Colors Create Emotional Reactions: Color is light and light is energy. Scientists have found that actual physiological changes take place in human beings when they are exposed to certain colors.
Colors can stimulate, excite, depress, tranquilize, increase appetite and create a feeling of warmth or coolness. This is known as chromodynamics. The main thing you need to know is that colors create emotional reactions. Some colors can be pleasant, while others are not so pleasant. There has been research on how specific colors influence emotions. Ideally, you would be using colors that are pleasing to the eye in order to increase conversions. In general, women prefer soft colors, while men prefer bright colors. Color preferences can also vary among age groups.
As research shows, it’s likely because personal preference, experiences, upbringing, cultural differences, and context often muddy the effect individual colors have on us. So the idea that colors such as yellow or purple are able to evoke some sort of hyper specific emotion is about as accurate as your standard palm reading.
But there is still plenty to learn and consider if we humbly accept that concrete answers aren’t a guarantee. The key is to look for practical ways to make decisions about color.
It is no secret that colors are important to us and can make us feel better about ourselves and our environment. Just think of how much time we spend shopping for the right color clothes and shoes or even finding the perfect color to paint a room in our house. While we may not fully understand how colors impact us psychologically, most of us know from experience that colors can play an important part in our moods and decision making.
Throughout history and across many different cultures, colors have been shown to evoke very specific moods in individuals. The color orange, for instance, has the power to increase a person appetite, as well as promote activity. Some theorize that our attraction to the color orange could have to do with the coloring of citrus fruits, which were, and still are, very important parts of a healthy diet.
The color red, which is closely related to orange, can provoke a completely different response from those who view it. Like orange, red can excite us and make us more willing to act on something, but it can also elevate our adrenaline and blood pressure, which can lead to outbursts of excitement or anger. Some might draw a correlation between the psychological impact the color red has on humans with how a bull responds to a red cape during a bullfight. This would be false because bulls are colorblind and respond to movement so that bloodstains from the fight will be less noticeable.
While the colors orange and red have been shown to provoke strong emotional reactions from viewers, the color blue can have a calming effect on us, which can help to improve our ability to learn and concentrate. In fact, it has also been shown that we are most productive when we work in rooms that are colored blue. Also, in contrast to red, the color blue can actually decrease our heart rate and body temperature, making it much easier to focus on the task at hand.
Of the many colors that exist in our world, the colors red, orange and blue are used frequently by organizations and marketers looking to sell you on something. Red is perhaps the most effective color used by marketers to attract the attention of consumers. Did you ever wonder why luxury sports cars are often colored red? Not only does coloring the vehicle this way entice you to purchase the vehicle, but it can make quite a statement as you drive the car around your city or neighborhood.
How Marketers Sell Color
While blue is a color that typically used to make customers feel safe and relaxed, it needs to be used carefully by marketers seeking to attract your attention, as it can easily go by unnoticed. This fits quite nicely with our existing understanding of how the color affects us psychologically. As a result, the color blue is often showcased on bank logos and other businesses that want to make you feel that you doing business with someone trustworthy.
Take a look at the website for Bank of America, which showcases both the colors blue and red. Not only does it attempt to promote trust and calmness with blue, but also entices us to notice their products and services with the color red. In addition, the logo and color scheme are structured in such a way as to resemble to United State of America flag, which can promote strong feelings of patriotism as well. However, while a color scheme can suggest these positive things to us psychologically, an actual customers experience may vary tremendously.
As you can see, colors can truly affect our moods and decision making in several ways. However, most of what we know about how colors affect our minds are still only theories and cannot be applied to all people in all situations. Despite this, colors have been utilized for over a century by companies and marketers to more effectively entice consumers to purchase the products or services they are offering. So, take a step back next time you place your eyes on that hot red sports car and try to ignore the color chances are that your reaction to it will be decidedly different.
