Communicating with
Color
by Cheryl Carnright
When you see the colors red, blue, or
yellow, how do you react? Does your heart race? Do you feel happy? Do you
feel sad? Do you feel at peace? Do you feel angry? Subconsciously, we react
to certain colors depending on our culture, our religion, our upbringing,
and/or our personality.
Color is vitally important when doing business and is the first visual
impression and most instantaneous method of communication for conveying your
marketing message and meaning. It helps distinguish your business from your
competitors and is an integral part of the identification process. It helps
you keep or lose potential customers by swaying their thinking and changing
their actions and reactions. Without color, every business would look the
same and it would be difficult to differentiate the subtleties of different
products and/or services — what sets your products or services apart from
another's
Color functions on several levels simultaneously, stimulating and working in
synchronization with the senses. It symbolizes abstract concepts and
thoughts, expresses fantasy and wishes, recalls other times and places, and
produces emotional or visual responses. Color also functions as the primary
structural element of corporate identities and brands. It creates
appropriate spatial and navigational effects as a whole — following the
rules of design. As a primary aesthetic tool, color creates a sense of
visual harmony that sustains and enhances your customer's interest
Color is a vital key element in communicating, enticing, and attracting
people to your product or service. Often called the "silent salesperson,"
color attracts your customer's eye, conveys the message of what your
product/service is all about, creates brand identity, and, most importantly,
helps you make a sale. Color works for your business by:
- emphasizing, highlighting, and leading the eye to important points
- identifying recurring themes
- differentiating your business or elements of your business
- symbolizing and triggering emotions and associations
Conversely, color can also hurt your business by choosing the wrong colors.
When choosing your color scheme, it is vitally important to keep in mind
just who your target demographics are — men, women, age range, geographic
location, culture, etc. Although you may love a special color scheme, your
potential customers may not. If you are planning to include a web site into
your marketing strategy, then you are dealing on a global level that may
have disastrous results. What color works in one country or industry may not
work in another. Consider the color purple. It works very well as a creative
symbol for Adobe's PageMaker packaging. However, it is a polarizing color
and people either love it or hate it. Globally, it could have potentially
hazardous repercussions to your business. In the United States, purple
symbolizes spirituality, mystery, aristocracy, and passion. In Brazil, it
symbolizes mourning, death, nausea, conceit, and pomposity. EuroDisney made
a disastrous mistake using the color purple for its European signage. The
color purple was intended to out do Coca Cola's red. However, in Catholic
Europe, purple symbolizes death and the crucifixion of Christ. The result
was visitors thought the signs were morbid. How did this happen? The CEO
liked purple. As simple as that. What does this tell us
- Personal preferences and "avant-garde" tactics usually cause marketing
disasters. Using the wrong color especially on the Internet extends the
damage to a global audience
- It is necessary to look at the symbolism of any color scheme that you
choose. Take purple for example: it symbolizes spirituality, mysticism,
magic, faith, the unconscious, dignity, mystery, creativity, awareness,
inspiration, passion, imagination, sensitivity, aristocracy & royalty,
conceit, pomposity, cruelty, mourning and death. It is also the hardest
color for the eye to discriminate. Consequently, purple is not a good color
choice for the food industry but is an excellent choice for astrology, magic
or spiritual businesses in the US.
Interpreting a color's impact on a targeted market depends on culture,
profession, and personal preferences. For example, in Western cultures white
symbolizes purity while in China white is the color of death. Yellow is
sacred to the Chinese but signifies sadness in Greece and jealousy in
France. In the US, green is the color of money, grass and jealousy but the
people in the tropical countries generally respond to warm colors and people
in the cooler climates prefer the cooler colors
Color is an irreplaceable, powerful form of communicating your business.
Therefore, it is important to investigate the influence it will have on your
targeted demographics. Do not make the mistake of choosing a color scheme
solely on your personal preferences. After all is said and done, you are not
buying your product/service — your potential customers are.
Color is a universal language that crosses not only cultural boundaries but
also the boundaries of our electronic/technical/satellite linked "Global
Village." It persuades and induces the customer to respond in a positive way
to your marketing message. Convey your message properly using color
psychology in the following areas:
- Graphic images and brand name
- Packaging as represents the qualities of the product
- Point-of-purchase where it competes with the competition's
products/services and must gain attention
- All forms of advertising: print, point-of-purchase, TV, web sites, direct
mail, billboards,etc. where color must convince and appeal, especially in a
matter of seconds
- In signage, at the company site or other suitable areas
- Company logos and Ids
- In your product itself
Remember; choose a color scheme for your business targeted for your
demographic. They are the ones purchasing your product or service, not you
Cheryl Carnright is a principal in two web sites with a third coming in
August 2002. She has helped businesses succeed both on-line and off-line.
Visit her web sites to get a free web site analysis at
http://www.carnrightdesign.com
or
http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com or
mailto:info@b2bstrategicmarketing.com
About the Author
Cheryl Carnright, principal in Carnright Design & B2B Strategic Marketing,
has over 20 years experience in fine and graphic art. She has received
awards, honors, and recognition in the fine art field. Her strengths include
logo design, brand development, color psychology, implementation of ideas,
brain storming, and designing from a marketing point of view for printed,
and on-line initiatives
