Of the topics that we were able to select, I was most interested in learning more about how color related to design. It was not a notion that I thought of but it makes sense that color would be important. I won’t argue that color does not have an effect on people, but how does it affect them. This was the main focus of the articles that I looked at. It is interesting enough to realize just how important color is.
Color Branding & Marketing
It is very important to know what color to make a product when trying to market it. The effects that color can have on how well or poorly a product sells. The first article brings up the point about how different colors affect our moods in different ways. Even more interesting is the notion that culture differences have to be taken into consideration. Such examples are:
White is the color of death in Chinese culture, purple represents death in Brazil.
Yellow is sacred to the Chinese, but signified sadness in Greece and jealousy in France.
People from tropical countries respond most favorably to warm colors
People from northern climates prefer the cooler colors.
How different cultures perceive color is a topic that I would have not thought was important, but it does matter when marketing a product.
Color Association & Mood
The second article explains how color can affect a person’s mood. The color bubblegum pink or passive pink is used in a juvenile detention to help calm down aggressive behavior in children and that 1,500 hospitals and correctional institutions have at least one room painted that color.
Color and taste
This article suggests that the color of food can cause it to be liked more or less, even if it is still the same. It mentions the blue steak and green fries, which were feed to people in a room where they weren’t able to tell that the food was an odd color. After they began to eat the food, the colors were revealed and the people became sick. Reasoning for this was that psychologically, we view food as spoiled if it is a “bad color” and steak is not blue and I wouldn’t want to eat it if it were blue because it wouldn’t be appetizing.
Memory
In this article, people viewed 48 images; half in color and half black and white. Mixed with new colors, people remembered the color images if they were colored normally as opposed to false colors and black and white. The article suggests that color association can help make connections and in turn make it easier to remember information. It is important to consider that target audience. An example is people who are color blind. I know someone who is color blind; they can’t tell the difference between purple and blue so it makes sense to at least consider that when marketing a product.
Color Psychology and Marketing
This article explains what colors mean in different cultures. Such colors as red, blue and green can mean different things in our own culture as well. Red is a color that draws attention and gives energy. In China, red is a symbol of life and women were red in marriage ceremonies. It also ties in to holidays for love and giving. Blue causes the body to produce colors that calm us. Blue is associated with steadfastness, dependability, wisdom and loyalty. Green can also be calming. It is a color of color of peace, harmony, comfortable nurturing, support and well paced energy. Green can also be viewed as an envious color in our own society as the saying goes green with envy.
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