Throughout our lives we have encountered many colours, and even now we come across new shades and names we have never heard before. Generally speaking, each of us has a favourite colour — and in fact, without realising it, the colour we love says something about our own psychology. Brands that take these nuances into account apply them in their own business processes. Although we often look at the logos of the social networks or brands we use, we have perhaps never thought about why exactly that colour was chosen; in reality, every brand pays attention to colour choice when building its identity. Brands draw on colour psychology to reach their goals and achieve the emotional response they want to create. Let us take a closer look at this little trick brands use.
If we start with orange, we can say that this colour conveys creativity, adventure and excitement, along with an optimistic and cheerful character. It is no coincidence, then, that the Fanta brand uses orange and supports the sectors young people gravitate towards most. Orange also prompts people to buy and to sell, which is why companies turn to it. Brands such as Hermès Paris, Fanta, ING Bank and SoundCloud also make use of this quality of orange.
Next we can look at green, a colour used in store design to put customers at ease and to create a sense of a business in harmony with the environment. We can find this colour — associated with health, calm and nature — in the Starbucks logo. The reason Starbucks chose green as its brand colour is the desire to encourage people coming into its cafés to feel at peace and take a coffee break. Alongside Starbucks, if we look at the logos of companies such as Spotify, TEB, Android and BP, we will find green there too.
To attract attention, brands most often use red. Red — the colour of energy, dynamism, strength and desire — is the one that most stirs the subconscious and also has an appetite-inducing effect. It is precisely for this reason that McDonald's, one of the fast food companies, favours this colour. The meaning of red is associated with excitement, danger, energy and movement. In colour psychology red is the most intense colour, and companies such as Coca-Cola and YouTube also use these qualities of red in their logos.
Blue, which conveys trust, is a colour used in the marketing world by many companies such as Honda and American Express. The reason Honda chose blue is precisely the desire to instil a sense of reliability and trust behind the scenes. Unlike red, blue is a colour that suppresses the desire to eat, so food companies do not favour it much. Since it is also the colour of cleanliness, the cleaning product brand Pril takes advantage of it as well.
White represents goodness, purity and modesty in psychology. This is why brands such as ASOS, Puma and Adidas favour white in their marketing. In many retail spaces, eye-catching designs are created to contrast with white. White also has a redemptive quality. Apple, one of the world's giant companies, also favours white in its advertising communications.
We hope we have helped you form a clearer idea of which colour you should use when building your brand. <3
If this topic matters for your business, take a look at NS Studio’s branding and logo design and website development services, and continue with “How can attractive design be created?”.