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