Color is part of the human experience. It surrounds us every minute of every day. It influences how we feel. Color carries into business branding as well, since logos and picture colors appear on most media. Choosing colors for business purposes needs consideration, not haste.

Colors and Culture

Everyone perceives color differently. There’s also a lot of different subconscious connotations to color that we’re not even aware of. All of this is stuff we pick up from our environment. Of course, cultural environments around the world are different. As such, our color connotations are different.

For example, in western culture, white is a symbol of purity. It has a similar connotation in Chinese culture, but it is also associated with death. It’s worn to funerals there. Just that one color has such vast differences in implications depending on which part of the world the viewer grew up on. It’s something to be aware of when choosing colors.

The Significance of Colors

For the purposes of this analysis, we’ll be focusing on North American and European culture. It’s important to note that not everyone even in the same broad geographic group may not have absorbed the same culture growing up. Work through ideal client research in as much detail as possible to determine whether these differences should figure into marketing.

Red

Red is one of the most visible colors. Around the world, it draws the eye and appears on street signs. Red is also the color of many items our primitive brains recognized as necessary for survival, including both blood and fire. As such, it ended up with multiple connotations. Some examples include love, passion, courage, and aggression.

Blue

Blue is one of the primary colors. In nature, it is the sky and the sea. Since both are permanent fixtures, blue represents stability. Since that stability is there lifetime after lifetime, it also stands for wisdom, tranquility, inspiration, and power.

Yellow

Yellow is a color of multiple meanings. There is natural yellow, which marks happiness and sunshine. Another category is the ill yellow, which historically accompanies jaundice, malaria, and other illnesses. Then there is phrasing such as yellow-bellied, which implies cowardice. Depending on the shade, yellow can mean anything from sunshine to caution to cowardice.

Orange

Orange tends to have positive connotations. It is the color of sunsets and fire as well as other items humans find beautiful. It can mean creativity, enthusiasm, and compassion. Oddly enough, being around orange also causes people to feel warmer.

Pink

Pink is one of the most stereotyped colors in Western culture. It often represents the feminine side and marketers targeting women often use it. Pink also ties to affection, innocence, and hope as well.

Green

Green is an incredibly natural color. As such, it is usually associated with growth and fertility since nature is always growing. It’s considered a calming color and a safe one. Green is also a standard color for money, which in turn leads to its association with envy and greed.

Purple

Historically, purple was a difficult color to find or dye into clothing. As such, it typically kept for royalty or the wealthy rather than the common man. With that in mind, purple attached to a lot of emotions associated with statuses, such as ambition, creativity, wisdom, and extravagance.

Black

Black is a combination of the other colors to get shades. This color is often portrayed as a symbol of authority or elegance. On the flip side, it’s also associated with evil and death. Since black is relatively universal for typeface though, it’s likely to be part of branding either way.

White

Many vaunt white as the perfect color. It’s often tied to purity and lightness historically, like its role in a wedding. It’s used by both hospitals and charitable organization also lends it towards service.

Brown

Brown is the color of earth. As such, its primary connotation is reliability. Most of brown’s connotations tie to its neutrality. Since it is neutral, brown is also associated with honesty, grounding, and stability.

Considerations for Choosing Colors

Choosing colors for branding is a process. Before starting, the ideal client requires attention. Then we must figure out how we want the brand to feel to clients. These emotions and perceptions are usually what guide to the right colors.

Sometimes it’s not wholly simple to pick colors. The other part of color branding is proper aesthetics. Clashing colors distract the eye and detract from the message. People tend to move away from brands which do that often.

A possibility, once we get a basic idea of what we want, is to look at sites with established color palettes, like here or here. This allows us to look at assorted color selections side by side for visual comparison.

Parting Thoughts

Whether we’re just starting a business or considering rebranding, color is one of the more easily recognizable ways we can brand our photos and content. Color carries across platforms, into logos, throughout our websites and more. Carefully choosing colors can be a huge leg up in business branding.

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References

Bourn, Jennifer. Color Meaning Blog Series. 2011. Web. 13 February 2019.

Morton, J.L. The Meanings of Colors. n.d. Web. 13 February 2019.

Pryzbyla, Diana. Color Psychology. n.d. Web. 13 February 2019.

QSX Software Group. Color Meaning. 2015. Web. 13 February 2019.