What colours are best for business? Any idea?
Colours express a language for which words are just not enough. They communicate with us on the emotional level, which allows us to understand the content so much easier than plain writing.
Magical powers
Colour hold almost magical powers and can impact our emotions, our mood and our behaviour. Everyone has a colour which is his/her personal favourite, but countless studies which have been done on the relationship between colours, especially in the area of branding and marketing have concluded that there is much more to colours than one thinks.
Just some examples:
Did you know that colours influence 85% of a shopper’s decision to purchase a certain product?
Colours increase the awareness of your brand by up to 80%. The reason is that colours influence what one can call the „personality “of the brand, which should relate to the target marketing group. So, it’s very important for logo designers, marketing specialists and product artists to find out which are the perfect colours the potential customers are most likely attracted to.
Choose colours based on the emotions
Imagine one of the many well-known company logos you have seen in another colour than the one the designers have carefully chosen for its brand identity. Suddenly the brand name of a car, perfume or clothing label can lose all its appeal by looking trashy, cheap or just old-fashioned.
Companies invest a lot of money in constantly being in tune with the „style of the times “and adjust their branding accordingly. What might have been a great colour scheme 20 years ago, now looks outdated and old compared to other competitors’ choice of a modern and fresh colourful look.
Designers choose colours based on the emotions most people perceive about a certain colour, for example, a flashy bright red works great for Fast Food trademarks since the colour red stimulates our urge for satisfying hunger. Green is the globally recognized colour for reusable, environmentally friendly or sustainable products since green is the natural colour of plants.
WHAT ARE THE 8 MAJOR COLORS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE?
Red
Let’s start with red, as it’s not only a primary colour, but also the strongest signal colour. It is usually linked with strong emotions such as passion, love, anger and sexuality, but it is also known as a colour that stands for violence, aggression, and danger. As red is one of the most intense colours in the colour wheel, it is used for traffic signs as the brain recognizes this colour easily and allows quick reactions. Red comes in-between violet and orange.
RED IN DESIGNING AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
How do the warm and bright colours and immensity of different shades of red of a beautiful sunset make you feel? No matter where you live on this planet, no matter, who you are or what you do in your life, the warm and bright shades of red during a sunset conjure up emotions in you. It can physically raise your heart rate, stimulate in you a sense of longing, beauty and excitement and are even the colour of hot passion.
This is why the colour red is an important colour used in marketing. For example, food brands like Cola, KFC and McDonald’s use bright red in their brand identity and logos to stimulate our urge for appetite and drive us to consume their products. Other brands use red to convey power, strength and versatility.
“Nothing attracts attention like a red dress.” ~ Laura Bush
YELLOW
Yellow is another primary colour and is associated in our brain with brightness, buzzing energy and the warmness of a beautiful sunny day. It stimulates cheerfulness, happiness and optimism. It also inspires hope and enthusiasm.
Yellow stands for positive thinking, as well as a thirst for knowledge, as it helps to inspire new ways of thinking and acting. Yellow is a colour which grabs attention easily, hence it can be used in signalling caution.
USE OF YELLOW IN DESIGNS AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Yellow is considered a warm colour, which makes it more attention grabbing and allows something to stand out. It’s a colour we associate with highlighting a certain content which we deem important.
It’s a fun colour too, as it’s associated with lightness and good mood, thus it makes it a perfect colour for branding and marketing your products. It’s specially recommended for companies which provide pleasurable and accessible products and services.
Yellow is the colour of hope and helps people to feel empowered, that’s why it’s a favourite of many marketing departments who have studied it intensively. Used in the proper places with the right audience, yellow can be one of the most influential colours to be used in branding and marketing.
“Yellow is capable of charming God.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
Blue
The colour blue is one of the most popular colours used by people across different cultures and generations. Blue is the colour of the ocean and stands for calmness. This is one of the reason that our brain associates the colour blue with non-aggressiveness, instilling us with a sense of calm and relaxation, purity and cleanliness.
It also represents calmness, conjures trust and responsibility. It is beside red and yellow, another one of the three primary colours and lies in between green and violet in the wheel of colours.
As blue instils trust, it is hence chosen as the colour of choice for law enforcement officers worldwide. A blue environment also boosts productivity due to its relaxing nature, just think back of your last holiday on the sea!
USE OF BLUE IN DESIGNING AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Blue has been widely used in social media and interactive platforms such as Facebook and Twitter since it symbolizes intelligence, communication and trust in a product or service.
Websites held in blue appear to be easily accessible, transparent, clean and convey a modern look. They imply the appearance of strength, but also safety. Lighter shades of blue are mostly used in websites which are about health, travel and relaxation.
Since blue colour induces people to feel calm and secure, Insurance companies and corporate sectors use blue on their websites to attract audience.
“Midnight blue is the only colour that can ever compete with black.” ~ Christian Dior
Green
Green is the colour of nature, which is abundant in the plants. The colour green symbolizes harmony, tranquillity and peace. A lot of banknotes are in green colour as it stands for wealth, prosperity and stability.
Green is known to be the most relaxing and healthy colour perceived by the human eye. It promotes optimism and balance. In some cultures, green also symbolizes youth and fertility.
USE OF GREEN IN DESIGNS AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Green is considered a calming colour as in psychology those colours help people to be less anxious and calm, therefore brands which promote reliable and easily accessible products use shades of green as their primary colour.
Green can be used to communicate different values of products in marketing, such as prosperity, transparency and freshness. Brands advertising organic and natural products usually use green, as it depicts nature and the environment.
Companies launching eco-friendly campaigns likely use green. Logos in green are usually used among brands which handles environmental services.
“Green is the fresh emblem of well-founded hopes. In blue, the spirit can wander, but in green, it can rest.”
~Mary Webb
White
Some of you might know the outcome if you mix all colours together: You get the colour white. White is everywhere, from the walls of buildings to the white of pages in books, as it offers the biggest contrast to other colours and thus stands out.
The colour white has always been associated with purity, innocence and called by some the purest and most complete colour. White is by far the most favourite choice of colour when it comes to a wedding dress. Uniforms for medical professionals are usually in white, as the human mind associates it with cleanliness.
USE OF WHITE IN DESIGNING AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Using white as a background like the white on a fresh, blank canvas expresses a new beginning, something that holds a lot of potential and infinite possibilities. Companies, whose brand and product identity focusses on minimalistic aesthetic use usually white as it can be very simple, clean and modern.
White used as a neutral backdrop allows other colours to shine and bring out their characteristics and is the top choice for example for web shop backgrounds to display your products on it.
“A simple style is like white light. Although complex, it does not appear to be so.” ~ Anatole France
Black
Some say black is not a colour but the absence of all colour, which is true in terms of physics. But black is strong and so is its symbolism: Mystery, power but also elegance and sophistication are connected with the colour black.
Others associate it with strengths and discipline. Together with white, it forms the strongest contrast for the human eye.
The colour black usually doesn’t usually trigger a lot of emotions, even in western cultures it is considered the colour of death. In some Asian cultures, white is associated with death.
A person dressed in elegant black cloth airs an aura of superiority and noblesse. Black is a colour that is quite elegant and also simple at the same time.
USE OF BLACK IN DESIGN AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
As black is a high contrast colour it is one of the predominant colours for text and outlines of shapes, logos and designs. It is often used in situations where high-contrast and legibility are the most important factors.
Surfaces surrounded with a black edge look clean and distinct from the background. The colour black is very universal, it can either convey a conservative or a modern design, look traditional or unconventional, it all depends on which colours you combine it with.
“You can have any colour, as long as it’s black.” ~ Henry Ford
Orange
Nothing screams louder than ORANGE! This colour combines the bright optimism of yellow with the force of red, which results in a colour which invokes feelings of cheerfulness and excitement in people. It’s a young and fresh colour, just think of the fruit with the same name. Juicy, tasty and
refreshing.
This colour is a very active colour as it makes us react with your gut feeling and allows us to live in the moment. It’s a daring colour, which not everyone would wear as clothing, but when one does, it definitely sends out a strong statement: This person is powerful and knows what he/she wants.
Orange is cheerful and warm, which attracts shoppers to products or brand featuring this colour. It allows customers to look on the bright side of things, even the reality is often not that bright.
Orange inspires us to be active, and often fitness centres love to decorate their environment in bright and fresh orange colour. It is a very social colour, opening people up and encouraging conversation.
USE OF ORANGE IN DESIGNING AND MARKETING
Orange just screams for attention! Not as overpowering or warning as red, it’s more friendly and inviting, just less-in-your face.
Yes, orange can be loud and obnoxious if used too much, but if your brand or product needs to establish itself on a market, then orange might be the colour for you to gain everyone’s attention.
Orange is a young colour and associated with the joyfulness and carefreeness of youth. Be bold, be Orange!
“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
Purple
Purple might be called the most exclusive colour because of its special history. It exists in nature only very rarely, and extracting it proved to be extremely costly. The first-time humans produced the colour purple, it was in the ancient city of Tyrian. Dye makers harvested mucus from the shell from
(Bolinus brandaris) sea snails and heated it in an alkaline solution, which was then exposed to sunlight to turn it purple.
It needed the insane amount of 250,000 sea snails to produce just one ounce of purple dye, making Tyrian purple extremely rare and expensive. This is the reason why purple has only been used by people who could afford it, and it was regarded the colour of royalty, luxury and wealth.
It’s this fascinating mix between blue and red that communicates things like decadence and high social status, purple, just feels rich. Purple on a black background rises in us a sense of mystery, of the unknown, hidden side of life, where things not always are as what they appear.
USE OF PURPLE IN DESIGNING AND MARKETING
If your brand should convey a sense of sophistication, of prestigious luxury or exclusiveness, then purple might be the perfect colour.
Purple is not a loud screaming colour, it’s a subtle colour which is very powerful in creating an almost mystical feeling. Especially for brands which connect to our spiritual side, purple can have great effects.
While dark shades of purple convey a sense of wealth and luxury, the lighter shades are softer to the eye and are associated with spring and romantic feelings, this is why purple is often used to promote beauty and anti-aging products
“When God made the colour purple, God was just showing off.” ~Mae Jemison
will always be happy to answer your questions!
Take an interest in the legal aspects
Neglecting the legal aspects of your e-commerce could expose you to more serious problems than simply losing customers. For example, failure to comply with laws on the use of cookies can result in a fine of up to millions of euros.
Follow the rules scrupulously; it is your reputation and your durability that are at stake!
Manage your stress
The evolution of any company has its ups and downs. This is all the more the case in an online store, subject to fierce competition, and rapid changes in consumption.
Stay focused on your initial goals, update your business plan, constantly question yourself about the means you use to achieve your goal. Do not expect quick results and do not give up on the first failures.
Ready to get started?
Good luck!
