Psychology of using colors and marketing

What influence does color have on a brand logo? At EDIT.org, we explain it to you and provide you with customizable templates so you can apply this knowledge to your designs.

Importance of color psychology on marketing

Behind each color, there is an entire language created through our eyes that causes a series of emotions and sensations, such as pleasure, well-being, and security.

The logo of a company must represent an entire corporate identity, that is, a company's philosophy, values, and personality. Therefore, use a color consistent with the values you want to communicate to your audience. These messages will be subconsciously associated in the mind of the consumer when seeing your brand’s logo or listening to the brand's name.

Each color is unique and goes far beyond an optical effect. There's a meaning behind it that will generate an impact on consumers' brains in an unconscious way. That is why it's fundamental to conduct a preliminary study to help create the visual image of your brand. Knowing how individuals react to different colors can increase your sales exponentially.

For instance, it would not be a great idea to advertise perishable food products with a brown color since consumers could associate it with rotting, which would generate a negative impact.

However, don't forget that even though the color is one of the most basic elements in generating an impact on consumers, it's not the only one. Experiment with other elements and be sure that what you want to convey is coherent as a whole unit. It would be useless, for example, to apply a pink color to a funeral company, no matter how serious the name, slogan, or typography are.

Color meanings and psychology of color in advertising

BLUE

• Emotions: it is associated with water, conveys peace and serenity, it is known as a cold color
• Marketing: it is used by companies for being productive and non-invasive, it creates a feeling of safety and confidence in brands, it inspires seriousness and progress

RED

• Emotions: it evokes strong emotions, it can create an appetite, it increases passion and intensity, and it symbolizes love
• Marketing: it increases heart rate, it is used by restaurants because it can influence appetite, it creates a need for urgency, it can influence compulsive buying

YELLOW

• Emotions: it conveys energy and happiness, it can cause fatigue in sight, it stimulates a mental process, it also stimulates the nervous system
• Marketing: it represents optimism, youth, and fun, it is used by energetic and happy brands, it is associated with brands of power and wealth

GREEN

• Emotions: it symbolizes health and tranquility, it is related to nature, it can help ease depression, it represents birth
• Marketing: it is associated with health, and it is also historically associated with a symbol of fertility

ORANGE

• Emotions: it reflects enthusiasm and emotion, it shows closeness, and it calls the attention to caution
• Marketing: it symbolizes aggression, it creates a call for attention to buy, sell, subscribe, it focuses on compulsive buyers, and it represents a close, cheerful brand

VIOLET

• Emotions: it is associated with royalty because historically kings would wear this color, it embodies success and wealth, it is associated with magic and spirituality
• Marketing: it is associated with feminine brands, it is also associated with creative brands, and it is used in elegant and sophisticated brands

PINK

• Emotions: tranquility and love
• Marketing: for sweet and delicate brands, and cleaning products

BLACK

• Emotions: it is associated with a negative emotion such as sadness, loneliness, and pain
• Marketing: however, marketing is associated with elegance, security, and sobriety

WHITE

• Emotions: peace feeling, tranquility, cleaning, and spirituality. In the East countries, it's linked to death
• Marketing: associated with cleaning products and simplicity (technology)

We invite you to analyze your business values and identity and to choose the colors that best suit them. Create a whole collection of designs for your communication campaign with the same color range with EDIT.org's editor. Start now editing your business designs!