It’s been scientifically proven that colors can affect our emotions and the way of thinking. For instance, if you are having trouble learning or solving a problem, we recommend you stay in a purple room. Purple improves brain activity and helps you think outside the box.
Marketing experts have being using colors in branding for over a century now. They shape consumer’s perception about a packaging, logo and the whole picture of the product. This is why the right color can have a big influence on product selling. That means that brand colors can improve or reverse your business.
To show what big of an impact colors have in branding, we will analyze which of them are dominant in specific brands and products.
Red is an excellent choice for gifts
Red is definitely the best color for gifts and gift wrapping. It’s often associated with good energy, attention, and excitement. That’s exactly the kind of emotion that you want to achieve with a present, no matter if you want to give it to your friend, a family member or a partner.
This is a warm color, but it’s also linked with strength, power and, domination. It raises blood pressure, metabolism and, respiration so it can also lead to anger, aggression, urgency, and fight or flight reflex. No wonder why red buttons are connected to danger.
On the other hand, red is most often used for Christmas and Valentine gift wrappings because it has a positive emotional impact. Therefore, red symbolizes love, passion, and courage. It makes a strong impression on people because it touches our deep and instinctive emotions. That’s why red rose signifies affection and sexual attractiveness towards someone.
For an example, The Magic Gifts by Alexandria based in Toronto uses red the most. Their gift baskets come in many shades but red is dominant. This color is used for ribbons, baskets, even parts of gifts are in a red packaging (chocolates, drinks or toys). Notice that on their page almost all gift baskets they offer have a little bit of red.
Dark clothes for strong people
Black often represents strength, mystery, power, authority, elegance, and formality. People that like to wear dark clothes frequently have an etiquette for being closed and cold, but also determined, fearless and rebellious.
Women should take this to consideration especially because dark clothes are most often worn by strong and powerful men. However, understanding black and all dark colors as a symbol of strength is a prejudice. Someone likes to wear this type of clothes just because it suits their body figure well, or because it suits their complexion.
Surely, dark colors have an impact on our most primal emotions, and they impact our perception of someone who wears them. So you can use this knowledge to manipulate what someone thinks of you.
Torrid designer clothes (https://www.torrid.com/ ) also based in Toronto is a fashion for women of all size. They are an online shop that sells clothes from size 10 to size 30. Their designs fit to every woman not just extra small and small.
Dark colors are dominant in their fashion, not just because they’re making an optical illusion of a skinnier body, but because these colors are recognized as bold, strong and confident. Overall all women should feel that way with their body. Of course, there are some light details and designs, which enhance their femininity.
Light clothes are considered to be soft, gentle, and playful, so if a woman wants to be taken seriously she should be wearing more dark colors, especially for work.
Yellow for recognition
Yellow demonstrates how much colors can affect someone’s business. For instance, all taxicabs in New York are yellow, and it’s often used color for taxies in the United Kingdom.
Why is that so?
Well, in an everyday traffic jam taxi vehicles had to stand out somehow. The most logical choice was red colors, but so many people were driving cars with this color. Blue was also in consideration because it is related to safety, but the problem with this color was the same as with red.
Yellow is the least used car color, and it’s a part of the basic colors of the spectrum. So you can see it easily and it stimulates positive feelings and memories. This is the color of sunshine, happiness, cheerfulness, and hope. It’s the most positive of all colors and it naturally sticks out.
Throughout the history more and more taxi agencies started using yellow as a color for their vehicles. And that turned out great in everyday life because people could recognize them without difficulty. As a result, yellow cabs were making more money and competition noticed and adapted. Through the years this color became a synonym for cabs.
The same trick is used by McDonald’s.
This fast food chain is known in the whole world, and their logo is highly recognizable. It’s interesting that one of the most popular brands in our history has a simple yellow M as their logo – it shows minimalism at its finest.
Actually, McDonald’s is using a powerful combination of colors to attract their target market. Yellow and red are both dominant colors, but they have a different impact on human psychology. Furthermore, red stimulates hunger and appetite, it’s a spotlight color and it stands in the background of the logo.
Yellow is the color of the letter M and it triggers happiness, optimism, and friendliness.
Many people in the USA have an eating disorder. They linked fast food to happy memories, and in a way, a happy and bright logo is responsible for that. All in all, this technique works and brings profits to fast food chains.
White color brands are bold
There are very few worldwide brands that use white or whitish colors for their logo or packaging of their products. White usually seems cold, formal and reserved. It is hardly seen from a huge distance, so it doesn’t really work if you want to be recognizable. But some of the most distinguished brands use white colors for their logos. One of them is Apple; their logo design is elegant, simple, minimalistic, and well-known. Of course, their logo is not strictly white, it varies from the color of the product itself, but it’s most commonly used in white.
This sterile color also symbolizes purity, virginity, innocence, cleanliness, and protection. When Apple chose white for their brand color they wanted to attract people that wanted to buy a trustworthy and reliable product. Also, their minimalistic design shows that brand is intended for the upper class.
White packages are usually linked to milk and pharmacy industry. Many medicament packages are white because of doctor’s white coat and sterility in hospitals. On the other hand, white is a symbol of life, and black is a symbol of death. Would you buy a medicament with a black package? It doesn’t seem right, does it?
Yogurt and milk packages are often white on account of the white color of the milk. This product has to be fresh, and the best way to show it is by selling it in white carton packages. It’s also used in the packaging of low-fat foods because our brains unconsciously associate white with physical and mental wellness.
Blue is trustworthy
This color usually represents sky, sea, freedom, inspiration, loyalty, wisdom and heaven. It naturally calms and relaxes our body; it also helps in slowing metabolism. Besides, it’s the most commonly used color in branding, regardless of the target marketing.
Brands that use blue want to declare to their audience that they’re trustworthy and long-standing. You get a feeling that you can rely on this brand because they have a permanence factor. It’s all about what you want to say with your brand’s name and what you want them to think about you.
So if you want for them to see you as bold and fearless you go with red. And in a case that your target audience is young, you should choose colors such as yellow and orange. Blue is the best choice for insurance companies or corporations. It’s not sterile as white, but it also represents cleanness, stability, and unity.
Large companies like Facebook, Twitter, HP, WordPress, and Oral-B are using blue as the main color of their logo. All of them want to provide stability, trust, and loyalty to their customers. But it’s not as suitable for restaurants and the fast food industry because it’s scientifically proven blue is an appetite suppressant. That’s the reason why so few of these food businesses use blue for their logos and packages.
If you want to start a new business or to promote the one that already exists you should reconsider the right color for your brand. Colors will not magically improve your business, but they will influence you customer’s perception of it. They will primarily remember you for your logo and packaging design, so you should invest in marketing equally as in quality of your product or service.
All of this facts are useful If you plan to create video content, for search engine optimization for video content.
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