What do the colours in your brand identity mean?
by Fred Roed on 11/03/07 at 2:19 pm
3 comments
I’m not convinced about this stuff, but take a look and tell us what you think. I read this article on Entrepreneur.com and it reminded me of brand presentations that I’ve done where you pull stuff like this out to rationalise colours to a client.
Blue: Cool blue is perceived as trustworthy, dependable, fiscally responsible and secure. Strongly associated with the sky and sea, blue is serene and universally well-liked. Blue is an especially popular color with financial institutions, as its message of stability inspires trust.
Red: Red activates your pituitary gland, increasing your heart rate and causing you to breathe more rapidly. This visceral response makes red aggressive, energetic, provocative and attention-grabbing. Count on red to evoke a passionate response, albeit not always a favorable one. For example, red can represent danger or indebtedness.
Green: In general, green connotes health, freshness and serenity. However, green’s meaning varies with its many shades. Deeper greens are associated with wealth or prestige, while light greens are calming.
Yellow: In every society, yellow is associated with the sun. Thus, it communicates optimism, positivism, light and warmth. Certain shades seem to motivate and stimulate creative thought and energy. The eye sees bright yellows before any other color, making them great for point-of-purchase displays.
Purple: Purple is a color favored by creative types. With its blend of passionate red and tranquil blue, it evokes mystery, sophistication, spirituality and royalty. Lavender evokes nostalgia and sentimentality.
Pink: Pink’s message varies by intensity. Hot pinks convey energy, youthfulness, fun and excitement and are recommended for less expensive or trendy products for women or girls. Dusty pinks appear sentimental. Lighter pinks are more romantic.
Orange: Cheerful orange evokes exuberance, fun and vitality. With the drama of red plus the cheer of yellow, orange is viewed as gregarious and often childlike. Research indicates its lighter shades appeal to an upscale market. Peach tones work well with health care, restaurants and beauty salons.
Brown: This earthy color conveys simplicity, durability and stability. It can also elicit a negative response from consumers who relate to it as dirty. Certain shades of brown, like terracotta, can convey an upscale look. From a functional perspective, brown tends to hide dirt, making it a logical choice for some trucking and industrial companies.
Black: Black is serious, bold, powerful and classic. It creates drama and connotes sophistication. Black works well for expensive products, but can also make a product look heavy.
White: White connotes simplicity, cleanliness and purity. The human eye views white as a brilliant color, so it immediately catches the eye in signage. White is often used with infant and health-related products.
All the colors above can be categorized into two basic categories: warm and cold. In general, warm colors, like red and yellow, send an outgoing, energetic message, while cool colors, like blue, are calmer and more reserved. However, brightening a cool color increases its vibrancy and reduces its reserve.
Read the full article here. The article was written by John Williams, president and founder of LogoYes.com, a quick and easy tool for start-ups to design a logo.
Designers: check out this colour wheel, handy for colour styles on web layouts.
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
Karin
Mar 11th, 2007
Hi Fred
Interesting article. Just read in the Times (Saturday issue, we read on Sunday
) that when students take a test and are surrounded by red things the score drops significantly.
Our ‘colours’ are in the brown, terracotta range. So (by chance?) doing exactly what we like to portrait: durability, stability and of course simplicity
Fred
Mar 11th, 2007
Hi Karin – yep. It’s fascinating stuff. I think the problem is the complexity of variation of colour. I studied graphic design before I did marketing, and one of the courses was colour theory. It starts to get hectic when you start juxtaposing colours next to each other. For example: yellow makes you smarter – but put it next to black, and all of a sudden the message it gives is ‘Danger!’
I think there is definitely substance to it, but it’s a lot more complex than the article I quoted in the post.
roofing sheets
Sep 16th, 2011
A person who posted last week re the cost of steel sheet ,it realy depends where you go to buy it, z45 is around seven forty pounds per metric ton and standard is around £650 per ton- hope this helps