Colours and emotions are linked very intricately and this is in ways that most designers understand and take benefit of. It makes sense when you think that the use of colour in design has become widespread because colours affect user behaviour significantly.
Even a little change like changing the colour of a button can lead to desired behaviour and sometimes even double and triple percentages. All credible UX designers keep the importance of colour psychology in their minds when they work on some project.
What is Colour Psychology?
In simple terms, colour psychology is the effect of different colours on human behaviour. This can be applied to all facets of our behaviour but it is most commonly applied to how we interact with a brand and marketing.
Colour psychology is an important focus of branding and other design disciplines. Many studies have been done on the effects of colours on designs. Designers consider the psychological effects on human behaviour to make sure that their designs lead to the best user experience.
Why Do Colours Affect Emotions?
The reason why colours affect the way in which most people feel is not straightforward. There are different elements that can affect the manner in which a person feels when exposed to a specific colour. An important factor is a personal association with colour.
Due to universal human experiences, it is pretty possible to predict how major number of people will respond to a specific colour. For instance, green is associated with nature and growth because most people see the plants growing. Blue is universally calming because it is associated with things such as sky and water.
Some other effects are also cultural. For example, Purple is associated with luxury because of the fact that purple dye was expensive earlier and rare in many ancient cultures and hence used by royalty.
How Is Colour Psychology Applied to Design?
When it comes to branding in particular, we can choose a colour palette that reflects our emotions and how a customer may feel while engaging with us. When a consumer chooses a product, service, or brand, everything comes down to making a set of decisions.
There are some decisions that are conscious and comparable including the price of a product or technical specifications against competing products. However, there are also some decisions that are unconscious. These decisions are taken by your brain much before you can even realize.
Colour plays an important part in all unconscious decisions that are made and not just in choosing a product or a service but mostly in everyday life. For instance, in case you a road sign, it is mostly in red and it is also a serious one that tells you that should do something such as STOP.
The choice that you see in colours is never a coincidence. Take, for example, the sign “FLAT 50% OFF”. This sign is mostly found in the colour red because red causes caution, attention, and urgency. Colours, when used properly, can be a clever piece of marketing and they evoke a certain emotion in the readers.
Conclusion:
There are many emotions that come with each colour and how we use these colours can be important in helping a brand or a campaign engage with the right audience while evoking certain emotions.
Colour can plan a big role in decision making which is why most designers give it maximum importance while they work on their projects. If you have always wanted to become a successful designer, study at the Chitkara Design School to learn comprehensively about Colour Psychology and many more topics.
