The most developed of all the human senses is sight. Color is what we recognize first about an object. In advertising color psychology is used to invoke a desired reaction from a consumer. As a designer it is my job to evaluate the clients market and merge that with their style and product.

Color can bring up different emotions. Let’s start at the beginning of the rainbow, with R.O.Y.. Red, Orange and Yellow are all very strong colors. They bring visceral responses; think cherry red convertibles, orange juice, and yellow sunshine. They are generally associated with high energy despite scientifically being on the low energy side of the spectrum.

Our next set gives us our natural colors, Green, Blue, and Violet. They have a calming peaceful affect such as green grass and trees, blue skies and seas, purple rain and flowers.

Black, which is the absence of color, and White, the combination of all colors, as in white light, set each other off. As a twist both colors depending on cultures can represent mourning. Black and White is classic but unless trying to evoke the classic era of film or photography it is best to add some color.

In branding and design the most common used color system is called the Pantone Matching System (PMS). This system allows a designer to pick a color that can be repeatedly reproduced by printers using a PMS as a spot color. Digital printing uses a 4-color process to recreate the PMS and has some variation.* It is important to have consistent color to create a solid brand. It is equally important to select a color that represents what you are trying to sell. Colors because of their underlying connotations are good indicators of product function. Insurance companies and banks use dark blue because it represents tradition, dependability, and loyalty. Dark green is the color of choice for accountants because it is the color of money. Restaurants, food companies and florists use red because of it symbolizes life and love and has a tendency to stand out. Researchers have shown that red rooms make food taste better. Pink unlike its saturated counterpart is a calming low energy color and is very feminine.

Even though consistency is important if a color is slightly off it’s not the end of the world. When I was in school a professor taught the class a very important lesson. Our task was to duplicate Coca-Cola red from memory. In the end not one of the 20 of us got it right. We were all close and in the end that is all you need to be. Since color is in the eye of the beholder who is to say if it’s the right color or not?

* See my October article “Why Is There Purple In My Blue”

Tags: color differences, color psychology, color selection, color use, marketing with color

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 11:47 am by rwhetstine and is filed under Thinking about Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.