it has been proven that people associate certain colors with certain moods or behaviors. Colors can thus influence emotional responses, even if your audience doesn’t realize it. 

Colors influence how your brand is perceived by the public. It helps you find your target audience and build a strong and relatable connection. That’s because colors can be interpreted differently. In some cultures, red is perceived as danger but in others, it represents power.

Specific colors are associated with specific behaviors or reactions and they will influence how your brand will be perceived. The table below demonstrates what each color represents and the emotions it conveys to people. 

Color Psychology Table

GoldGold is usually associated with glamor and luxury.
RedRed is used to trigger responses such as urgency, power, energy, etc. You will often notice that major sales are usually advertised using that color. 
GreenGreen is usually associated with nature, health and ecological products. This is why many organic brands use this color as customers will, by just a glance, know that these products are healthy and organic. 
BlueBlue represents trustworthiness and calmness. Many brands choose this color, especially in finance or healthcare industries as they want to evoke emotions such as security and reliability. 
White
White is often associated with cleanliness, innocence and purity. 
BlackBlack is linked to formal power, strength, authority. It is also associated with luxury and sophistication. 
GrayGray often reflects seriousness or traditionalism. 
PurplePurple is often used to convey wisdom. It also has a sense of royalty and sophistication. 
YellowYellow is cheerful and linked to energetic, freshness and optimism. 
PinkPink relates to excitement and evokes memories of childhood. Some also use pink to showcase fantasy and magic. 
Color Psychology Table

When choosing the right color or combination of colors, it is key to make sure that it reflects the tone, image and message that you want to pass on to your audience.

Indeed, colors affect our purchasing decisions. Why do we choose one specific brand over another? Why do we pick that specific product? Why do we click a specific icon when we’re online?

Man looking at color palette

5 Factors To Consider When Choosing Colors.

1. Company

The color should reflect the color of your business and the people involved in it. This includes the team and employees working in the organization. Certain colors can bring out an organization or an individual’s personality. Furthermore, if employees do not identify to the brand’s colors, they may not feel motivated in pushing the brand forward.

2. Culture

Culture plays an important part in how colors are perceived for different audiences. It is important to pick colors that maximize cultural associations to the brand’s advantage. If you fail in choosing the right color, you may be in conflict with the culture where you want your brand to evolve. For instance, Red represents joy in the Asian community but in Canada, people associate joy with Yellow.

3. Competition

Consider what colors your competitors are using for their brands. If you want to clearly stand out from your competition, you want to make sure that your colors pop out. This will help to differentiate you from your competitors. However, you may also want to stick to similar color palettes as that’s how your potential customers may understand what your business is about. For instance, businesses that produce organic products always use a shade of green in their brands.

4. Context

When we talk of context, we’re referring to where and how the brand will appear. When we take in consideration the context, we can be sure that the colors fit in with the environment where it will be showcased. It’s also important to consider the medium where the brand will appear, will it be mostly on print or on screen? Will it appear on textile products and if so, are these specific color shades available for such products (threads for embroidery).

5. Contrast

Contrast helps to make your colors stand out and pop. They appear better to the eye and become easily noticeable. However, if colors blend too much, they will not be catchy or noticeable. In this case, your audience may forget about your brand.