Colour and Emotion

Ever wonder why restaurants like Mc Donald's, KFC, Nandos, Scooters Pizza, Burger King or Anat decided to follow a pattern of red in their logos instead of an attempt to be completely separate in colour from their competitors.

Mc Donalds's luscious red background and it's golden arches, a logo that summons the appetite unbeknownst to it's consumers.

The purpose of using yellow and especially red in their logos is to attract one's appetite. Just as music is known to affect one's emotion, colour can be used to achieve the same result. Understanding this is key in creating a logo and other promotional material that bring about the desired emotion to sell your product.

Colour is not the only aspect you need to understand to create a logo or promotional piece to attract your particular consumer. Things like mood lines, shapes and layout are also important but colour is nothing to be overlooked.

Red:

Stirring emotions of aggression, passion, strength, energy, desire, love, determination and danger. It's effects on emotion are more intense than other colours even enhancing the body's metabolism, hence it's use in restaurant logos, and even increased respiration rate. Red is the colour that calls forth the appetite of people.

And for these reasons red remains one of the more powerful colours, also due to it's ability to be strong and eye catching by reflecting a great amount of light without being too harsh on the eyes.

Orange:

The combination of red and yellow, this colour can create quite a powerful emotional response. It is because of this combination that orange is considered a very hot colour. Happiness, creativity, attraction, determination, success, fascination, encouragement and stimulation. Because it's a citrus colour it works well, especially with green, to promote healthy food.

Yellow:

One of the more common “happy” colours; yellow is known to create feelings of positivity, joy, cheerfulness and warmth. Another colour that reflects colour well and used in combination with black can create and outstanding output of light that calls upon the eye for attention. Yellow is even known to increase mental activity. Light yellow can be associated with freshness and joy.

Green:

The most common colour used for health products, green is known as the colour of nature. You can expect harmony, tranquillity, fertility, vitality, safety and health as emotions that will be aroused by this colour. Because it is associated with safety it can also be used to show that a product can be trusted. Darker shades of green are also linked to money and ambition.

Blue:

Stability, security, influence, faith, truth, loyalty and wisdom. Blue is the more common colour used for corporate logos as it provides a sober outlook in work and business. Blue, unlike other warmer colours, can suppress the appetite creating a calmer response to a product. It is also for this reason that it is linked to expertise. Because blue does not reflect light as sharply as red or yellow, it gives off a calmer emotional tone. Lighter blue can also add a more tranquil and softer aspect to your design where a darker blue will give it a more knowledgeable and powerful emotional tone.

Purple:

Combining red and blue, purple conveys power, nobility, luxury, extravagance, ambition, wealth, wisdom but also mystery, magic and creativity. Containing the flare of red and the serenity of blue, purple is a good colour to use when creating something attractive to the eye but calming enough to be appreciated.

Pink:

Containing some of purple's flare, pink is more commonly known as a feminine colour with emotions of purity, softness and health. Because of it's feminine quality it can also be used as a colour to evoke romance.

White:

Light, goodness, purity, innocence and perfection. White is associated with cleanness. Use it with blue to increase it's sober aspect and green or orange to give the clean emotion to a colour linked with health.

Black:

Power, elegance, formality, mystery, death and evil. Used with dark purple it can become fearful and gloomy but used with pink or yellow you add it's elegance and power to enhance the others emotion. White and black are more commonly used in combination with other colours to make them seem brighter and therefore enhance their emotional output.

The above is a useful article on on picking colours that best identify the product, business or even artistic piece that you're are wanting to create.

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