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Why You Should Use Color Psychology When Branding

When you see red and yellow together, what do you think about? Ketchup and mustard?

Mcdonalds? What about when you see blue? Facebook, Twitter, or Bluebottle?

Do you feel comfortable when you see the color green? Maybe you think about recycling, nature and eco-friendly. If so, the founders of Starbucks have created the perfect logo because this was their purpose.

If you are a marketer or business owner, understanding color psychology and how to apply it for marketing is extremely important.

1. Colors impact people’s mood and emotions

Psychologists found that colors have a vivid effect on our feelings and emotions, and have used them in different environments to bring out certain reactions. For example, studies have shown that colors can influence our purchasing decisions. In a 2013 survey, 93 percent of purchasers claimed they were attracted to visual appearance, and around 85 percent said color is a primary reason when they made a decision to buy.

2. Colors can enhance a brand’s awareness

Brand awareness is the degree of consumer consciousness of a company. It estimates a customer's ability to not only recognize a brand but also associate it with a certain company's product or service. Let’s think about Mcdonalds. One of the biggest reasons why the brand resonates with youth is because of the company’s use of the color yellow. In color psychology, yellow represents feelings of happiness, positivity, optimism, and cheerfulness. Yellow also has the ability to lift people’s spirits. Brands that incorporate the yellow color in their marketing include: Post-it, Nikon, Denny’s, Chupa-Chups, etc.

3. Colors are used to attract specific audiences

The first step for a branding strategy is to define your audience. If your targets are retired and elderly, using yellow for your logos and marketing materials is not recommended. In Faber Birren’s book Color Psychology and Color Therapy, he found that people are attracted to the colors red and blue consistently throughout life. On the other hand, yellow is usually appealing to younger audiences. However, as we age, our tendency to find the color yellow attractive decreases. Therefore, selecting proper colors for your target audience is one of the key secrets to marketing success.

Color psychology is one of the studies of colors in relation to human action. It aims to determine how color affects our day to day decisions such as the products we buy and the restaurants we go to. There is no 100% right answer for color psychology despite tons of studies available online.

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