How do colors affect us? They influence our well-being, emotions, and purchasing decisions. Most of us think that the use of colors in product advertisements or label designs is pure coincidence, the artistic creativity of a group of graphic designers or the ideas of a designer. Nothing could be more wrong – colors are associated with experiences, memories, or childhood stories. Besides, the colors trigger physical reactions in our bodies. Red light affects our quick reaction, and warm light focuses our attention much more than cold light. It is, therefore, worth knowing what the colors on your label and packaging say, thanks to which you can plan your marketing campaigns, product advertising, and design the labels that sell.
Pablo Picasso himself used to say “Colors, like facial features, follow changes in emotions.”
First of all, the colors represent specific symbols.
Black colour:
• It represents luxury, elegance, and credibility
• Is associated with power, mystery, modernity, and moderation
• It evokes respect
• It embodies good quality and high level
• The black background in a photo is used to emphasize other colors
Red colour:
• It makes our heart rate and appetite increase, and we feel the feeling of immediate cause and danger
• It draws our attention, which is why it is so often used in advertisements
• It symbolizes blood, so we associate it with the emotions of war, love, passion, and hatred or eroticism (e.g. red lipstick, red nails)
• We combine it with strong energy, we can often see it when promoting games, energy drinks, or fast cars
• Different shades of red mean something completely different, eg bright red – represents joy, passion, and love; pink – romanticism, friendship; dark red – decisiveness, leadership, agitation; brown – stability
Orange colour :
• Increases the appetite
• It is the embodiment of dynamism and energy
• It is associated with joy and great fun
• You can use this color in advertisements for youth products and during sales, discounts
• Each shade of orange represents different associations, e.g. dark – evokes distrust, bright orange – desire, advantage, and ferocity
Yellow colour:
• Our associations are warmth, sun, and free time
• Perfect for advertisements for children and products associated with free time
• It is not recommended to use it to promote prestigious/luxury products
• It is the perfect color if we want the customer to feel that our product is safe
• A light shade of this color is associated with satisfaction, contentment, and happiness
Green colour:
• Symbolizes nature, law, and order
• It makes us feel safe
• Perfect for promoting natural and ecological products, but also drugs and banks
• Dark shade – envy, suspicion; sea green – care; olive green – a symbol of harmony and order
Blue colour:
• Symbol of fidelity, knowledge, dogma, and faith
• Perfect for brands, and aviation, water, full of water, fish
• This color is not recommended for food products, blue appetite blue
• Blue inspires confidence in us
• Light shade – health, softness, and empathy; dark blue – wisdom, unity, power
Western color association is very different from how countries like Japan or China see them. Take for example the color white, which is commonly associated with innocence. In China, Japan and India it is a color associated with misfortune. As for the color green, it is often used on websites related to financial institutions in the USA. Why? The answer is simple, it is associated with the dollar. In other countries, where the currency is presented in different colors, we will not notice such a connection. That is why it is so important to get acquainted with the meaning of colors so that we get the desired effect.
During our work at the Etykiety.pl Etigraf printing house, we encounter a full range of colors and shades every day. They create interesting graphic designs that we then print on your labels. Often, when colors are mixed up, colors appear that none of us expected, and the effect at the end is electrifying. That is why our work involves many interesting projects and special tasks that we love.