Color is all around us. It affects every aspect of our behavior, including how we feel, what we buy, and how satisfied we are with our purchases. Yet, how often do we take full advantage of color's ability to motivate others in our business communications? Color is a necessity in any promotional or marketing campaign as it is an effective instrument to trigger human emotions. The presence of color can there only only add value to your communication and campaigns.
Research has shown that readers place more value on publications in color. Readers associate color with importance ". The presence of color signals that you consider your message, and your reader, important enough to invest in more publication preparation and printing.
Even on the Internet it is now-a-days unthinkable to get a website in black and white. Color is a powerful component of design, almost as important as content and navigation in determining a site's success. Color not only adds visual appeal to a site but is also important because of the message it sends to your site visitors. E-Commerce is an industry on its own – a very powerful industry for this matter. Potential buyers or shoppers on the Internet are literally bombarded with "shops" (read websites) and only those aesthetically appealing to the public would be successful.
When selecting colors for your site, consideration should be given to their symbolism as it pertains to your desired site's audience. Color symbolism is not absolute. Our reactions to color are determined by a combination of factors.
However, it is good to know the symbolism of the main colors:
Red: Excitement; energy; passion; desire; speed; all things intense and passionate.
Yellow: Joy; happiness; optimism; idealism.
Blue: Peace; tranquility; calm; stability.
Orange: Energy; balance; demanding of attention.
Green: Nature; environment; healthy; good luck.
White: Reverence; purity; simplicity.
Black: Power; sexuality; sophistication.
There are also cycles of color popularity which plays a significant role. You can see this easily with products such as home furnishings and clothing. For a while, hunter green or mauve will be the popular color, and then the trend will shift. An interesting trend recently is the use of Web color in television advertising. Color trends can be used to add appeal to a site and can also be used to represent a period of time. You can take your site visitors back to the 60's with avocado or fluorescent colors. Turquoise and yellow are reminiscent of the 50's. Sepia tints denote times of long ago. One final thought though, good color choices are appealing outside of any trend.
In conclusion, color is all around us. It is very important not to underestimate the role color plays. The human eye is able to distinguish colors to the finest minute detail and it is part and parcel of the sub-conscious of the human being to link color with either something good or something bad. Be aware of this uniqueness and make sure to capitalize on it.
