The Everyday Psychology of Color

Welcome to the Coloro Educates series, where we discuss all things color, one topic at a time. Today? The fascinating psychology of color.?

TW: This article discusses a topic of sensitive nature.

Color represents billions of choices made by designers, consumers and thought leaders daily, from the clothing we wear and the cars we drive, to the shade of the walls in your office. But, the colors we surround ourselves with have a greater impact than you realize.

Color: a visual concept we become familiar with as infants that is inescapable from there on out. And, whilst color is a consistent component of our lives, some color choices are more considered than others.?

Take luxury design giant Hermès. Their trademark orange, which has become synonymous with their packaging and wider branding, is central to their identity and consequently, their brand recognition. Originally adopted by Hermès in 1942 due to a shortage of cream-colored boxes, this color has gone on to ensure that the brand is well-established within a crowded market. With this shade often coined ‘Hermès orange’, one could argue this was indeed a successful move.

On the flip side, the t-shirt you wore at the weekend may have been something you threw on without thinking when dashing to the shops. But one thing’s for sure, the design team at the center of its creation were meticulous in deciding the exact hue for that exact t-shirt. The 2006 hit film The Devil Wears Prada summarizes this phenomenon when fashion magazine Chief Miranda Priestly ruthlessly educates her naive, new-to-fashion assistant. “But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.”

Whether a considered choice or not, research suggests that color has significant psychological impacts. There are of course the well-known color connotations – red being a symbol of passion, danger and power, with green representing growth, freshness and fertility, for example. And, during the Covid-19 pandemic, WGSN identified color as an opportunity to enhance well-being, when speaking to the rise of its Color of the Year for 2023, Digital Lavender. But the proven impact on human behavior greatly exceeds perceived connotations.

What do a baby swaddle blanket, the padded walls of a probation cell and a visiting football team's changing room all have in common? Baker-Miller pink. This particular shade has a comforting effect that calms babies, juveniles and sports stars alike. And, if the aforementioned sports team wears a red kit? Well, they’re more likely to win, according to a study by University of Durham.

In 2009, one Tokyo railway station installed blue lights at the end of platforms. It is suggested that blue light makes people calmer and less impulsive, and the evidence is compelling. Reportedly, this simple change saw a 74% reduction in suicide rates showing color has the power to make real-world change.

The impact of color on our brains extends to our everyday consumption. And so, if you thought 7-Up had a new flavor, you’d be wrong. A 15% increase in yellow on the can led consumers to believe that the drink tasted “too lemony”, despite no change to the drink itself. Clearly, color affects perceived performance and brands need to get this right.

The iMac, first released in 1998, sparked a change in purchasing habits when color became a central selling point within consumer tech. Available in 11 colors, the iMac was loved for its ability to be a form of self-expression. According to New Balance’s Head of Concept Design and Strategy for lifestyle footwear, Jenny Ross, “Between 70 percent to 90 percent of subconscious judgment on a product is made in a few seconds on color alone”. In other words, color makes or breaks a product and is the number one consumer driver.

From soft drinks to sneakers, it’s clear that color has remarkable effects on human perception and so getting color right is imperative to commercial success across all industries. The key to this? An intuitive color system designed to bridge the gap between your ideas and real-life execution.?

So, it looks like it’s time to discover a new way to work with color. Book a demo with Coloro today.

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Article references:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/11/learning/color-and-the-brain-are-we-all-simply-puppets-of-the-color-palette.html?
• https://www.hermes.com/uk/en/content/135636-resourceful-orange-box/#:~:text=This%20warm%20citrus%20colour%2C%20which,It%20happened%20to%20be%20orange.?
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/characters/nm0000658
• https://www.wgsn.com/fashion/article/90631?
• https://theconversation.com/does-colour-really-affect-our-mind-and-body-a-professor-of-colour-science-explains-84382
• https://theconversation.com/wear-red-get-noticed-and-other-subtle-psychological-ways-colour-affects-us-84477
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/style/sneaker-color-psychology.html#:~:text=Sometimes%20the%20triggers%20are%20obvious,orange%20and%20Tiffany%20is%20blue?
• https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/magazine/what-is-the-perfect-color-worth.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article?
• https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/luxury/from-tiffany-blue-to-louboutin-red-the-power-of-owning-a-colour/??
• https://www.colorpsychology.org/