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Psychological research shows that colours play a huge part in influencing our subconscious emotions and perceptions. This is widely used in advertising and should be the first step in creating your company branding. Not only are the colours important, but also the emotion each provokes, saturation and colour matching.

GROUP	COLOUR	POSITIVE	NEGATIVE	EMOTION	ASSOCIATIONS	RECOMMENDED FOR
trust and calming	BLUE	Strong, trustworthy, authoritative	Cold, depressing, gloomy	secure and trustworthy	universally liked. colour of the sky	for businesses needing to emphasise trust e.g. banks
	DEEP GREEN	trust, maturity	jealous, dominating, illness	wealth	colour of money and success	all finance related services and products
	LIGHT GREEN	natural, tranquil, relaxing, hope	inexperienced, greedy	calming	spring time, plants	leisure related websites
exciting and warm	RED	colour which the eye perceives first. energy, speed, hunger	aggressive, domineering, dangerous	activates your pituitary gland, giving you energy and grabbing your attention	power	attention grabbing, call to action also stimulates appetite e.g. Mc Donald's colour choice
	YELLOW	optimistic, friendly, happy, stimulating	presumptuous, annoying, weak, nervous, betrayal	optimism	the sun	attention grabbing in small doses contrasting on other colours
	PINK	remedy to fear, confidence	inertia, sexist	energy	very feminine	woman products and services
	POWDER PINK	love, softness	childish, apathy	romantic	very feminine	girl products and services
	VIOLET	sensual, relaxing. surveys show about 75% of pre-adolescents prefer purple to all other colors	can appear artificial	sensual	religion, delight	trendy products
	ORANGE	cheerfulness, joy.	cheap	cheerful	citrus fruit	kids' services and products, impulse purchases
	BROWN	warm, mature, earthy	sad, dirty, cheap	casual	earth and nature	furniture, lodges
neutral	BLACK	haut couture and chic when combined with a vivid colour	dark, expensive	powerful	serious	expensive, luxury products
	GREY	distinguished, efficiency	boring, sadness	bored	technology	high-tech products
	WHITE	clean, pure, innocent	sterile, empty, cold. in Asia is the colour of mourning	purity and simplicity. still catches attention	numerous, crisp and new products to hospitals	health related products

Choosing complementary colours

How to use a colour wheel in selecting complementary colour combinations:

Above are 2 colour wheels, we will cover the basics below

1. The white link line is known as the Complementary Color Scheme

The complementary color scheme selects 2 complementary colours. On the colour wheel, rotate the white link line on it's axis to show the complementary colours displayed through the end hollowed circles. To alter the saturation of the colours, reduce the diameter length and select complimentary colours in the same manner by rotating the link line on the axis.

2. The 3 black link lines are known as the Triadic Color Scheme

The triadic color scheme selects 3 complementary colours. In the same manner rotate the black triadic line [three equally spaced link lines] on the axis to select 3 complementary colours, you may also equally reduce the diameter of each line to adjust the saturation.

After thought

The information provided is to help guide and inform you along your colorfully branding journey. Our graphic and web designers are happy to advise you on this issue.

Interesting Colour Facts:

1. University of Iowa, the "Hawkeye" coach, Hayden Fry had the locker room which was to be used by visiting teams painted pink because research indicated that a pink surrounding reduces aggressive behavior.

2. Mc Donalds chose red and yellow for their branding, even though 98% of businesses would never consider using those colours together simply because they are not complimentary in the slightest. Why did they choose them? Research shows that the eye perceives the colours yellow and red first. Additionally red is an appetite stimulator [e.g. restaurants often use red furniture and lighting & taxis are yellow]

3. Around 7 percent of human males are either partially or completely deficient in color vision.

4. It's estimated that 2/3 people wont buy a large appliance unless it's in their preferred colour.