The Psychology of Colour

It may be that a certain colour will be affecting your purchasing decisions, without you even knowing.

A good designer will never underestimate the power of colour when it comes to creating a successful brand image, and we’re here to help you understand and highlight the psychology behind it. 

Choosing the right colours for your brand will help your business connect with your target audience and grow; choosing the wrong colours will do the exact opposite. Your choice of colour allows your audience to see what you want them to see, feel what you want them to feel, and to do what you want them to do. Which hues you choose can also affect usability and whether content is readable it or not. Your choice of colour can be detrimental, even NASA is concerned about colour; enough so that they provide free online resources to help non-designers choose just the right shades.

Our perception of colour

We are highly visual, our minds are hardwired to respond to the colours we see. When we see a red traffic light we know to stop, and when we see a green tick mark we know that something is complete. 

Psychologists have tried time and time again to definitively classify the specific forms of responses and emotions evoked by particular colours. For example, yellow is said to evoke feelings of optimism and warmth, red is referred to as the colour of excitement and passion, and green is said to represent peace and health.

However, this universal approach isn’t entirely possible to apply. This is because our colour preferences and our responses to colours are too dependent on each individual’s own personal experience with colour. However, it is possible to spot broader messaging patterns regarding the use of colour in branding.

A study by Cardiff Business School study found that it is the perceived appropriateness of a colour determines the suitability of said colour for a particular brand. In other words, does that colour seem to ‘fit’ with the product or service it is promoting? 

Studies have shown that customers tend to favour brands that are instantly recognisable, and colour naturally plays a part in making sure a brand stands out from its competitors. Picking the right colour for your brand largely comes down to knowing your audience, predicting their reactions to certain colours and understanding the message that your chosen colour will communicate.

Know your audience

Up to 90% of your audience’s instinctive judgements about your brand and products will be made based on colour alone. With this in mind, it is essential to understand everything there is to know about your audience before you choose your branding colours. 

It is important to get this right if your brand is to succeed. Females are often drawn to softer shades as well as those with more purple and reddish hues, while males are traditionally more drawn to bolder hues. Whereas blue comes up as a communally preferred colour across both genders. 

A persons age also affect their perceptions of colour, for example bright, mixed primary colours would appeal more to children than adults, while singular uses of more muted colours would suit an older audience.

Know your purpose

If you are looking for luxury then you may want to focus on black, gold or deep purple shades to communicate a sense of exclusivity and royalty, similar to fashion brands such as Versace and Chanel. On the other hand, if you know your audience will values trust and stability you would lean towards using blue hues, which have been used successfully by many brands to communicate these precise messages such as Facebook and Twitter.

Looking towards bolder brand colours choosing red or orange brand colours is more likely to send out a bold or even an aggressively powerful message as opposed to the golds and blues  that may be considered peaceful some. It is due to this risk of confusion and misunderstanding that it is imperative brands have a clear idea of their message before committing to brand colours.

Know your competition

When launching a new brand, it is essential you check out your competition before you settle on a colour scheme for your branding. 

If there’s a lot of competition you’ll need to strike a balance between an appropriate colour for your industry and message, and not looking too similar to establish competing brands. 

Colour is an essential tool to help you differentiate your brand from all the background noise, so take some time to research all your key competitors and take note of their colour schemes to avoid any accidental duplication and confusion. 

Competitor colour analysis can also help show you what not to do. If any of your competitors’ colour schemes look somewhat out of place for your industry or seem to communicate a confused message, you can use this as a guide point when deciding which colours to avoid and which to include.

Plan for the future 

While it’s important to create a brand that’s relevant now, you should also think about the future trends come and go but your brand will last longer than any trend.

Every year the design industry is flooded with current colour trends, but make sure you research your potential colours thoroughly to see which have stood the test of time and which have fallen behind before you commit.

The right colour will ensure your brand is instantly recognisable while reinforcing the personality of your business. Should you need any help we are here to talk about the colours that are right for you.