Max­i­miz­ing col­or psy­chol­o­gy — the under­ly­ing mean­ing of col­or — will ben­e­fit you in all the ways you use it, from brand­ing, where col­or choice is crit­i­cal, to mar­ket­ing and graphics. 

Color-Psychology-101-graphic

This is the first in our three-part series on Col­or Psy­chol­o­gy, which we cre­at­ed to serve your best use of color’s many under­ly­ing influ­ences. The series con­tin­ues through March, unwrap­ping three often veiled aspects of col­or. Once you under­stand them, it will change the way you see every­thing and empow­er you to use col­or to your high­est advantage!

Color Psychology 101

1. Don’t Pick Color Based on Visuals Alone 

When first approach­ing col­or, we tend to pick what we like, which can be influ­enced by any­thing from what’s trend­ing to tra­di­tion­al col­or the­o­ry (ie: com­ple­men­tary or con­trast­ing). But that means the focus is on the visu­al appeal alone when there are so many more active ele­ments to uti­lize!  Take a look at how col­or impacts each of us in ways we may not ful­ly realize:

Infographic on Color's Influence

Rec­og­nize some of the above facts from your own expe­ri­ence as a con­sumer?  Be strate­gic in your use of col­or to inten­tion­al­ly impact your or your client’s brand, prod­uct, or service. 

2. Color Communicates More Than Copy

Peo­ple reg­is­ter col­or well before copy… or even shapes or a design! Sta­tis­tics sug­gest 80%  of brands are iden­ti­fied by col­or alone. If asked what brand they asso­ciate with a col­or, most peo­ple will say the same thing! For exam­ple, red con­jures up the Coca-Cola logo, blue, the Face­book cube, green points to Whole Foods, among oth­ers, and so on.  Col­or is key to reach­ing your customers.

3. Color Consistency is Critical in Branding

Because col­or is reg­is­tered more pro­found­ly than any oth­er ele­ment, the more con­sis­tent­ly you use your brand col­or, the more you will build your brand recog­ni­tion. And that’s the crit­i­cal build­ing block to every­thing else you work so hard to accom­plish. Our full series will cov­er the key points you need along with our Free 2020 Col­or Trends Guidebook.

4. Download the Color Trends Guidebook

Our annu­al Guide­book is packed with infor­ma­tion to pro­vide an even deep­er dive. The fresh year is a per­fect time to do this work! 

Since col­or use is a huge aspect of suc­cess­ful­ly brand­ing, mar­ket­ing and grow­ing your busi­ness, you cer­tain­ly have ques­tions. We’ve got answers.  Let’s talk and make 2020 the year you crush your goals!

Com­ing Next Month: Col­or affects how we feel, and that makes it a pow­er­ful tool. Are the col­ors you’re using com­mu­ni­cat­ing what you intend? Look for the next post in our Col­or Psy­chol­o­gy Series on How Col­or Evokes Emotion. 

About the Author

Nicte Cuevas, Principal of Nicte Creative Design, empowers mission-driven businesses through strategic design & branding. Nicte has applied this when working with Adobe Spark and Twitter Business, LinkedIn Learning, Dogs on Deployment and Purina, Girl Scouts, The Houston Zoo and The Contemporary Arts Museum. Her excellence in communication design & marketing has been recognized by multiple national / international awards, including a coveted feature in Graphic Design USA's People to Watch.

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