The power of color struck me recently as I was wandering the aisles of a local drugstore looking for a particular product: the Starfrit Chopper, a great a little kitchen aid that saves hours of manual chopping and slicing. I had a good idea in which aisle it might be. But as I almost walked past one of the aisles, I caught a bare glimpse (through my peripheral vision) of a color combination almost halfway down the aisle. I looked directly this time and started walking towards the product to read what was written on the box. Sure enough, it was the Starfrit Chopper.
I’m not the type who spends hours memorizing the packaging colors of kitchen aid products so naturally I was a little surprised. But the fact is, the colors used be Starfrit in its packaging (the yellow and red stripe on the top) stayed in my memory even though I noticed it only a handful of times. And it was strong enough for me to notice using my peripheral vision. This story serves as a good introduction to color and the conscious and subconscious attributes we associate with them.
Here are some of the positive and negative ‘learned associations’ we attribute to different colors, some of which are backed by actual research. Note that not all these associations are universal and some may vary from one culture to another. The next time you are choosing your company colors (logo, packaging, etc.) keep them in mind.
- Red: Some positive things we associate with red are: sense of power, strength, power, and sexuality. People tend pay more attention to detail when they see red. A recent study by the University of British Columbia found that the color had a significant impact on cognitive performance, boosting test scores by as much as 30%. The color helped them focus on detailed tasks (e.g. solving a math problem, editing a complex document, etc.). On the flip side, there are also some negative attributes that we tend to associate with red: anger, aggressiveness, violence, and impatience.
- Blue: Positive associations: tranquility, patience, openness, creativity, exploration. The university study I mentioned earlier found that blue inspired creativity, allowing students to think outside of the box (the students came up with twice as many creative ideas in brainstorming tests). Some of the negative attributes include: fear, coldness, passivity, and depression.
Here are a few other colors along with their positive and negative associations (not discussed in the study above).
- Green: Positive associations include: money, health, food, nature, growth, freshness, cooperation. Negative associations include: envy, greed, jealousy.
- Black: Positive attributes: dramatic, classy, committed, serious. Negative: evil, death.
- White: Positive attributes: pure, fresh, cleanliness, goodness. Negative attributes: blind, winter, cold, distant.
- Yellow: Positive attributes: caution, brightness, intelligence. Negative attributes: laziness, criticism.
- Orange: Positive attributes: courage, confidence, warmth, energy. Negative attributes: ignorance, inferiority.
- Purple: Positive attributes: royalty, sophistication, religion. Negative attributes: bruised, foreboding.
Source: “How to choose your website colors” by Jason O’Connor (2005).
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