7/02/2007
6/05/2007
Juliana Zarattini Cipoli - Diretora de Arte / Art Director
www.meltdesign.com.br
55 19 92569395
55 19 30441812
www.meltdesign.com.br
55 19 92569395
55 19 30441812
5/30/2007
Color Power
Have you ever thought of how we react to colors? Which feelings we have when we are exposed to them? Probably not, but it is proved that different colors evoke different emotions in humans and our reactions are mostly unconscious.
Think about a traffic light. When we see a red light we automatically stop, not just because we were taught this way, but also because red, as the color with the highest impact in our eyes, grabs our attention, dilates our pupils, raises our blood pressure increasing the amount of oxygen in the brain, which sends our body a message to stop. Green, in other hand, can slow our heart rate, causing a calming effect and we feel safe to keep going as a consequence.
If we analyze how advertising works with colors, we easily notice that it follows the same patterns. It is known that warm colors, as red, orange, yellow and all the shades between them, stimulate our senses, our mental activity, leading us to excitement. All these impulses make us want to satisfy a need and we respond to that with impulsive buying.
While warm colors excite us, cool colors, such as blue and green are assimilated by humans with tranquility, cleanness, healthfulness and stability. Those are often used in ads for hospitals, medicines, health and personal care products.
Extensive research has been done in the field of food advertisement. This specific area has its own rules. The hot colors encourage people to eat more, they stimulate appetite, that’s why most of food products come in red and yellow packages or have red on their labels. If we try to remember fast food logos we suddenly realize how this rule applies in almost all cases.
What about blue in particular? Weight loss programs even suggest placing your food in a blue plate or using a blue light inside your refrigerator, because blue is an appetite suppressant. Try to pay attention which color is the last one you eat among your M&M’s. That theory has an interesting explanation; a million years ago, when our earliest ancestors were looking for food, blue was a “color warning sign” of poisonous food. So, we tend to avoid blue colored food as a natural instinct. Designers probably won’t choose blue when planning to sell food products.
Green is also a cool color but it’s abundant in nature, so we don’t reject green food. We assimilate green as a sign of healthy, natural and fresh food. This is an example of how we react to colors, we associate them with things that we have learned through our lives. Black is sophistication, nightlife, power, death; purple is magic, mystery, royalty; orange is joy, success, happiness; gold is quality, rareness; dark-blue is authority, power; pink is passion, sweetness; yellow is sunshine, summer. They are non-verbal communication, each one with its appeals and impact.
A lot of times, colors are being used wisely to grab our attention and manipulate our reactions, leading us to a purchase without even noticing the whole process our mind and body are going through.
It’s called the color power. Next time, don’t underestimate the influence a color has in our decisions.
Juliana Zarattini Cipoli - 2007
Have you ever thought of how we react to colors? Which feelings we have when we are exposed to them? Probably not, but it is proved that different colors evoke different emotions in humans and our reactions are mostly unconscious.
Think about a traffic light. When we see a red light we automatically stop, not just because we were taught this way, but also because red, as the color with the highest impact in our eyes, grabs our attention, dilates our pupils, raises our blood pressure increasing the amount of oxygen in the brain, which sends our body a message to stop. Green, in other hand, can slow our heart rate, causing a calming effect and we feel safe to keep going as a consequence.
If we analyze how advertising works with colors, we easily notice that it follows the same patterns. It is known that warm colors, as red, orange, yellow and all the shades between them, stimulate our senses, our mental activity, leading us to excitement. All these impulses make us want to satisfy a need and we respond to that with impulsive buying.
While warm colors excite us, cool colors, such as blue and green are assimilated by humans with tranquility, cleanness, healthfulness and stability. Those are often used in ads for hospitals, medicines, health and personal care products.
Extensive research has been done in the field of food advertisement. This specific area has its own rules. The hot colors encourage people to eat more, they stimulate appetite, that’s why most of food products come in red and yellow packages or have red on their labels. If we try to remember fast food logos we suddenly realize how this rule applies in almost all cases.
What about blue in particular? Weight loss programs even suggest placing your food in a blue plate or using a blue light inside your refrigerator, because blue is an appetite suppressant. Try to pay attention which color is the last one you eat among your M&M’s. That theory has an interesting explanation; a million years ago, when our earliest ancestors were looking for food, blue was a “color warning sign” of poisonous food. So, we tend to avoid blue colored food as a natural instinct. Designers probably won’t choose blue when planning to sell food products.
Green is also a cool color but it’s abundant in nature, so we don’t reject green food. We assimilate green as a sign of healthy, natural and fresh food. This is an example of how we react to colors, we associate them with things that we have learned through our lives. Black is sophistication, nightlife, power, death; purple is magic, mystery, royalty; orange is joy, success, happiness; gold is quality, rareness; dark-blue is authority, power; pink is passion, sweetness; yellow is sunshine, summer. They are non-verbal communication, each one with its appeals and impact.
A lot of times, colors are being used wisely to grab our attention and manipulate our reactions, leading us to a purchase without even noticing the whole process our mind and body are going through.
It’s called the color power. Next time, don’t underestimate the influence a color has in our decisions.
Juliana Zarattini Cipoli - 2007