Using Colour Psychology for Online Marketing
Colour is often a subject that is overlooked when planning your online marketing. Research shows majority of people have associations (i.e emotions) with different colours. Here is a breakdown of what different colours mean to most people:
Black
Associations: Power, elegance, mystery, exclusivity, formality & strength.
Black can go with any colour & is often used for text. When used in larger quantities, black can give off a powerful punch, but too much and you won't catch your target audiences attention. Used as a background black can make almost all colours 'pop'.
Grey
Associations: Neutral, sophisticated, simple & elegant.
Grey is the perfect neutral and works well with most colours, but using to much can quickly become depressing and gloomy.
Blue
Associations: Serenity, intelligence, trust & friendly.
Blue is a colour that provokes tranquillity as its often associated with the sea. Businesses use blue to subconsciously incite responsibility & trust of the company. The meanings differ between light & darker blue shades. The lighter end of the shades create an atmosphere of calm & friendliness. While darker shades have associations with trust and intelligence.
Green
Associations: Nature, wealth, energy & renewal.
Green is often associated with wealth due to the US Dollar, but when used in a lighter shade is symbolic of nature. Green is also the main colour used in recycling symbols and campaigns, which is where the association of renewal comes from.
Red
Associations: Energy, importance, urgency, passion, strength & determination.
Red is used in advertising to grab peoples attention! Even if you think back to when you were in school you knew when a teacher wrote on your work in red pen, it was important! Red is also a colour that is associated love, by being consistently used on Valentines day & relationship milestones. Red is used to convey anger, as seen in cartoons when ever displaying a characters anger.
Pink
Associations: Femininity, calmness, love, friendly & optimistic.
While pink is most commonly associated with love and femininity, companies also use it to promote that there company is 'pure' & friendly. Pink is rarely used to target male consumers.
Orange
Associations: Hope, energy, joy, warning, refreshing & adventurous.
Orange is often conceived subconsciously as a warning, like on traffic lights. But can also be a light joyful colour that inspires energy & hope. Darker shades of orange can be associated with autumn, which gives off feelings of change. Orange is often used in food & beverage adverts, as its seen as a refreshing colour.
Yellow
Associations: Sun, nature, energy, positivity, happiness, outdoors & summer.
Yellow is seen the most in online marketing during summer, due to yellow being associated with sunshine & brightness. Used sparingly yellow can really add a positive vibe.
White Association: Pure, clean, innocent, emptiness, tranquillity & marriage.
Using white can make your project seem clean & fresh. With the link to marriage, white is associated with innocence. Great as a background colour, or to calm down a bright colour scheme.
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