Step into a world of vibrant colors, each with its own unique meaning and influence. Whether you’re a designer, marketer, entrepreneur, or just curious, get ready to discover the power of colors and their impact on every aspect of your professional and personal life.
Colors can affect our emotions, behavior, and decision-making in subtle yet profound ways. By strategically using colors, you can create successful and impactful projects.
Join us on an exhilarating journey as we dive into the codes and meanings of colors, exploring their psychological effects and practical applications. From the basics of color theory to the complementary colors on the color wheel, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how to use colors to your advantage.
Get ready to unlock the secrets of colors and elevate your visual identity – let’s begin!
Color wheel
The color wheel is an essential tool for designers and artists.. Represented in the form of a wheel, it allows ordering the colors according to a classification resulting from the decomposition of the natural light: the spectrum of the colors.
To find the right complementary color combinations on the color wheel, take its opposite color. For purple, its complementary color is yellow.
The color wheel is composed of 12 saturated colors divided into 3 groups: primary, secondary and tertiary colors.
What are the primary colors?
The primary colors are the main colors that allow to create all other possible shades and colors. There are 3 of them:
- yellow
- blue
- red
They are called primary colors because they cannot be obtained by mixing other colors. By mixing them, you will create secondary colors.
What are the secondary colors?
The secondary colors are combinations of colors made by mixing 2 primary colors, with equal composition.
There are 3 of them :
- orange (by mixing red and yellow)
- purple (from red and blue)
- green (with blue and yellow)
What are the tertiary colors?
The tertiary colors, also called intermediate colors, are the result of mixing a primary color with a secondary color.
There are 6 tertiary colors :
- magenta (by mixing red and purple)
- violet (from blue and purple)
- teal (with blue and green)
- chartreuse green (by mixing yellow and green)
- amber (with yellow and orange)
- vermillion (from red and orange)
Each color has its symbolism and values that it represents, do you know them?
What is the meaning of colors?
Marketing uses colors as a strategic tool appealing to the collective unconscious to propagate an image, convey a message, share values.
This meaning obviously varies between cultures, we propose in our article a meaning of each main color in Western countries.
Red color meaning
Red is a color of strong emotions. It is traditionally associated with love, passion, sensuality, security, but also with violence, vigilance, strength, and virility.
In marketing, it is known to stimulate the appetite, create a sense of urgency, encourage compulsive buying and increase the heart rate. Thus, we will find this color associated with energy drinks, games, cars and intense physical activities.
Sectors using red: restaurants, computers, sports
Orange color meaning
Orange is synonymous with enthusiasm, energy, vitality, and endurance. It conveys values of communication and creativity.
In marketing, orange is a color that can incite consumers to action, that is why it is often used in call-to-action buttons/texts. Ideal in the food sector, it stimulates the appetite and is generally associated with healthy eating.
Sectors using orange: new communication technologies, food, leisure
Yellow color meaning
Yellow expresses tone, optimism, youth and clarity. It is the color with the most wavelengths, so it is one of the most psychologically convincing colors.
In marketing, yellow is used to attract the attention of customers. It stimulates the mental process and communication. Being a spontaneous, even unstable color, it is not recommended to use it to create a sense of stability or security.
Sectors using yellow: vehicles, delivery, food industry
Green color meaning
Green symbolizes growth in all its forms: ecology, fertility, earth, but also finance and health. This color expresses calm, relaxation, healing and nature. It is the most restful color for the human eye, in addition to having the effect of facilitating rest.
In marketing, it is often associated with ecology and is favored by brands that are committed to the environment. Nowadays, many companies transform their visual identity and opt for the green color in their logo.
Sectors using green: tourism, beauty/wellness, agriculture
Blue color meaning
Synonymous with knowledge, serenity and stability, blue can also symbolize authority and professionalism.
In marketing, blue is generally chosen by banks and large companies and government bodies to best illustrate confidence and stability. This color is to be avoided in the food sector, as it suppresses the feeling of appetite.
Sectors using blue: finance, new technologies, aviation
Pink color meaning
Pink is a great emblem of love, femininity, tenderness and comfort. It also appeals to compassion, softness and childhood.
In marketing, this color tends to reach a more feminine clientele. It allows you to stand out from your competitors by expressing a sophisticated side to your brand.
Sectors using pink: beauty, fashion, baking
Purple color meaning
Purple represents melancholy, spirituality, mystery, nobility, wealth, royalty, and wisdom. Also, it is a symbol of creativity and learning.
In marketing, purple is used to soothe and calm. It is a good choice for feminine designs.
Sectors using purple: luxury, technology, politics
Brown color meaning
The color brown calls for warmth, nature, tradition, authenticity, softness, and melancholy.
In marketing, brown represents neutrality. This color lends itself well to traditional, rustic, artisanal or organic brands.
Sectors using brown: agriculture, culture, food
Black color meaning
Black conveys a very strong symbolism. It is synonymous with power, elegance, simplicity, and sobriety.
In marketing, black gives off a high-end image and gives an impression of elegance and prestige. It is commonly used to promote prestigious products.
Sectors using black: luxury, cinema, art
Grey color meaning
Gray represents sobriety, modernity, maturity, refinement, but also sadness, monotony and melancholy. It symbolizes timelessness.
From a marketing point of view, gray is neutral and balanced.
Sectors using gray: automotive, news, technology
White color meaning
White is not technically a color, but the public still calls it that. It is associated with innocence, cleanliness, purity, safety, and neutrality. In brand logos, white is often associated with black or gray.
In marketing, white is used to encourage creativity, which is why it is the most common color in office buildings. In addition, this color is associated with weight loss, low-fat products for example.
Sectors using white: fashion, news, technology
How to use color psychology?
Logo
The logo is the heart of your visual identity. Knowing the meaning of colors is essential, since they are part of the public’s perception of your company. Indeed,
Pharos Digital designs your personalized logo in 2D or 3D! With unlimited revisions at each stage of production, follow the development of your visual with our team: typographies used, color codes, symbol used.
If you want to integrate it into your video intros and outros, that is, at the beginning and end of your corporate videos, we can animate it for you!
Packaging design
Today, packaging is an important part of the consumer experience. Color plays a key role in your primary and secondary packaging.
It has 3 functions:
- Identify the product: color allows to catch the consumer’s attention
- Reinforce the product’s belonging to its product universe: color is an indicator of product families, it makes it easier to find the product (green for skimmed milk and blue for semi-skimmed milk)
- Appreciate and evaluate the product: recall the nature of the product (white for milk, yellow for oil, green for ecological products…)
Website
You should not choose the colors of your website according to your tastes, but according to the emotions, you want to arouse in your users. 93% of Internet users say that the visual aspect of a site has an impact on their purchasing decision!
For your website, you must choose a color according to :
- its meaning
- your business line
- your target audience (their cultural background, age, gender…)
You don’t know how to go about it? Pharos Digital can create your website with our complete offer.
- Design and development of the website
- Licensed images and customized icons
- Website maintenance for 3 months (can be renewed)
- Responsive design (phone, tablet, etc.)
- Training at the end of the project on how to manage your website (no technical knowledge required)
Content strategy
Your colors are expressed on your website, but also on your social networks. Through your logo, your banners, and your posts, you share your identity with your audience.
Do not hesitate to use your colors on videos to boost your communication: motion design, 2D/3D videos, explainer videos! These powerful and attractive videos allow you to convey a positive and serious image of your company.
Find out in our blog post if animated videos are right for your company!
Closing thoughts
In visual communication, color is a powerful vector of information. Thanks to their different shades, they can play a key role in the visibility and clarity of the message conveyed in the various media of a brand or a company.
You have plenty of ideas, but you don’t know how to materialize them?
