What does colour have to do with it?
Have you ever been stopped at a traffic light and made a false start when it wasn’t your green light? Three colours control the daily commute of billions of people around the world, green means go, red means stop and yellow means slow down. To most people.
These colour associations are universal and worldwide. So if colours can tell us when to stop when to go, what else can it tell us to do? What is the colour of your brand telling customers to do?
Psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung said that ‘Colours are the mother tongue of the subconscious’.The use of colour in your brand is crucial to creating brand associations, ideally one that is positive and consistent with how you want your customers to think of you.
Choosing a colour that targets the psychology of your customers is a valuable asset and one that is often over looked, but a little research in this area can go a long way for your business.
Research shows that the human subconscious judges a person, environment or product within the first 90 seconds of initial contact, and between 62 - 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone. HBS professor Gerald Zaltman said that ‘95 percent of purchase decisions take place in the subconscious mind.’
Colours are proven to evoke certain emotions and feelings. Although colour associations are affected by many factors; trends, cultural, historical, political, religious and mythical, some colour associations are relatively universal.
Blue - trustworthy, dependable, cool blue - secure, sea blue - serene, universally liked
Red - activates pituitary gland, increases heart rate & blood pressure, passion
Green - health, serenity, nature, growth, deep green - wealth, prestige
Yellow - associated with in the sun in every culture, connotes optimism, positivity
Pink - hot pink - energy & youthfulness, lighter shades - romantic
Orange - exuberance, fun & vitality
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