While the global economic crisis may tinge our lives with grey at the moment, putting all those worries aside and taking a look around with fresh eyes can remind us how much colour there is still in the world – and maybe if we just took some time to appreciate the role that colour plays in our businesses, we could give ourselves a bit of a break from the doom and gloom that weighs us down every day.
How Colour Affects our Moods
When it comes to branding, the colour that you choose is essential to conveying the message you want to convey in a non verbal way. Many of the ‘warmer’ colours such as red and orange can evoke feelings of warmth and comfort, but can also lead into hostility and anger. Different tones of red can bring serenity and a sense of calm, leading to seriousness and dignity.
Green is unsurprisingly associated with nature, healing, regrowth, rebirth, freshness, whereas blue is more akin to trust, serenity and peace.
Colour can also invoke more subjective reactions. For example, if your school uniform was burgundy, chances are you will have a more averse reaction to that colour for the rest of your life, even if you enjoyed school – simply the sense of association is too strong.
Colour coding for categorising
Using colours in storage and distribution can create a rapid response style management system for many warehouses and factories. For example, food factories often use colour bulk plastic pallet bins to avoid confusion between different food stuffs, and edible and non-edible items.
For those working in a factory or warehouse environment, using colours for reference is a much more accurate way of remembering what goes where. Studies have shown that colour can actually help to boost memory. So by having a colour ‘tag’ of data on different items in storage, this colour can actually help us to process that information and store it in a more accessible place.
Making more of an impression
The Xerox Corporation carried out research some time again into the power of colour in building a business. The results are indicative of the massive importance colour will always need to play in all your business’s marketing plans. Here are those results (Source: Xerox Corporation and International Communications Research 2003).
- 92% believe colour presents an image of impressive quality
- 90% feel colour can assist in attracting new customers.
- 90% believe customers remember presentations and documents better when colour is used.
- 83% Believe colour makes them appear more successful
- 81% Think colour gives them a competitive edge
- 76% Believe that the use of colour makes them appear larger to clients
Don’t overdo the colour
Do not use too many colours in your branding. As well as looking incredibly unprofessional in terms of design, the overall impression of your business is overwhelming, cluttered, with no clear sense of identity or clarity of message. Too many colours is trying to be too many things to too many people, and all it actually does is turn away your potential clients.
Don’t choose your favourite colour ‘for the sake’ of it
This might seem counter intuitive, but your brand is not about you – rather it is about what is says about you to your customer. Your favourite colour might be green, for example, but your audience might be collectively more in tune with blue, or red, or purple. Make sure that you are always thinking from your clients’ perspective, rather than from your own ego.
