As social and emotional beings we are influenced by everything around us; every encounter that we have and object or person that we see can influence us. This post in particular is about visual cues, more specifically color. Have you ever wondered how color can influence you? Why do presidential candidates wear bright color ties, why are hospital rooms painted white or blue?
I’m not a cognitive psychologist specialising in color psychology but I didn’t want to share a link with all of you that I found while doing a bit of color psychology research. I found this article rather intriguing as it breaks down several colors and explains their meaning. For example, did you know that the color brown is associated with relaibility, stability, and friendship? Or how about that blue is usually the most common favorite color?
Advertisers and marketers go to greatn lengths to make sure that their marketing colateral or their sales collateral is perfect, you can bet that color is one of the biggest factors to be considered. Think about a couple products that you own, your phone, your laptop, your car, or home appliances. Would you still have purchased them if they were different colors? Have you really every paid attention to how the different colors make you feel?
Here is another interesting site with several articles on color psychology and symbolism.
If you think about it, color is perhaps one of the most universal things on the planet, almost everything in the wolrd has color and we bombarded with thousands (if not millions) of them every day. Therefore it is important to think about the colors we use affect our marketing and our emotional state of mind. Make not mistake about it, colors do make a difference, either on a conscious or on a subconcious level.
How do colors influence you, and what is your favorite color?
Thanks for reading
Color has consciously dictated my golf club purchases, vehicles, clothing, and more than I could ever list here. Subconsciously, I am sure its use in marketing has had an unknowing affect in many personal buying decisions.
If your a marketer it makes sense to pay attention. After reading up on the color blue, its a little eerie when you look at the big boys online. MSN- page all blue, Facebook – blue again, Google- 2 letters are blue, MySpace- page is Blue, Blue, Blue!!!
Awesome post…
@Lee
color is definitely an important part of our decision making process whether we know it or not. great observation with the blue everywhere, that’s a good point!
thanks for reading and commenting!
Color is very important in our daily lives and can be helpful in Psychology practices.