What's In A Color? The Importance Of The First Impression When Creating A Corporate Brand.

9/9/2015 Back

Have you ever been drawn to a brand or product repeatedly? Have you ever revisited a website that just seemed to call your name?

Colors, every single one of them, affect the human brain in many different ways. Color is a powerful tool that can evoke positive or negative feelings. Color used in a products appearance can attract & guide a customer’s attention. In addition, men & women prefer different colors. Men prefer darker colors while women prefer brighter, light colors. According to the co-founder of KissMetrics, Neil Patel, 85% of people tend to make a buying decision solely based on the color attributes.

What does this mean for your business and branding?

Colors are a very important ingredient of not only a business’ branding, but also their website design. Use of a color scheme can create a “brand identity”. Color, believe it or not, can affect the rate of conversion for a website. Think about it. Have you ever gone to a website & immediately felt the need to leave that site? What about having the urge to stay & investigate every little detail of a company’s homepage? That is because the first thing a potential customer notices is the color scheme. The effects of color on consumers has been supported by multiple studies, even revealing that a large majority will pick a product based simply on the visual appearance. Further research has revealed that in the first 90 seconds of viewing a website or product, consumers have already formed and opinion. In those 90 seconds, between 62% and 90% of that opinion is based solely on color.

Why does it matter which colors are used for your business website and branding?

Color increases brand recognition and can represent your design. Ads that are displayed in color are read more than half as much compared to ads in black & white. You can influence your target market simply by implementing the right combination of colors because powerful psychological cues are triggered when we view different colors. Color is a form of communication and can provide insight into a company’s work ethic or philosophy. When developing a color scheme for your website, it is important to keep your target audience in mind and to be consistent. Every color conveys a different message or feeling and it is best to use the color that triggers the best emotional response.

So, what do each of the colors represent to the average consumer?

RED:

• evokes strong emotion
• encourages appetite
• sense of urgency
• movement
• excitement
• passion
• pulls focus
• grabs attention
• highly visible
• draw in impulsive shoppers

BLUE:

• the "Universal Color"
• trustworthy
• loyal
• intelligence
• expertise
• confidence
• stability
• depth
• stimulates productivity
• curbs appetite
• non-invasive

GREEN:

• wealth
• calming
• health
• environmental issues
• stimulates harmony in the brain
• encourages balance
• decisiveness
• alleviates depression
• new growth
• easiest color for eyes to process

YELLOW/ORANGE:

• optimism
• attention grabbing
• energetic
• attracts impulsive buyers/window shoppers
• promotes enthusiasm
• stimulates logic center of brain
• causes fatigue/strain on eyes
• makes babies cry
• encourages communication
• clarity
• cautioning
• aggressive
• calls for action
• confidence

PURPLE:

• wisdom
• success
• calming
• respect
• stimulates problem solving area of brain
• creativity
• used in beauty/anti-aging products
• represents a “creative, wise, and imaginative” brand, service or product

BLACK:

• authority
• power
• stability
• strength
• intelligence
• overwhelming if used too frequently
• used on expensive or luxury products

GREY:

• practicality
• solidarity
• too much can lead to feelings of nothingness
• can sometimes draw in feelings of old age, death or depression

White:

• purity
• cleanliness
• safety
• neutrality
• clean slate
• not always considered a color

Remember, when developing a color scheme for your website, it is important to keep your target audience in mind and to be consistent. Every color conveys a different message or feeling and it is best to use the color that triggers the best emotional response.

Back

Post your comment
Name:
Email:
Comment: