If Twitter’s logo is blue, Fanta’s logo is orange, and posters for ecologic movements are always green it’s no coincidence. Indeed colors have a signification, which is called color psychology.
Color psychology studies how different colors determine human behavior. Color psychology is widely used in the field of advertising and marketing, she is interested in people’s emotional reactions.
Color psychology and marketing
In marketing four colors are frequently used ; blue, green, red, and yellow. Firstly, the blue color is considered as the most popular brand color, suggests high loyalty and precision and is closely associated to intelligence and trust.
Next, the green color is considered as the easiest color for human vision, it is used to project a relaxing image and environnement in stores and mostly to indicate an environnement friendly approach.
Thirdly, the red color is used extensively in food industry to trigger appetite, conveys strong energy and hight confidence, and attracts attention to adds high visibility to the brand.
Finally, the Yellow color convey’s positively high energy and optimist, stimulate creativity and attracts consumer attention, and indicates fun, cheerfulness and an « happy » brand image.
Color Psychology and emotional conditions
The founder of Color Psychology, Max Lüscher is a Sweden psychologist and philosophies born in 1923. He invented a colors test, for values emotional conditions of a person according to colors preference in the moment. Lüscher’s color test consists of showing the person colored boards, in which he has to make choices, first on a grey scale, then between four main colors, and finally on variants. The boards have 23 colors. The test is repeated immediately, giving a total of 146 choices. The interpretation is done on tables or punch cards that allow the answers to be classified.
Researches realized by Lüscher, shows that the choice of the good color on a packaging can have an hypnotic effect on the consumer. Moreover the color of a commercial object can influence on his success. For example, if the color of a food is not pleasing to the eye, customers will not tend to buy it. This is why manufacturers are resorting to food color.
Color psychology and work environment
Color psychology is an important concept to think about when designing the workspace. Some colors such as blue and green improve performance and generate a sense of well-being, while colors such as gray or black can generate a sense of frustration and prevent natural light from circulating.
It is necessary to choose colors used in the office according to the nature of the activity carried out within the company. For example if the work requires a need for relaxation or serenity, designers can opt for blue. Also, if the need is related to creativity, we will choose a color such as mauve or purple.
In conclusion, we can see that colors are not insignificant, it’s important to know the concept of color psychology. Whether it is to understand emotional conditions, to develop a product in marketing, or even to promote working conditions.
Bibliography :
N. Canivet, « Le test de Lüscher », Psychologie clinique et projective, nos 17-18, 1964, p. 57-61
Roohi S, Forouzandeh A (May 2019). “Regarding color psychology principles in adventure games to enhance the sense of immersion”. Entertainment Computing.