Color Meanings and Internet Marketing

Color plays an important role in a potential customer’s decision making process, certain colors set different moods and can help to draw attention. One good example of successful use of color psychology is in the Apple iPod advertisements, they use simple tritone color schemes of black, white and a bright background color. The bright background color is to give the advertisement a fun feel and the contrasting white on black is to focus attention.

Meaning of the Color Blue

Blue is the most common favorite color and is liked by both genders. Blue is seen as a trustworthy, peaceful and calm color and is often related to the sky or water. Blue is usually cool and quiet but more electric shades can give a dynamic feel. Although blue has the benefits of gender indifference and being the most common favorite color, the overuse of blue can seem cold or uncaring. Blue is often used because it is the designer’s favorite color but after considering the meaning of other colors, another color may be a better choice.

Meaning of the Color Green

Green is related to life and nature, if you want to give your product a natural feel use green. Green is the second most popular color and the most popular shades of green are the blue-greens, which should be expected when blue and green are the two most popular colors. Yellow-greens should be avoided around food products as the color will act as an appetite-depressant. As well as the natural feel greens have, they can also signify money, health and power.

Meaning of the Color Yellow

Yellow is a very useful color because it is the most easily noticed, it will grab the attention of a person so can be a good choice for things such as magazine advertisements which may usually be ignored due to ad blindness. Yellow signifies happiness, optimism and warmth but also caution. The main advantage of yellow is its attention grabbing feature so a combination of blue and yellow can be a successful color scheme which could create a cool and calm mood from the blue but still draw attention because of the yellow.

Meaning of the Color Red

Red has several primary benefits; it draws the eye but not as much as yellow, it stimulated appetite and it is the most exciting, sexy and dramatic color. Based on these benefits you can see why red is a popular color for expensive cars, it is exciting and it will turn heads. Red helps to encourage action and can be good to emphasize certain elements in a design for example, strawberries or raspberries in food design can make an exciting and visually appealing dish.

Meaning of the Color Brown

Brown is a difficult color to use successfully, brown is related to the earth and is seen as reliable and stable but it can be see as dirty. Brown is an attractive color in relation to coffee, breads, rice and sometimes shoes but the situations brown can be used in are limited. Some suitable implementations for brown could be for a plant nursery or for a coffee shop. Starbucks’ packaging design revolves around brown and is a highly successful brand.

Meaning of the Color Pink

Pink is highly related to sweetness, in both people and food. This is the reason why icing on cakes is often pink and parents often buy pink bedding for their daughters. While general pinks represent sweetness, brighter pinks can represent energy. The most obvious use for the color pink is for products who’s target audience is young girls or their parents.

Meaning of the Color White

Pure white can attract attention while off-white is a neutral color. White represents purity, cleanliness and emptiness and and can be successfully used two different ways, as an attention grabber such as a pure white wedding dress or as an attention focuser such as a pure white plate with bright red strawberries in the middle. Whitespace in websites is used in the same way as it is in the strawberry example, having a white background, margin or padding helps to draw attention to certain content or elements.

Meaning of the Color Black

Black has gained much popularity over the past decade and has the image of being sleek, modern, elegant and sophisticated. Black was originally associated with death and evil but now that association has nearly vanished. Black can give a sense of anonymity but that is not its primary meaning. One good example of black giving a sleek, modern, elegant and sophisticated feel is in its use on the black Apple iPod. Apple focuses on elegant design and this color choice is no exception. The iPod design also uses reflections which have the same feel as black: sleek, modern, elegant and sophisticated.