Color Psychology and Marketing

According to Wikipedia, Color Psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behavior. I find this to be a strange field, because it can feel impenetrable yet simple at the same time. We can all look at a color and say the first thing that comes to our mind. It’s a rather simple exercise.

For example, blue makes me feel calm and think about slow waves on an ocean and yellow makes me think of sunlight and, therefore, happiness and cheerful things. But red is considered an aggressive color that is associated with anger and hate. That doesn’t seem right to me. I love red, but I’m not very fond of anger and hate. So it seems, the psychology of color isn’t always so cut and dry. And like most aspects of society, it bows to the whim of the majority.

The majority, of course, is the audience we as marketers are usually speaking to. And so, unsurprisingly, it is helpful for us to stay up to date on how people are perceiving color. Our designers often consider color first and those choices can inform almost every other decision they make.

To make sure those early decisions create effective results consider this: Not every part of the world sees eye-to-eye on color. While the western culture sees black as intimidating or associates it with death, eastern cultures associate it with health and prosperity (source: Color psychology in UX). Cultures often use colors to commemorate major events and often have storied social and political history. For example the color red has many positive associations in Chinese culture (source: Why is red considered a lucky color for the Chinese?).

And so, the practice of analyzing the colors used in your own marketing on a regular basis can help ensure you’re conveying the appropriate emotions. Color should also be considered when discussing projects your marketing agency creative team, to help inspire creative direction.

Intrigued? Check out this great article on the basics of Color Psychology in marketing.

In short, pay attention to the colors you use in your marketing—it may lead you to new insights and opportunities.