There are colors all around us and they all make us feel differently. Have you noticed that certain places, like spas and doctors have a lot of blue, purple and green in their decor and other places, like restaurants or stores have red, orange and yellow? This is because warm colors promote energy and the cool colors promote calm. Colors can affect our emotions and actions, the study of this is referred to as Color Psychology. It is used for healing of emotional or physical attributes as well as in branding and marketing.
Sounds weird, right? Think about color. What is it? Color is nothing more than how light reflects off an object to our eye. Light is energy, each color has a different wavelength and when we look at something, that energy enters our bodies through our eyes.
I’ll break it down by color giving you the emotions that these colors provoke and an example of where it is used in branding.
RED
Emotions: Excitement, Power, Love, Anger
Brands: Target, Coca-Cola, Lego, Nabisco
ORANGE
Emotions: Creativity, Fun, Optimistic, Confident
Brands: Amazon, Fanta, The Home Depot, Shutterfly
YELLOW
Emotions: Happiness, Positivity, Spontaneity, Enthusiasm
Brands: McDonalds, Shell, Ikea, Best Buy
GREEN
Emotions: Peaceful, Balanced, Safety, Health
Brands: Starbucks, BP, Whole Foods, Spotify
BLUE
Emotions: Trust, Honesty, Loyalty, Strength
Brands: Facebook, GE, The Weather Channel, American Express
PURPLE
Emotions: Spirituality, Mystery, Imaginative, Wise
Brands: Yahoo, Cadbury, Hallmark,
Do these colors and logos resonate with you? What colors do you use in your brand? It’s important to like your colors, but are you provoking the emotions in people that you intend to?
We need all colors in our lives to be balanced. Too much red around us and we will get anxious and will always be hungry. Too much Indigo and we may get depressed. Take pride in your colors and brand, as not all colors are treated equal.
~ VA Carrie