An Overview of Color Theory and Psychology
Did you know that how you use color, which colors you use, and where you apply color in your marketing can completely change the perception of your brand on the other end? And yes, black and white - the absence of light and the absence of color - count in that perception.
Virtually every time I start working with a new branding client, color will come up somewhere in conversation. They’ll ask questions like:
What colors should I be using?
Can I use (insert color here) in my branding?
Do I need color in my logo?
While, ultimately, it’s up to the client to choose the colors they like, I will always try to guide them toward color options that make sense for their brand and audience. And typically, there are colors I will almost always recommend that clients stay away from! As a person whose favorite color might as well be “rainbow,” it feels counterintuitive.
As an example, I usually never recommend red as a brand color because it carries more negative connotations than positive. But in the right situation, it could make sense!
What is color theory and psychology?
Color theory is the idea that colors can be tied to how they’re perceived, and how they mix together changes the perception. The color wheel, originally illustrated by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666, was based on the perception of colors as they were bent through a prism, which he then illustrated as a wheel [1].
As designers, we take this a step further to elaborate on that perception and translate it into emotion - leaning into the psychology aspect first attributed to psychiatrist Carl Jung [2] and using Color Psychology in our everyday decisions.
As you work through the best colors for your brand and marketing, it’s important to remember that design is heavily subjective. What may resonate with one person as positive, may immediately turn off another. While you can’t account for every person’s tastes, having a firm grasp of your audience is the best place to start.
Which colors should you use in your marketing?
If you already have a brand in place, this is simple - the ones that your designer came up with for your brand (or, if you designed your brand yourself, a color palette that you’re happy with and use consistently). However, if you’re just starting out, here are some common associations:
Red: heat, passion, anger, danger, appetite
Pink: love, softness, sweetness, femininity
Orange: warning, excitement, youth
Gold: luxury, wealth, winning
Yellow: happiness, alert, warmth
Brown: simplicity, grounding, honesty
Green: calm, renewal, wealth, abundance, nature
Blue: cold (temperature and temperament), loyalty, trust, masculinity
Purple: wisdom, royalty, sophistication, mystery
Gray: stability, sadness, boredom, authority
Black: drama, elegance, death, evil
White: purity, cleanliness, simplicity, perfection, innocence
These are just some common colors and correspondences, and there are millions of opportunities to mix them together to create new shades, hues, and values. Bringing a yellow closer to gold by adding some red, for example, can put you in a middle ground between elegance and cheer.
What about the big names?
You may be wondering how a big name company like McDonald’s, for example, can use red in their branding without making people angry. It’s because they’re doing things like mixing in yellow to balance the intensity of the red, and pairing it with food and fun characters to change your perception of the color scheme. It’s also been shown in some studies that the red/yellow combo has been linked to increased appetite, and that red is a color that draws people in quickly because it’s bold and a primary color. If you think about it enough, when have you ever seen a black or white McDonald’s logo? Did it have the same effect? What about the only blue arches in the world, in Sedona, AZ? It sticks out as weird because it’s such a disconnect from McD’s brand.
(Image credit: Trusted Media Brands Inc. via Creative Bloq)
Some other examples that stand out are Coca-Cola - a red logo that gets paired with happy and playful polar bears during the winter holidays - and Lego - a playful, technically foreign brand that grabs attention right away with their red and yellow logo that’s consistent wherever it's used. I haven’t studied how other countries feel about color psychology, and I wonder if our (Americans’) perceptions differ.
Breaking out of the mold
“So does my brand have to be blue and gray because I want to portray loyalty and authority?”
No!
There are so many factors that go into the decision of color. Just because colors happen to be common in your industry, or because you have a peer using a specific set of colors, does not mean you have to. You are the boss of your own brand, and you get to make the decision.
As a designer, I would recommend three things when considering colors for your brand:
Make sure you understand your audience and offering
Contrasting colors look best when paired together, but that’s not a rule
Try your best to limit your palette to three colors on any one marketing item
If you have questions about color in your brand, or are interested in shaking things up a bit, let’s talk!
Comments