How Colours Create Our Emotional Responses to Brands

How Colours Create Our Emotional Responses to Brands

Websites are designed to elicit a response from viewers. Whether that reaction is delight, curiosity, intrigue, or something else entirely, your website designer crafts pages so that they get visitors to react a certain way. Because of this, the elements must be well-chosen, the colours and lines coming together in a purposeful manner.

Unless the brand calls for it, your website shouldn’t display an explosion of colour. It is overstimulating and attracts attention in the wrong way. Likewise, bland and uninspiring websites won’t do much for your company. In both instances, visitors will click away from your site.

As in any design situation, colour contributes to the overall look of a website. A good designer can use the interaction between colours to create pleasing contrasts. They also know the way colours and their temperatures psychologically affect viewers.

The Meaning of Colours

Different shades are associated with different physiological responses. Some shades are said to impact blood pressure, metabolism, mood, and more. Though the associations between colours and emotions may be byproducts of culture, marketers have always utilised these links to get viewers to associate particular feelings with brands.

Red, for example, is associated with excitement. Red primes the appetite, which is why many fast-food chains use red in their colour scheme. Meanwhile, blue is linked with calmness, reliability, and conservatism. Telecommunications and scientific institutions, appliance companies, and hygiene brands are all likely to use blue.

Combining Colours Wisely

Aside from knowing what emotions colours evoke, designers should also know which colour combinations look good. Colour theory mainly works because of three things: complementation, vibrancy, and contrast. You must adjust the levels of these three factors so the overall effect pleases the eye.

Contrast is a big factor in how visually pleasing it is to view a website. If your webpage is hard to read, there might be a problem in how your font contrasts with the background. Make it easy for readers by choosing light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background. The most readable combination is black and white, but skilled designers can choose other schemes that go well with your company colours.

Complementation has more to do with the non-text elements of your page. When colours occupy particular areas on a spectrum, it is easy on the eyes. Artists use colour wheels and different colour schemes to help achieve this effect. See if your brand colours fall within these schemes, or if you can use analogues of your main logo colour.

Vibrancy helps visitors associate levels of energy with your brand. The more vibrant a logo or website colour scheme, the more energetic the company seems. If you are stumped about vibrancy, consider your brand’s personality.

Do you wish to convey a calm eagerness? If so, muted yellow is a good choice. If you’re looking to emphasise energetic reliability, electric blue might be an option. Dark shades are relaxing, and lighter ones are stimulating. Vibrancy helps you show nuance in your company’s personality without needing to use words.

Tools for Creatives

There are websites and applications you can use to create colour palettes. This is really helpful for when you are still at the idea generation phase, or when you are stuck trying to revamp your company’s colour scheme. Some examples are Paletton, Coolors, and Colormind. Pinterest is also a good place to search for inspiration about colour schemes and design projects in general.

Conclusion

Colour is a subtle way of influencing the thoughts and emotions of a visitor to your website. When choosing colours for your site, pick ones that are at the opposite ends of a spectrum, with a vibrancy that fits the mental energy you wish to evoke from your viewers. You can ask an artistically-inclined employee for help, or you can hire a website designer who can also help you with the rest of your website building tasks.

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