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Colors can leave a lasting impression on the consumer. When designing a logo,

advertisement, or packaging for a product it is very important that we take the

psycology of colors into account. Colors are percieved by consumers as having

different meanings. It could vary slightly from person to person but it mainly stays

the same.

Red is one of the colors that has the longest wavelength. It is often used in

clearance sales because it can create a sense of urgency and urge customers to buy.

It is an emotionally intense color and has the ability to increase the heartbeat and

raise blood pressure. It signifies love, passion, violence, danger, and adventure. In

some cultures it signifies good fortune, sucess, fertility and beauty. Although

technically it is not visible, it appears closer than other colors and therefore

catches our attention faster. This is one of the reasons that red is used in traffic

lights. It can in some cases make us feel like time is passing faster than what it 

really is. In some people it can activate the fight and flight hormones. Although it 

is a color that is lively, pure, and signifies love, it can in some cases be percieved as

agressive and demanding. Because of the visual impact it can cause, too much red

could produce a visual strain.

Yellow is the strongest color psycologically. It´s because the wavelength is also

long, it is emotionally stimulating. However, marketers must be very careful about 

the shade of yellow that they choose to use. Certain shades can be percieved as

sunny, cheerful and natural. Other shades can make us feel like our self esteem is

lowered, and produce fear and anxiety. When choosing a shade of yellow, it is

important to keep in mind the natural colors that appear in nature such as the sun,

daffodil, egg yolks and baby chicks. These shades are the shades that are

preferable. Yellow speeds up the metabolism and increases concentration. That´swhy legal pads are yellow. Even though it is considered an optimistic color, people

generally are less patient in yellow romos and babies tend to cry more. Yellow

often is successful in grabbing the attention of window shoppers.

Green is a color that is fresh, and simbolizes nature. Because of it´s close

connection of nature, green is now a verb in our vocabulary related to ecology. It 

creates a relaxing environment and can be used in stores to help reduce stress

among shoppers. It signifies growth, fertility, rebirth, wealth, harmony, balance,

refreshment, restoration and reassurance. ¨ Green strikes the eye in such away as to require no adjustment whatever and is, therefore, restful.Being in the centre of the spectrum, it is the colour of balance - a moreimportant concept than many people realise. When the world about uscontains plenty of green, this indicates the presence of water, and littledanger of famine, so we are reassured by green, on a primitive level.Negatively, it can indicate stagnation and, incorrectly used, will beperceived as being too bland.¨ (Wright, 2008) In the medieval ages,brides used to wear green to simbolize fertility. 

While red and yellow tend to affect us more physically, blue affects the perciever

more mentally. Brighter blues will aid in clearer thought, while softer blues will

improve concentration and provide the sense of relaxation. It is often used in

bedrooms because of the sensation of calmness it gives. Several fashion

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consultants reccomend wearing blue to a job interview because it simbolizes

loyalty. In certain studies, people were more productive in blue rooms than in

other color rooms. Weight lifters tend to be able to lift heavier weights in blue

rooms as well. It also simbolizes nature because of the sky and the ocean being

blue. Dark shades of blue are used in corporate logos because it signifies

intelligence, diginity, trust and authority. Although blue is one of the world´sfavorite color, it can be perceived as unemotional, unfriendly, and cold.

Orange is a combination of red and yellow and has some properties from each of 

them. It is physically and emotionally stimulating. Orange can be percieved by the

customer as being affordable. It is considered a ´fun´color. In Thailand, it is

considered to be the color for Thursday. It helps us focus our minds on physical

needs such as food, comfort, and shelter. However, in some cases when combined

with black it can give you the sense of deprivation. If you were orange to a job

interview, it could be percieved as being frivoulous, and a lack of serious

intellectual values.

Purple is the shortest color wavelength. It can be percieved as somewhat artificial

because it is not as common in nature as other colors. It means luxury, wealth,

sophistication, mystery, spirituality, creativity and royalty. It can be percieved as

feminine and romantic. ¨ It takes awareness to a higher level of thought,even into the realms of spiritual values. It is highly introvertive andencourages deep contemplation, or meditation. It has associations withroyalty and usually communicates the finest possible quality. Being thelast visible wavelength before the ultra-violet ray, it has associationswith time and space and the cosmos. Excessive use of purple can bring

about too much introspection and the wrong tone of it communicatessomething cheap and nasty, faster than any other colour.¨ (Wright, 2008) 

Marketers choose colors based on certain characteristics they want to show the

consumer. This could vary from product features to emotions they want the

consumer to experience.

It is important for marketers to understand the concept of color pscycology

because it can influes the consumer´s actions. According to CCICOLOR -

Institute for Color Research, the average person makes a

subconscious judgement about a product, another person, or the

environment within 90 seconds. Between 62% and 90% of that

 judgement is based on color alone. So, we know color is a key

factor.¨ (Ackerman, 2012) 

¨Color is light and light is energy. Scientists have found that actual physiologicalchanges take place in human beings when they are exposed to certain colors.Colors can stimulate, excite, depress, tranquilize, increase appetite and create

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a feeling of warmth or coolness. This is known as chromodynamics. Anexecutive for a paint company received complaints from workers in a blue officethat the office was too cold. When the offices were painted a warm peach, thesweaters came off even though the temperature had not changed. ¨ (Color 

Psycology, 2013) 

Close to 30 or 40 years ago, 70% of advertising and marketing spacewere used for words and text while 30% of the space was used for animage. However, today, these percentages are usually reversed. Byhaving less words on a page makes it seem less crowed and the image ismuch more vibrant to the human eye. Marketers need to take intoaccount the lighting of where their final advertisement will be because if there is a lack of light, dark colors could seem to blend together and theadvertisement message could be blurred and unclear. The same is also

true with light colors under bright light. 

The way colors are percieved can also depend on the texture on

which the color is printed. ¨ Factors as textures, lighting, amount of 

white space on a page and people’s preference have impacts on thecolors chosen in marketing because of the projection of the image.¨(Shipe, 2013) That is why some materials, although upon closer scientificexamination appear to be the same color, are percieved by the human

eye as being slightly different. Silk for example scatters the light morethan linen. Therefore, the piece of linen will always appear to be whiter than the silk because of the concentration of light that rests on thematerial even if they are the same color scientifically.

¨ To use color to affect your customers, follow these

guidelines:

• Use oranges to make people happy, reassure them and keep

them

shopping longer. Orange also works well with intimate

lighting.

• Use blues to induce a feeling of professionalism (darker

blues) or relaxation (lighter blues).

• Use greens to deliver a fresh, grass-like feeling in your store.

Greens are great for health-forward cafes and all-natural

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product shops.

• Use red, the color of fire, to induce hunger (see: McDonalds)

or sparingly to get people to STOP and look at

something. Red also gets people to spend more.

• Use yellow in displays that require attention.

• Avoid colors that distract from your products, and avoid

using too many bold colors as to not irritate customers. ¨ 

(Macarthur, 2012) 

In conclusion, colors are constantly around us and influencing us.

It is important for marketers to learn more about the colors and

how it affects the consumers in order to best market their

products. Even though most people know the basic meanings of 

colors, marketers should be much more knowledgeable about

them. If the wrong colors are used the product might not sell. It

should be part of market analysis to analyze the colors of thebest selling products in that particular area. It is very important

to keep in mind that culture greatly influences the perception of 

colors. In some cases, the percieved meaning of the colors can

be total opposites of each other from one culture to another.

Marketers should be very aware of this and constantly take this

into account.