How colour can influence decisions

Do you know how certain colours can resonate with your audience?

I’ve been delving deep into colour psychology research over the past couple of days. I love learning more and more about how the brain effects our choices and subconsciously influences us. I’ve been learning about how to penetrate through to the limbic brain and not just tickle the neocortex when it comes to influencing a decision. Ooh!

It’s no surprise that colours have psychological effects but not only do they effect our mood and feelings they can initiate a body response too. Have you ever stopped to wonder why the two key colours found in fast food brands are red and yellow? Red is intense and it creates feelings of excitement, it increases pulse and heart rate, raises your blood pressure and increases your metabolism rate. Yellow evokes feelings of comfort and happiness but it is also the most visible colour making it perfect for grabbing attention.

Does colour really have an impact on your brand?

Research reveals all human beings make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone.

Think about Cadbury purple, Tiffany blue, Louboutin red… the list goes on. Colour can have a massive impact on your brand. Not only to gain attention but to make them instantly recognisable. Studies have shown our brains prefer immediately recognisable brands meaning the choice of our colour palettes should be considered carefully.

What colour palette is right for my brand?

While there are general feelings evoked from each colour on the wheel, there is no clear cut answer when looking at colour psychology theories. While a lot of colour psychology research generalises feelings derived from viewing a colour, it’s important to remember that the feelings created by colours are not necessarily perceived universally. Individual experience and culture effects the perception of colour too. So while the red and yellow of fast food restaurant may make most of us hungry, for some it might not.

The feeling, mood, and image that your brand or product creates is ultimately what matters. They key to a successful visual identity is brand recognition – a combination of colour, design, type, personality and quality. These all impact the desire to purchase but colour is important and can make or break a connection.

The brand and customer personality should be aligned, these should be defined before you get to the colour palette stage of the branding process project and the results should be the main focus when choosing your colour palette. Customers buy into products that align with their beliefs and personality so referring to colour psychology research can be beneficial. Consider how you want your brand to be perceived and evaluate the colours from the results.

If you have chosen to use your favourite colour within your brand without any audience consideration or brand personality definition you may be missing a trick.

Top tip:

If you want to stand out and break the mould choose a palette that completely differs from the colour palettes of your competition. (Chances are they have a similar look and feel) It’s time to shake the industry up and be individual.