Colors are everywhere, and most of us don’t spend much time thinking about it. However, colors can have a tremendous impact on our emotions and the way that we feel instinctively about what we encounter in the world.
Consequently, one of the most crucial decisions that a brand will make is the colors they choose to represent it. Colors play a central role in the impression that people have of your brand, reaching into an observer’s subconscious to tell them something enduring about your organization and what it is all about. For some customers, your color will be the thing they remember most about you. That’s why it is so important for brands to consider the psychology of color when developing the indelible hues that will be forever associated with their brand in logos, environmental branding, packaging, advertising and more.
At Fryed Egg Productions, we work closely with our clients to help them consider every aspect of who they are as a brand, and we know that selecting your brand colors is a decision that should be made with a great deal of care and understanding of how it will forever influence how your target audiences perceive you.
Here are some key components to consider.
First and lingering impressions
According to research in Management Decision, consumers tend to make up their minds about a product within 90 seconds of their initial interaction with it. That same research estimates that approximately 62-90% of the assessment is based on colors alone. First impressions can be everything for brands, partly because it can be so hard to overcome a bad one. On the flip side, a great first impression will give a brand the initial headway that they need to build a relationship with a potential customer. Your color choice and how you use it is also your opportunity to differentiate yourself in the marketplace and make a lasting impression. Iconic brands such as Coca-Cola, Xerox, Apple, Starbucks and McDonald’s are all linked closely with their colors for a reason.
Mood and feelings
Certain colors tend to inject specific moods and feelings into us. Yellow is considered a prompt that can lead to happiness, while blue is viewed as calming. It’s a phenomenon studied in psychology dating back to influential thinker Carl Jung. As noted in the Management Decision research, our moods and feelings are unstable and ready to be shifted and formed by what we encounter in the world. Colors can turn our mood for the worse or the better, and they consequently can steer our actions. For instance, the color red is associated with urgency and considered a trigger for impulse buys. When McDonald’s combines the sunny happiness of yellow through its famed golden arches with the urgency of its red signage, it creates an impression likely to draw passing motorists.
Color associations
When considering colors, you will want to dig into the associations that people tend to have with them and to consider how that could reflect on your brand. These associations can be varied and complex. The way that brands use colors also can affect the intricacies of the reactions that colors inspire. Some examples of color associations include green being linked with tranquility and nature, purple being connected with royalty and wisdom, blue being tied to reliability (and therefore being favored by conservative brands hoping to assure customers rather than excite them) and black with power and strength. Any brand will want to be certain that the colors it chooses to represent them supports their brand identity.
Consistent use
Once you have landed on your brand colors, you need to maintain your commitment to them throughout all of your branding. That means being consistent in your use of your colors and the complementary colors around them through your branding guidelines. Deviations should be extremely rare and with a purpose. Otherwise, you will undermine your brand and the care you have put into creating a very specific association with it in your audiences’ minds. As with other aspects of your brand, your team members should understand how to use your colors in everything that they do according to well-established brand guidelines.
At Fryed Egg, we help organizations build brand identities that reflect who they are -- from their name itself to their logo -- and then develop comprehensive marketing strategies to protect and advance those brands. We can help you pinpoint what makes your organization special, diving deep into your values and vision, and make sure that your brand reflects that. If you want to see if Fryed Egg is the right agency for your marketing needs, contact us at (813) 478-0494 or [email protected] or visit www.fryedegg.com.