Sometimes, we take colors for granted. We forget colors are how the human mind processes visuals. We forget colors shape our perception. We forget colors can control what we think, feel and do. So, how does every color in branding and marketing triggers us psychologically? We're here with answers.
With color being literally everywhere we look, and no visual is colorless, people tend to overlook it. Branding experts and marketing pros utilize colors in their own favor. They use it to promote the values of a brand and set its spiritual feeling, they use it to make people associate marketing materials with certain emotions, they use them to trigger points in your brain you haven't even thought of yet. The human mind has a tendency to categorize everything, and colors are just one of the most prominent tools the brain uses to process how exactly "does he feel" regarding a certain situation. The most common example everyone will recognize, is some animals use colors like red, orange, and yellow to scare off some predators. Colors send a message, they deliver information, without any words. The messages the human brain perceives from colors are sometimes primal and sometimes controlled by the modern culture and ideas that originally started a few hundreds of years ago with romanticism.
So how do you know for what purpose you use every color? Gladly for you, the colorful people here at DNF summed it up for you:
1. Blue
Blue is the skies and seas that have been here before mankind. It represents eternal wisdom, stability, strength, trustworthiness, confidence, reliability, quality, and relaxation.
In modern culture, it can also be associated with negative emotions like sadness and coldness, "The Blues". Many brands you know and love use the color blue in their branding to represent the same values we stated earlier, like Facebook, HP, Samsung, Ford, Paypal, Skype, Twitter, Oral-B, Dell, and many more. As you can see it's mostly used in the tech and food industries.
2. Green
Green is the trees and grass plains of earth. If the skies and seas are the yin, this is its yang.
Green represents rejuvenation, health, growth, sustainability, generosity, and fertility.
It takes its power from the mesmerizing nature on planet earth, as The green spots on planet earth represent there's life there. Green also has negative connotations like envy, greed, and money. Green is mainly used in the health and fitness industries and for brands in industries that revolve around nature like John Deere, Roots, or Vegan-Friendly.
3. Yellow
Yellow is the sun above us. It's the opposite of darkness. Yellow represents happiness. youth, positivity, optimism, joy, and cheerfulness. Some yellow shades can also be interpreted as a warning. You can notice a lot of fast food brands like Mcdonald's, Pringles, Subway, Chupa Chups, and Lays use yellow, but also a lot of kid-related brands like Snapchat, Pokemon, Star Wars, and Nerf, use it as well to pass that youthful spirit that comes with the color yellow.
4. Red
Red represents Love, excitement, extreme, passion, danger, energy, and action. It's mainly used in marketing and branding to draw attention. Like a bull targeting the red cape of a matador, so is the human mind is attracted to the color red. As red creates excitement, it also tends to build an appetite for more, so therefore you can see many brands like Coca-cola, Youtube, Netflix, KFC, Pizza hut, and Nintendo use it in their iconic branding.
5. Purple
Purple is the color of Royalty. The color purple has ties to kings and queens that date back to the ancient world, where it was prized for its bold hues and often reserved for the upper class, as it was an expensive process to create purple fabrics back then. Purple represents power, nobility, luxury, wisdom, and spirituality. It's used in the branding and marketing materials of a lot of companies like Twitch, Yahoo, Milka, Benq, Cadbury, Craiglist, and more.
6. Brown
Brown is the earth we live on. It's wood, It's stone, but it's also chocolate. Brown represents feelings of comfort, security, modesty, humbleness, and nature. You can find brown used in many products from the food and natural products sector, with big brand names like UPS, Louis Vuitton, M&M, Hershey's, Nespresso ETC'.
7. Pink
Even though society somehow tries to fight the color gender stereotypes, Pink is still a color that subconsciously is related to femininity. Pink stands for compassion, comfort, acceptance, and friendliness, but also for innocence, romance, playfulness, and unconditional love. Many (but not only) brands that appeal to a more feminine crowd use pink in their marketing and branding like Barbie, Pink (Obviously), Victoria's Secret, Cosmopolitan, and Hello Kitty.
8. Orange
Orange is a relative of yellow, visually and psychologically, and it represents creativity, encouragement, adventure, warmth, enthusiasm, success, and balance. For the color orang also being a relative of red, many companies use it to draw your eyes to it, like in call to action buttons of a website, or social media ad campaigns. You can find many brands using Orange as their weapon of choice like Aliexpress, Etsy, Fanta, Xiaomi, JBL, Rockstar games, Soundcloud, and Nickelodeon.
9. White
White is purity. White is heaven, the beginning of everything, the root. In branding & marketing color psychology, white represents innocence, goodness, brilliance, illumination, understanding, cleanliness, faith, spirituality, possibility, humility, softness, and perfection.
10. Black
Blue is emptiness, vacuum, infinity. The color black stands for professionalism, sophistication, luxury, mystery, power, and elegance. Many of the strongest brands on planet earth like Nike, Chanel, Audi, Nestle, Honda, Prada, Dior, and Farfetch use black in their branding and marketing
11. Grey
Grey is the middle, It's is neutrality. In branding and marketing color psychology, Grey represents balance, calmness, modernity, dedication, and dignity. Popular brands like Apple, Lexus, Gucci, Swarovski, Mercedes-Benz & Nissan use it in their branding and marketing materials for the same reasons.