Color matters.

Lately I’ve found myself involved in a number of new branding initiatives. New companies seeking to create a compelling brand… and existing firms trying to become more compelling by investing more thought in the branding exercise.

The topic of color comes up frequently in these projects. Does color actually matter? Is it a significant variable in the persuasion formula?

The answer is, yes. Color does matter.

Our brains are wired to associate specific feelings with certain colors. Most of us are aware that colors can evoke certain emotions, but it may surprise you to learn that color accounts for 60% of a person’s acceptance or rejection of another person or object.

Color is actually a particularly useful instrument of persuasion. Because we don’t perceive its influence over our decision making, we don’t develop a resistance to it.

The problem for marketers is that colors each carry multiple meanings. Take the color red for example. It’s probably the best attention grabbing color, but consider its various meanings.

To some it represents “stop.” I therefore advise marketers never to use the color red for buttons on web sites that they want clicked by their audience. To many, red represents danger. In financial circles, red represents a loss (as opposed to black for profit).

Red can represent anger and aggression, boldness, or blood. So, as you can see, when developing your brand, how you use color is a matter worthy of serious consideration.

For your next branding project (or when picking colors for your home or office), I offer this color trigger reference…

• Red: strength, power, anger, aggression, excitement, financial loss, blood
• Blue: truth, integrity, coolness, loyalty, harmony, serenity, devotion, relaxation
• Yellow: intelligence, wisdom, hostility, cheerfulness, loudness, brightness. Yellow is the first color to register in the brain and causes you to be alert and watchful.
• Green: peacefulness, tranquility, youthfulness, prosperity, growth, money, endurance, hopefulness
• Orange: sun, warmth, bravery, radiation, communication, brightness, unpleasantness, invigoration
• Purple: royalty, passion, authority, stateliness, integrity, dignity, mystique
• White: purity, plainness, coldness, cleanliness, innocence, hygiene
• Black: desperation, wickedness, futility, mysteriousness, death, evilness. In financial contexts, black may represent profit and exclusivity (e.g. the exclusive American Express Centurion card)
• Gray: neutrality, nothingness, indecision, depression, dullness, technology, impersonality

The following is a logo developed by the Private Medical Marketing Group for a company in the business of providing clinic-based wellness services for employers.

The design team chose the central color, blue for the purpose of communicating integrity to participating employees.

People who are encouraged to participate in sophisticated wellness programs sponsored by their employer are often suspicious of how information will be managed with respect to their personal privacy and whether there are ulterior motives for the employer to meddle in the health affairs of employees. Failure to address this concern can impair the effectiveness of the program.

This particular wellness offering is built on a sophisticated technological platform – communicated through the use of the color, gray.

And in this instance, the designers elected to incorporate red to draw the eye to the center of a highly symbolic icon and infuse a touch of energy and invigoration into the brand. Their belief, and I’m inclined to agree, was that the negative connotations of the color red will compensated for by its literal application in coloring an apple – a widely recognized and very positive symbol of disease prevention. (An apple a day….)

So if you thought that logo design and color selection was random…

Blogger: Tom Blue, Executive Director, AAPP