Color psychology is the study of colors about human behavior. It aims to determine how color affects our decisions such as the items we buy. So even if your products don’t necessarily tie to a niche, you can use color to help you attract a specific demographic.
Marketing colors like red can capture attention.
The red color meaning is associated with excitement, passion, danger, energy, and action. In color psychology, red is the most intense color. And thus, it can provoke the strongest emotions. If you add the color red to your website, save it for the call to action or sale icons if it’ll contrast well with your store design.
Red is the iconic color used for brands like Coca Cola and YouTube. The color red tends to encourage appetite hence why brands like Coca Cola use it often in their branding. YouTube likely uses the color red due to the excitement of watching videos online.
Orange Color Psychology
In color psychology, orange represents creativity, adventure, enthusiasm, success, and balance. The color orange adds a bit of fun to any picture, website, or marketing material it’s on. Despite its attractive color, it’s not as commanding as the color red. Many marketers still use the color for call to actions or areas of a website that they want to draw the eye too.
Yellow Color Psychology
In color psychology, the color meaning for yellow revolves around sunshine. It evokes feelings of happiness, positivity, optimism, and summer but also of deceit and warning. The color yellow is used by brands such as Ferrari and Ikea. Many people dream of driving a Ferrari. The luxury brand is associated with this feeling of happiness, summer and a carefree lifestyle.
Pink Color Psychology
Pink is a popular color for brands that primarily serve a female audience. In color psychology, pink’s color meaning revolves around femininity, playfulness, immaturity and unconditional love. Some brands have chosen to use the color pink for the product packaging, especially for girl’s toys. Whereas other brands highlight the pink color in their logo, website design, or to highlight key messages.
Since the color meaning for pink includes femininity, it’s no surprise that brands like Victoria’s Secret and Barbie use the color so heavily.
Green Color Psychology
In color psychology, green is highly connected to nature and money. Growth, fertility, health, and generosity are some of the positive color meanings for the color.
The use of green is made popular by brands such as John Deere and Roots. John Deere’s entire brand revolves around nature. Their product line centers around landscaping, agriculture, lawn care equipment and more. The color green is so ingrained into their branding that even their equipment is the same shade of green as their logo.
Color Psychology Blue
In color psychology, blue’s color meaning ties closely to the sea and the sky. Stability, harmony, peace, calm and trust are just some of the feelings your customer may feel about your brand when you integrate the color blue into your branding.
Tech brands like Facebook, Twitter, and Skype often use blue in their marketing. But retailers like Walmart also use the color. The blue in the Walmart logo can help position the brand as trustworthy, reliable, and relaxing. After all, Walmart is a place where you can buy groceries and do shopping all in one convenient location.
Purple Color Psychology
In color psychology, purple is a royal color. The color meaning for purple is connected to power, nobility, luxury, wisdom, and spirituality. But avoid using the color too much as it can cause feelings of frustration. Some perceive its overuse as arrogant.
Purple is a color brands like Hallmark and Yahoo use. When browsing both websites, you’ll notice that purple is an accent color. On Hallmark, the logo and the top navigation are purple but the rest of the website uses a variety of other colors.
White Color Psychology
In color psychology, white showcases innocence, goodness, cleanliness, and humility. Keep in mind, that this is the meaning in North American culture. In some parts of the world, white has the opposite meaning. You’ll want to keep this in mind based on the target audience you serve. The color meaning for white also has a negative side where it symbolizes sterility and cold.
White is the color ASOS and Adidas uses in their marketing. When the background is grey or black, the font is white and when the background is white the font is black.
Black Color Psychology
Black is a popular color in retail. In color psychology, black’s color meaning is symbolic of mystery, power, elegance, and sophistication. In contrast, the color meaning can also evoke emotions such as sadness and anger. Many fashion retailers have used black in their logos. Black is a color retailers such as Chanel and Nike use.
Chanel uses black for its logo and has several black and white images on their website to maintain a consistent look. Nike also uses a black, white and grey color scheme for its website. Their logo and font is black throughout their website. Thus, making the website easy to read.
Grey Color Meaning
In color psychology, grey represents neutrality and balance. Its color meaning likely comes from being the shade between white and black. However, grey does carry some negative connotations, particularly when it comes to depression and loss. Its absence of color makes it dull.
Apple is an example of a brand that uses the color grey in its branding. After all, many of their laptops are in a grey or silver-tone as its neutral color doesn’t put anyone off.
Brown Color Psychology
Brown is an earthy color. After all, it’s the color of earth, wood, and stone. So naturally, color psychology highlights that the color meaning for brown relates to comfort, security and a down to earth nature. In marketing, you’ll find that brown is often used for natural products and food. UPS is an example of a brand who takes advantage of color meanings in its branding. On their website, the brown in their logo is emphasized in the navigation and drop-down menus.