CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH MOOD AND COLOR
Color is an essential factor in the world of graphic design and advertising. Not only that it brings in-depth and emphasis to design but it also gives the feel and the mood of a design.
Graphic design is not just only about making beautiful layouts and fantastic designs but it is also about connecting to the people who we are targeting at. In fact, one can consider it as a part of psychology because designers are tasked to understand and connect with people through designs.
One tool that we designers use to connect with people is color. Color gives an array of emotional and visual cues. Apart from that it sets the tone and attracts people’s attention towards the design. While learning color theory is important for us graphic designers, it is also a great measure to understand what the meaning of different colors. One good insight about color is from American stage director, Vincent Minnelli and he said: “I use colors to bring fine points of story and character.”
RED
One of the most powerful and emotion-evoking colors.
GREEN
Represents balance and harmony and is often used to depict nature and hope.
BLUE
Creates a sense of calm and friendliness, is the primary color used by popular social networking sites.
PURPLE
Represents royalty, power and wealth. Purples also promote a sense or creativity and imagination.
YELLOW
Simply happy. It The hue is stimulating and has long been associated with energy and encouragement.
ORANGE
Hues tend to be balanced, energetic and inviting.
BROWN
neutrals represent anything from peace and calm to wholesomeness and reliability
WHITE
Associated with purity, cleanliness and perfection.
BLACK
Color of power, elegance and mystery.
Why is Color So Important?
Color plays an important role in our everyday lives. It connects to our feelings in a unique way, making it a powerful marketing tool to harness when making design decisions. Your color choices need to reflect the message you want to share about your upcoming event or product. Usually, color is the first thing that will draw the eye and visually guide your visitors, which is why it’s important that the colors in your design are purposeful and have meaning in their use.
85% of shoppers base their decision on color alone. And according to the same infographic, proper use of color leads to an 80% increase in brand recognition.
Various other studies and tests have proven that color can increase memory, engage and increase participation, as well as inform.
If you take a deeper look at the infographic mentioned above, you can see that Kissmetrics suggests which colors you should use depending on the nature of your business. It would be easy to assume then that if you are a clothing store you should settle on a pink color scheme. But the decision-making process is not clear-cut and definitive answers don’t exist. I realize that’s not very helpful. But let’s take a look at how color theory works to glean a bit more info about how to land on the right color for your next site.