Introduction: The Psychology of Why Color Matters
Announcer: You are listening to the Brainy Business podcast where we dig into the psychology of why people buy and help you incorporate behavioral economics into your business, making it more brain friendly. Now, here’s your host, Melina Palmer.
Melina Palmer: Hello. Hello everyone. My name is Melina Palmer and I want to welcome you to the Brainy Business Podcast.
Color is a beautiful thing. Some of them are found in nature; others are created by brands. Why do we like some and hate others? Why is my favorite color one that you would prefer to never see or wear and vice versa? And when it comes to your own branding and business, should you just pick something you like? I mean, after all is said and done, you’re going to be looking at this thing more than anyone else, so you might as well like it, right? Or like so many things in life and communication, is it not about you and your taste, but rather about what that color conveys about the business to your potential customers and team members?
And if that’s the case, how do you choose what color is best and what would happen if you get it wrong? That’s just some of what we discuss in this refreshed episode, one of my favorites, which originally aired way back in the summer of 2019 on Color Theory. As you might guess, it’s still as relevant now as it was when it aired and I’m so excited to share it with you today.
Really quickly, before we get into the episode, I want to be sure you know that there are links in the show notes for my top related past episodes and books, ways to get in touch, and more. It’s all within the app you’re listening to and at thebrainybusiness.com/578. Now let’s jump right in and learn about color theory.
General Associations and Emotional Meanings of Colors
Melina Palmer: You’ve probably heard the basics of color theory before that certain colors link to certain feelings or emotions in people and so some colors are better than others for brands. There are tons of color charts out there. I’ve linked to a few for you in the show notes, and I’m not going to go too deep into the specific associations because a quick Google search will turn up tons and tons of charts and explanations for you.
While I am going to give the general associations in this episode, I’m also going to explain what really matters when it comes to using colors in your branding and your marketing, the common mistakes, and the most important things to keep in mind.
Here are some of those general associations made about colors and their meanings. Red is full of excitement and said to be youthful and bold. It’s also said to make people hungry or angry and is associated with stopping due to traffic lights and stop signs. Other words used to describe various shades of red are passionate, adventurous, magnetic, violent, danger, courageous or assertive. Some notable brands that use the color red are Coca-Cola, Nintendo, Kellogg’s cereal, Lego, Target, Heinz Ketchup, Netflix, Toyota and YouTube.
Orange is said to be cheerful and have confidence. It’s also fun, whimsical, childlike, friendly, spontaneous, glowing, hot and persuasive. On a negative side, it can be seen as loud or frivolous. Notable brands using orange are Nickelodeon, Amazon, Fanta, Shutterfly, Harley-Davidson, Firefox, Payless and Bitly.
Yellow has optimism, clarity and warmth. It’s also joyful, illuminating, nourishing, sunny, sweet, stimulating, innovative, energetic, hot, surprising or used to bring awareness. On a negative, it’s associated with being cowardly, betraying others and hazard signs. Some notable brands using yellow are UPS, National Geographic, Best Buy, Subway, McDonald’s, Ferrari and IKEA.
Green is said to be peaceful and associated with growth and health. It can also be calm, quiet, fresh, lush, soothing, renewal, balance and life as well as fertility. But it’s also associated with the military or camouflage, being neutral, citrusy or with a forest depending on the shade. And as you get closer to chartreuse, it could be seen as slimy or related to mold. It can also be associated with money, prosperity and moving forward like to “go green.” Brands include John Deere, Whole Foods, Starbucks, BP, Monster, Holiday Inn, Spotify, Android, Heineken, Girl Scouts and Animal Planet.
Blue is associated with trust, dependability and strength. Some other words again, depending on the shade, can be calm, quiet, water, clean, peaceful, reassuring, serene, transcendent, open, sophisticated, confident, tasteful, cool, credible, authoritative, classic, traditional, nautical or professional. Negative terms would be aloof, distant, sad or melancholy. Notable brands using the color blue are Facebook, WordPress, Walmart, Pfizer, Twitter, LinkedIn, AT&T, Chase, American Express, General Electric, Oreo, Ford, IBM, Oral-B, Vimeo, NASA and Volkswagen.
Purple is associated with creativity, imagination and wisdom. It can also be romantic, thoughtful, nostalgic, thrilling, dramatic, regal, intuitive, mysterious or visionary. Brands using purple include Sci-Fi, Monster, Yahoo, Cadbury, Taco Bell, Welch’s, and of course the Brainy Business. And with words like creativity, imagination, wisdom, thoughtful and visionary, hopefully it’s not too surprising that I chose purple as a main color in my branding.
Pink is a color that can really change a lot in its meaning. From various shades, it ranges from vibrant, flirtatious, attention-getting and high energy to soft, subtle, romantic, compassionate, delicate, innocent, fragile or youthful. Again, those shades matter, but I’ll get to more of that later. As a negative, pink can be gender polarizing, and so can purple; it can be seen as gaudy or as too sweet or sentimental. Brands that use pink are T-Mobile, Barbie, Cosmopolitan, Susan G. Komen, Instagram, Victoria’s Secret, Lyft, Taco Bell, and also some from the Brainy Business as well.
Gray and other neutrals are bringing balance and calm. It’s also seen as classic, corporate, timeless, quiet, logical, reserved, basic, modest, efficient, accountable, staunch, professional, sleek, classy, mature, sophisticated and methodical. They could also be called dull, detached, bland, tasteless or conformist. Some brands using gray and other neutrals are Apple, Honda, Mercedes and lots of other car brands, and Wikipedia.
Brown is earthy, rugged, outdoor, classic and woodsy. But as you change the shade to chocolate, it could be delicious, rich, robust or appetizing. Those earthy colors can make someone feel grounded, warm, solid, rooted, secure, reliable, natural, traditional and supportive. Brands using brown are UPS, Snickers, Hershey’s and lots of other chocolate brands, Cotton, Cracker Barrel and Louis Vuitton.
Black is powerful, empowering, elegant, sophisticated, mysterious, bold, classic, strong, expensive, nighttime, stylish or prestigious. In the negative, and depending on culture, it can be associated with depression, death, mourning, evil, oppression, heaviness, or be seen as menacing. Brands using black are the New York Times, Nike, Uber, Adidas, Chanel, Prada and the World Wildlife Fund. And really every brand has a black and white version of their logo, so it’s a little bit less polarizing of a color, I would think.
In logos specifically, white is positive, pure, clean, innocent, simple, airy, bright, pristine or bridal. But it can also be seen as sterile, cold and clinical. And in non-Western cultures, white is actually a color of mourning and bereavement. Because backgrounds are white, there aren’t really any brands associated directly with the color, but white does play some role for most brands, and the term “white space” is used a lot in design. You may also have heard of white-label brands, which is when a company can adopt the benefits and use their own branding.
Gender Differences and the Evolution of Color Perception
Melina Palmer: As I went through that list, hopefully you noticed what the biggest mistake would be when applying color theory at your company. Colors have tons of associations and meanings and often opposite associations depending on the shade or context. So assuming the rules are written in stone is a mistake. For example, people may say that pink is feminine and that all men will hate it, but then you have companies like T-Mobile, Lyft and Taco Bell proving that wrong.
And I’ve linked to an article from the Smithsonian about how blue and pink were only presented as gender-specific colors around World War I, and at that time pink was presented as the best color for boys and blue the best color for girls. This didn’t shift to be pink for girls and blue for boys until the 1940s, which is pretty amazing when you think about it.
So it doesn’t have to be quite so polarizing, but it is sort of the world we live in. And while it doesn’t have to be all-encompassing, gender does have different impacts on preference for colors, which can be important for brands to be aware of. Studies had found that men’s favorite colors were predominantly blue at 57%. The next most common was green at 14%. Really big gap and difference there. Then black at 9%, red at 7%, orange at 5%, and brown, gray, white and yellow each having 3% or less.
Women on the other hand had their favorite colors as blue being 35%, also the most, but a lower percentage than what you had for men, which was followed by purple at 23%. And do note that no men or at least less than 1% chose purple as their favorite color. This was followed by green at 14%, which is the same number as men. Then red at 9%, black at 6%, orange at 5%, and yellow, white, brown and gray all coming in with 3% or less.
When it came to least favorite colors, men’s were 27% brown followed by 22% each for both purple and orange, yellow at 13%, white and gray at 5%, and blue, green, red and black all coming in at 3% or less for least favorite colors for men. For women, their least favorite color was orange at 33%, then brown at 20%. These were also two of the top three least favorite colors for men, but in reverse order. Then gray at 17%, yellow at 13%, purple at 8%, green at 6%, and white at 3%. This should let you know that blue and green are universally predominant favorite colors, brown and orange are predominantly disliked or least favorite colors, and purple is pretty polarizing by gender.
Cultural Context and the Modern Discovery of “Blue”
Melina Palmer: There are, of course, considerations to be made beyond gender when it comes to colors in your branding. For example, in some cultures, as I said, white is bridal, pure and innocent, but it’s a funeral color for others. Black could be sophisticated or menacing. Red can be aggressive or mean luck. It can make you hungry or make you hit the brakes in your car. But yellow seems to be associated with cheerfulness across cultures.
While some association with color comes to us as a species—for example, red being the color of blood can either trigger aggression and war or make you hungry because meat is often red—not all color association has been around for all that long. If I was to tell you there is a color that scientists have said humans have not been able to see or interpret until modern times, and that people in some native tribes still have a hard time seeing, what color would you guess it is? It’s probably going to surprise you, and you may not believe me, but scholars have found evidence that humans did not see blue until modern times.
Most ancient civilizations have no word for blue, and it isn’t really naturally occurring in much other than the sky. And there’s a report of someone who tested with their child never using the word blue to describe the sky. And then one day, when finally asked what color the sky was, the child said, white. In the Odyssey, Homer never describes the ocean as blue; instead, it is “wine dark.” And the Egyptians, who were the first to use blue dyes, were actually the first society to have a word for blue.
While the color exists, it’s seen in many areas as a shade of green. That article I linked to for you has pictures of native tribes being shown a series of squares that are in a circle; all are green, and one is very obviously blue to our eyes. But the individuals had a really hard time picking out the different color. But they also had a version where they were all the same color green, except one that was just a slightly different color green. And everyone in the tribe was able to pick out the different shade of green almost immediately, but more in a Western culture or whatnot, most people had a really difficult time picking out the subtlety, which is again, fascinating.
Brand Consistency and Overcoming Personal Biases
Melina Palmer: I don’t want you to think that this all means that color doesn’t matter at all. The associations absolutely do matter. And studies have found that appropriateness of the color to the brand persona can matter quite a bit. If you remember what I told you before about how the brain makes associations, you can see why the context is so important. I’ve said before that you can’t tell your brain that the color red will no longer be associated with apples. It just doesn’t work that way. When you hear “apple,” your brain sifts through everything that’s even remotely associated with the concept—red, green, technology, fall cocktails, all sorts of stuff.
Think about this with your brand and how all the context triggers come together to support or contradict the color used in your logo or other aspects of your marketing. I’ve linked to a study in the show notes called “Exciting Red and Competent Blue: The Importance of Color in Marketing,” which found that when people were not already familiar with a brand, the common emotions tied with the color of the logo made a big difference in the way they interpreted the brand. So Coca-Cola would not be used here because people already know what it is and generally don’t see the brand as aggressive, even though an unknown red logo could be seen as aggressive.
So if you’re starting a new brand and choosing your colors, it’s important to be aware of the associations with color so you can be consistent with the emotions and associations people have. Or perhaps you want to buck the system and have a brand that’s intentionally against color theory. That’s okay, and you can create a new brand association, but you should still be aware of the common associations so you can build your marketing and brand efforts around that.
And as one important note, try not to be swayed by your own favorite colors and assume that everyone else has those. If you remember back to the episode on your own personal biases and the way you think others will think, it’s not always like you. So understanding, going through studies and seeing what’s associated with colors is really important as well.
In the study, they used a generic logo in a bunch of different colors to see how each modified the interpretation of the brand. In general, they found the concept of sincerity tied to the colors white and pink, but there wasn’t enough support for yellow. Red was tied with excitement, but orange and yellow were not. Blue was closely tied to competence, but brown was not. Black, pink and purple were all positively tied to sophistication, and orange had a negative association with it. Ruggedness was associated with brown, but not green as predicted, and they found a negative association with ruggedness and the color pink.
Technical Color Definitions: Hue, Value, and Chroma
Melina Palmer: Before I get to the next part of that study, I want to make sure you know a few more terms that matter as you get deeper into colors. You’ve likely heard the word shade, as in shades of blue ranging from robin’s egg to midnight blue. And this term is being used really broadly for common usage, but it’s not technically correct when you go to the way a designer or someone working with colors would explain the type of color. There are three important items and terms to be familiar with here, which are hue, value, and chroma.
The hue is the color itself. Purple, red and green are all hues and it is not enough to focus just on this level. Hopefully you know this already while I was talking about all the associations and how they can change with different shades or levels of red. But unfortunately too many people and businesses do this in their branding where they say, “Oh, red is red” or “Purple’s purple,” but it doesn’t really work that way.
Value shows us how light or dark a color is. It’s the level of brightness. Low-value colors are darker and called shades. High-value colors are lighter and called tints. Lastly is the chroma. This is the saturation of color or its vividness. Something with low chroma is washed out and pale, while those with high chroma are vivid and deeply saturated. I have of course linked to a great website which shows this off for you.
So as I said, it isn’t enough to just say we want blue for a brand. You really need to know what the different hues, chromas and values of the particular blue are saying to the subconscious brain of your customers. That same paper on exciting red and competent blue looked at saturation and value and its associations with various attributes. They found saturation levels to be tied with excitement. So the higher saturation or chroma in the color, the more excitement people felt. This was also found for ruggedness, being associated positively with both value and saturation.
Testing Variations: Google’s $200 Million Shade of Blue
Melina Palmer: To show the importance a difference in value and chroma can make, I’ve linked to an article about the many many shades of blue Google tested to find the perfect one for its links. Did you think that blue color was chosen at random? No, no, no. They ran a bunch of tests where 1% saw one shade of blue and another 1% saw the slightly different shade of blue testing, as they say in the article, every shade you could possibly imagine.
In their case they found people were more likely to click on a slightly purpler blue than the greener blue. So they used that to choose which color to use in their links. You might be thinking “Who cares?” or maybe wonder if this is a waste of time. In Google’s case they’ve reportedly said it means an extra $200 million a year in advertising revenue. So it matters a lot. And remember, that isn’t just the difference of switching from red to blue or to orange or green—it’s in testing variations of blue. Very subtle tweaks that most people don’t even realize are different, but their subconscious is picking it up.
Calls to Action: The Power of Contrast and the Isolation Effect
Melina Palmer: And that example from Google leads us into ways you can use color in your business beyond brand associations and logo choice. You may be inclined to think that because Google did all that testing, blue must be the ultimate link color. But it’s not that simple. Other tests have said that red buttons are best and one study claims yellow buttons are best and another says blue or green or orange.
There are a few things to note here. Many of the so-called tests out there claiming that one color or button or whatnot is the ultimate or best to use are not scientifically done. And if you look at the things they tested against each other, much more changed than simply the color being used. In one case they said orange was the ultimate button color and it drastically improved conversions, but in the first version there was no button at all; it was just a link in the text. And in the other there was a big giant button which happened to be orange. So really the presence of a button was likely as important or even more important than the color.
The thing that’s most important when it comes to calls to action is to have a lot of contrast. This is known as the isolation effect or the von Restorff effect, because of a 1933 study which found that when asking people to remember as much as they could on a list of 10 items, of which nine were written in black ink and one was in blue, the brain remembered the one in the different color best because it stood out.
So if your brand’s main color is blue and it dominates your website background and text color, a blue button or link isn’t going to do much, but a bright orange button will stand out and be more likely to get clicks. If you’ve ever worked with designers or chosen colors yourself, you may have heard the suggestion that opposite colors on a color wheel are complementary—so orange and blue go well together, red and green or purple and yellow. This has to do with contrast, and it’s more important in getting people to take action than the symbolism behind the color.
Differentiating from Competition and Using Trends
Melina Palmer: So if you have a lesser-known or a new brand, you want to pick your colors based on congruency to your message and the personality as well as the market you’re targeting. Then when you pick a secondary and tertiary colors that will be used in buttons, links, or other times when you want to call attention to something, go with contrast so that item will stand out and draw the eye. The symbolism behind the color of that button or link is typically less important than the overall brand.
In this way, it’s also important to know what your competitors use and how that can help you stand out. For instance, a lot of tech companies and financial institutions use the color blue; it means strength and competence, so that makes sense, but it also means they can all kind of blend together. So Instagram using their pink and orange colors helps them stand out from other brands.
I use this strategy when choosing the colors for my logo and give this advice to people all the time, especially when they’re looking to design cover art for a podcast. If you search for the terms you want to be recognized for, look and see what comes up in the top. If there’s a lot of red, you should use green or blue or yellow. If everyone has their headshots, maybe it would be better to go with a strong, solid color. This goes against your “herding brain” which says, “Well if everyone else is using blue there must be a reason so I should too.” Fight this urge. Contrast and standing out against the competition is more important and will lead to you getting clicked on more. This is also why Coke and Pepsi are opposite colors.
However, sometimes it is best to go with what everyone is talking about and that is when colors are on trend. But do note this wouldn’t be that you want to brand your business with a super trendy color because it will likely go out of style. But if you’re having special editions of things or working on your social feeds, it can be important to know what’s on trend—say the Pantone color of the year when that comes out or when everyone is loving a particular shade like rose gold. Color trends can be really important in aligning your products or messaging, and being aligned with an old color can be a huge mistake.
Color in Physical Products and Fast-Food Branding
Melina Palmer: What about physical products? Location in a store matters as well when you want to stand out and catch the eye of a consumer walking through the store; you may only have a split second. So it’s important to know what your competitors use. And also if there’s fluorescent lighting, because fluorescent lights can enhance blue and green, but they make red, orange and yellow appear dull. Colgate was actually able to see a large boost in sales by using holograms and metallic packaging, which made their boxes more attractive and stand out against their competitors.
Have you ever wondered why so many fast food chains use red? Studies have shown the color red has an impact on metabolism and stimulates appetite. In addition, yellow is helpful in gaining attention, increases appetite and encourages eating, which is why it’s often paired with red for fast food. And they are contrasting colors so they stand out. But red is not a great color for a sit-down restaurant. Blue has been proven to be better in that case because it encourages calmness and relaxing and makes people tend to savor, linger and order more. But you don’t want to use too much because too much blue is actually an appetite suppressant.
Interestingly, I have some friends who change the color on a wine tasting menu from a bright red to a more burgundy red and it increased the percentage of people who ordered red wine. Again, association matters. Have you ever stood in a line and felt like it took forever? Color can actually impact this as well. Time seems to pass quicker and the objects around people seem smaller and lighter under blue light. In contrast, red light makes time seem to pass slower and surrounding objects seem larger and heavier.
Practical Application and Business Freedom
Melina Palmer: Color is incredibly important for brands to understand and consider when creating their materials. And while associations with colors don’t have universal meanings that always hold true, with a little bit of thought and consideration, you can absolutely use color to your business’s advantage. And that can be really freeing. You aren’t required to use red just because everyone else is, or you don’t have to use the color blue. If you really want to test something that’s different and use this really cool color that you love, just do it.
But understand how those associations might work and know about contrast and how to help things stand out. That really matters more—what the competition is doing and how you can stand out against them. And then within your website or brochures and on anything where you have a call to action, knowing that those contrasting colors are often more important than what’s actually on buttons and things like that.
The Brainy Business Color-Coding System
Melina Palmer: So what got your brain buzzing as you learned about color theory today? For me, I’ve always been fascinated by all the little things that can impact perception and decision making. Whether it’s color, word choice, metaphor, tone, imagery, or anything else, it’s amazing how one small tweak can change everything.
Since this episode originally aired, I’ve written three books and each has a very distinctive, colorful cover. And we’ve used that to sort all our content here at the Brainy Business so that when you see green content, let’s say, you know it’s going to be about pricing and sales because my book, The Truth About Pricing, has a green cover. What we internally refer to as blue content is anything to do with brand experience, customer experience, and marketing to go with my first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You.
Orange content is leadership, internal communication, and change management to go along with my book, What Your Employees Need and Can’t Tell You. Productivity, mindset and habit stuff didn’t have a book yet, so we made it red, since I have a TEDx on that topic that’s called “There’s Nothing Magical About Monday.” And finally, foundations and core content, which is purple as a nod to the original branding of the Brainy Business, which is all about curiosity and innovative thinking and asking good questions.
We invested so much time in narrowing down the content in this way and creates this really great searchable database for you, the audience. So if you haven’t yet gone to thebrainybusiness.com/podcast or thebrainybusiness.com/books to look around, I highly recommend you do so. And if you’re subscribed to my newsletter or you follow me on social media, you’ll see this color coding come up a lot as well.
Conclusion: Milestone Rankings and Final Thoughts
Melina Palmer: Speaking of which, can I just say thank you for a moment. I recently learned via a site called Listen Notes that the Brainy Business podcast is ranked in the top 0.5% of all podcasts in the world. And they make a point to share that there are more than 3.7 million podcasts out there. So that’s amazing. We absolutely would not have that stat without you.
Let’s bring it back to Color Theory. What’s the most amazing thing you’ve learned about color either from this episode or something else you’ve heard or seen over the years? I’d love to hear about it. So please do come share it with me on social media. You’re going to find me as the Brainy Biz pretty much everywhere, and as Melina Palmer on LinkedIn. There are links in the show notes to make it easy, as well as links for my top related past episodes and books, ways to get in touch, and more.
It’s all waiting for you in the app you’re listening to and at thebrainybusiness.com/578 and just like that, episode 578 on color theory is done. Join me next time for another brainy episode of the Brainy Business Podcast. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Until then, thanks again for listening and learning with me. And remember to be thoughtful.
Announcer: Thank you for listening to the Brainy Business Podcast. Melina offers virtual strategy sessions, workshops and other services to help businesses be more brain friendly. For more free resources, visit thebrainybusiness.com.
