The colors you choose for your business set the tone for what your audience feels when they see your business. Whether or not you are aware of it, when you see a certain color there is an emotional response that happens in your brain. It’s called “Color Psychology“.
When building a visual brand, I ask my client to share what they want their clients to FEEL when they land on their website or social media platform. Not what information they want them to know right off the bat or what promo they want to display. Because the way your audience feels when they come across your business is EVERYTHING.
Let’s break down some popular colors and what emotional response they spark in the brain:
RED
Red is POWERFUL… but sometimes too powerful. It is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.
YELLOW
Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, BUT if used too much it creates the feeling of uneasiness. Fun fact: it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms.
ORANGE
Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow & represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
GREEN
Green is the color of nature and symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. It is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness.
BLUE
Blue can either bring feelings of peace and imagination, or sorrow and uneasiness… and it all depends on the shade.
PINK
Pink is considered a calming, non-threatening color. It is linked to innocence, hope and optimism. It also brings the feelings of romance and kindness.
BLACK
Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown, as well as power and elegance. This is why I highly recommend not using pure black (#000000) on your website, and instead use a “lighter black” (#333333), especially for fonts.
WHITE
White is the color of perfection. It signifies safety, purity, and cleanliness. When building a website, I always make sure to use a lot of white space for this reason. When a website has a lot of white space, it brings on a feeling of serenity and calmness that a cluttered website can not. This is why most people are drawn to websites (and even Instagram accounts) that use a lot of white.
How to get your perfect shade
Shades of colors matters. Like I mentioned with Blue, a shade of color can be a huge determining factor in what your audience feels when they come to your site. For example, blue with a lot of black mixed in (AKA a darker shade of blue) may bring a more unsettling feeling, while blue with white mixed in (AKA, light blue) may bring a feeling of calmness and serenity.
This is why it’s important to do your research when choosing your brands’ colors. Head over to ColorPsychology.org for more info on specific shades. If you are looking to hire a branding professional (like myself) to build your visual brand, make sure they implement color psychology into their process.
