It is important to understand that how consumers feel about a brand has more power than what they think about a brand. Your brand colors have the ability to impact your sales and performance more than the products you offer. Consistency and repetition with the same colors can strengthen brand awareness because when given enough exposure, the colors eventually become part of the brand, so it is important that after you choose your brand colors that you use them consistently. Some of the most common areas where brand colors are used in your business include your logo, website, storefront, advertisements and staff uniforms.
Colors affect people’s moods in many different ways. This is a concept that can be traced all the way back to the initial days of marketing and continues to be one of the primary concepts used in branding today. Color psychology is defined as the study of colors and their direct impact on human behavior. Each color plays a role in how people feel and the way they act.
Brand color philosophy uses a framework of creativity that uses colors to promote the emotions that people experience when using the product or service. Each color has its own role to play.
So let’s take a look at some of the most common colors used in branding and the philosophies behind them:
Red Philosophy:
The color red reaches out for attention and is full of energy. It promotes a sense of alertness and tells the brain that it must take action. Many websites use red on display buttons where the designer wants its visitors to take a specific action like making a purchase or signing up for a subscription at the moment. Red should be used carefully because it can also scare away customers and tends to only work well when contrasting it with other elements of a marketing message.
Yellow Philosophy:
A vibrant color that embraces people with warmth and boosts mental activity, yellow is often associated with sunshine and tends to bring a lot of joy to the world. And like the color red, yellow can also be good for attracting attention but should be used in balance with other colors. Too much yellow can make people impatient and not enough yellow can cause feelings of insecurity, isolation and low self-esteem.
Green Philosophy:
Green is the number one color in terms of association with growth and development and works well to connect emotions with nature in a positive way which is why investing firms and environmentally friendly brands generally use green as a primary color for marketing. And remember, it doesn’t necessarily have to be related to growth in wealth. It can be the growth of knowledge, health and many others.
Blue Philosophy:
Blue, the soothing color of our oceans and skies is a comforting color that promotes feelings of peace, freedom, intuition and imagination. The energy that radiates from blue inspires us to be loyal, confident, formal, intelligent and sincere which is why it is widely used in the corporate world. It tends to slow down human metabolism, bringing a sense of calmness to the body. Blue has the ability to be dynamic with lighter shades. Light blue can bring a powerful, dramatic effect to your brand and logo designs, but too much blue can provoke negative energy and/or selfishness.
Black Philosophy:
Black is known as one of the most common colors used in retail because it represents sophistication and professionalism. And when working with texts they should all be written in black because it is the easiest to see and read unless you want specific words or phrases to stand out, then you can use other colors but try to keep it limited. Black is a prestigious corporate color that shows signs of strength and boosts confidence. It can give off feelings of mystery and power but can also project signs of negativity if it isn’t used correctly in your logo.
The next time you go shopping we encourage you to look for these colors so you can see how strategic stores use them in their placement products. How brands are placed within the network of other competing brands will instantly jump out! And it’s not by accident. How your branding colors combine will come up over and over again in many areas of your business. Remember that your brand color scheme determines the look of your website, logo, store designs, advertisements and even your social media, so choose them carefully.
And it’s important to note that in the end, there are no concrete rules for choosing your brand colors, only guidelines, theories and philosophies. We hope that this blog has helped you to gain a better understanding of the importance of colors in branding. If you have any questions about color philosophies in branding and/or for your website, feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.
