colour psychology

Current research indicates that brand recognition can be increased by up to 80% by effective use of colour throughout marketing, packaging and logo design. First impressions count, so the colour palette you choose should match the message that you are trying to deliver. Colour can be used to match a current trend or be seen as timeless, its use is often symbolic, so what do we know about consumer preferences? Well certainly we know that 'one size does not fit all', which is not that helpful!

The good news is that there are some established pointers, the colour emotion guide at the bottom of this page highlights some well known brands and their associated colour emotions.

Yellow - optimism, clarity & warmthOrange - cheerful, friendly, confidenceRed - excitement, youthful, boldPurple - creative, imaginitive, wiseBlue - trust, dependable, strengthGreen - peaceful, growth, healthGreyscale - balance, neutral, calm

Blue is often considered the safest choice, mainly because it is the most common 'favourite' colour among the majority of the population. How many popular organisations can you think of that have a blue brand?

brand personality

When you select colours for your designs, you need to consider the emotional reactions they might drive in your target audience. In consumer surveys, 90% of respondents stated that their first impressions were formed by colour when looking at websites.

Psychologist Jennifer Aaker concluded that there were 5 core emotion dimensions that play a role in brand personality. Some brands might want to mix the traits below, but most will benefit from focusing on one.

Sincerity - domestic/honest/genuine/cheerful

Excitement - daring/spirited/imaginative/on-trend

Competence - reliable/responsible/dependable/efficient

Sophistication - glamorous/romantic/charming/presentation

Ruggedness - tough/strong/rugged/outdoorsy

Our Zeus Hub Studio Team will need to know which of the above emotion dimensions you want your brand's identity to match when confirming your design brief.

Consistent colour coding

To maintain consistency with design colours, colours are represented by codes. The colour wheel at the top of this page is an RGB colour wheel which has 12 hues (colours) and has a code system. The 4 most common colour coding systems are:

RGB - (Red, Green, Blue) -

Hex - (Hexadecimal Colour) -

PMS (Pantone® Matching System) - standardised colour system used in printing & textiles

CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key or Black) -

Colour combinations

The perception of color is often described by referring to three dimensions of the color experiences:

1. hue - the colour quality and name of the colour

2. saturation - is purity of light, the more saturated, the more intense the colour

3. brightness - is the amount of light present

You might recognise some of the terms above if you have ever used any photo software, such as Adobe Photoshop Express or your smart phone's built in photo editing software.

try an online colour wheel

Canva has a really cool online colour wheel tool that helps you visualise the different combinations of colours available, what looks good and the different design options. This is a great way to see whether your ideas will work, and also whether they will appeal to the masses. Our Zeus Hub Studio team recommend that when you design your brand, you try to depersonalise the process as far as possible.