Psychology Behind Color and Emotion

Color Principles

1. Color can carry a specific meaning.
2. Color meaning is either based in learned meaning or biologically innate meaning.
3. The perception of a color causes evaluation automatically by the person perceiving.
4. The evaluation process forces color-motivated behavior.
5. Color usually exerts its influence automatically.
6. Color meaning and effect has to do with context as well.

Red

• Being the longest wavelength
• Although most visible
• Red is strong
• Demanding and aggressive
• Love / Power  / Excitement / Lust

Yellow

• Colour of confidence and optimism
• Giving rise to fear and anxiety
• Happiness / Competence / Jealousy

Green

• Colour of balance
• This indicates the presence of water
• Indicate stagnation
• Envy / Good Taste

Blue

• Colour of the mind and is essentially soothing.
• Colour of clear communication
• Can be perceived as cold, unemotional and unfriendly.
• Masculine / Competence / High quality / Corporate

Violet/Purple

• Highly introvertive and encourages deep contemplation, or meditation.
• It has associations with time and space and the cosmos.
• Authority / Sophistication / Power
• Associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition.

Black

• Associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.
• Black is essentially an absence of light
• Black creates a perception of weight and seriousness.
• Grief / Sophistication / Expensive / Fear

White

• It reflects the full force of the spectrum into our eyes.
• It is clean, hygienic, and sterile.
• Purity / Sincerity / Happiness

Attracting attention

Color is used as a means to attract consumer attention to a product that then influences buying behavior. Consumers use color to identify for known brands or search for new alternatives. Variety seekers look for non-typical colors when selecting new brands. And attractive color packaging receives more consumer attention than unattractive color packaging, which can then influence buying behavior.