Sometimes you want someone to see Red

By Jason McLarty

Part 1 (skip to Part 2)

Imagine your favorite image, it could be a painting, a photograph, or even the crayon rendition of yourself hanging on the fridge door. Consider how that image makes you feel. What does it make you remember? What colors do you see? Do they feel warm or cold?

 

We call the effect of feeling emotions in response to color, Color Psychology. Studies about the effects of color on the human psyche show that there is at least a connection between initial emotional responses to color.¹ Ever since Newton discovered the color spectrum in the 17th century we have been fascinated with color and how it affects us. We choose it to reflect how we feel at any given point in time. For example, we associate bright vibrant colors such as yellow or orange with happiness or joy. We will wear black or darker blues for somber events like funerals or when we feel sad.

Many different artists and designers over the years used this principle of design to inspire a certain emotion or feeling in the viewer. Picasso for example played with color very often, he even had a whole body of work devoted to Blue, aptly called his "Blue Period." Let's take a look at Picassos "Blue Guitar," look how the color amplifies the emotion he is trying to convey. Now let us look at an American portrait artist, John Singer Sargent. First we will look at his "Portrait of Lady Agnew," and then another "Portrait of Edouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron." Notice the differences in color and mood? The second one looks like the little girl is auditioning for The Omen. That is how just changing color can make a difference. This difference can mean the difference between resonating with your audience and losing their attention to something else.

 

Everyday Hues

Ever notice how many hospitals use some shade of green? We often associate Green with life and nature so hospitals want us to feel like we are in a place of renewal and healing.³ Imagine if you went into a hospital with the walls painted in dark blues and purples or black. How would you feel in a place like that? Sometimes we can see some hospitals painted in warmer shades like reds, oranges, or pink. In hospitals most often the colors of scrubs (clothes worn by doctors, nurses, and orderlies) are some variant of blue, green, or pink. Pink is a color that has a remarkable calming effect when initially exposed to it. This is why some prisons will have pink colors to help calm inmates, although prolonged exposure to the color will lessen its effect.²

 

So, what does this mean to you? How can this information help your goals? Think of what you are trying to accomplish, you not only want the people to notice your message, but act on it, remember it, and better yet share it. Choosing the right colors for your message is key! You want to match the color psychology to the emotion you want the viewer to feel. For example, if you are a family restaurant that specializes in fun and games for all members of the family do you want an ad that is full of blues, purples, or greens? No, of course not. Those colors are cool and calming. You want your ad to be full of reds, yellows, and oranges because those are warm, action colors. They make you feel excited and anticipate the great feelings you are going to experience when you come to this restaurant.

 

Part 2

Putting it into Practice

Let's try an exercise, go to your favorite magazine or newspaper. Look at the ads and pick out which ones matched the colors well. Look at the medical ads for doctors, hospitals, or better yet pharmaceuticals. Notice that most of them will use a lot of blues and greens, although sometimes you will see a switch up and see some warmer colors. This usually happens when they want you to feel like whatever they are offering is going to make you feel great and alive. I took the liberty of hitting up Google Images for a couple for us to look at together. Take a look at this ad for Lunesta, without even reading any of the words we can instantly tell what this is about, calming, relaxing, deep sleep. How do we know its deep sleep? Well, obviously the woman is sleeping but look at the shade of blue, it makes us feel like it's late at night and we should be fast asleep. Let's switch it up and look at an ad for Paxil, now it is an anti-anxiety medication but look at their color choice. They chose to go with deep, vibrant reds that dominate the page. What do feeling do you get from this ad? Exactly, you feel a little anxious just looking at it. In tests, scientists proved that sudden exposure to red causes an innate anxious reaction.4 So why use this approach with an anti-anxiety medication? Because if someone suffers from anxiety they are going to notice this ad and that emotion of anxiety will get them to pay attention to how this medication can make their lives better. Notice that they want you to feel like they are going to help you, not just understand.

Color and Emotional Intelligence

Why the emphasis on feeling? The reason for that is that we are emotional creatures, we are hardwired to make decisions based on emotion. Fear, anger, jealousy, sadness, love, and happiness. When we actually make a decision, emotions are what they often base on. Usually reason will play a small factor but emotion is the deciding vote.5 Think about the last really big purchase you made. Remember how you felt when you decided to make that purchase. Were you thinking about all the facts and details of why that purchase was right? Did the purchase feel like it was the right thing to do? What would you have done if you didn't feel confident about it even though all the facts and data showed it was a good buy? Often when we make a large purchase when we may have still felt uneasy we will rationalize the decision after the fact, an effect called cognitive dissonance. This essentially is when we will search out facts supporting our decision so that we feel right about the decision after the fact. How big is emotion when it comes to business and advertising? Pretty darn big if you take a look at what big businesses are doing. A lot of businesses are putting more emphasis on customer service these days. USAA, a financial services company catering to the military and their dependents, has been recognized over several years for outstanding customer service.6 They continue to grow their business in an economy where many businesses are struggling to remain in the black. This is impressive considering that USAA did not engage in conventional advertising until they first began television ads in the past few years. Up until this time USAA's advertising was primarily through word of mouth from its members. Other companies are also following suit by putting a higher emphasis on how the customer feels about the experience with the company than the product itself. The reason behind this is simple, people will make decision with their emotions 9 times out of 10. So, the difference between your message being heard or ignored could be as simple as red or blue.

 

Notes

1. Elliot, Andrew J., and Markus A. Maier, "Color and Psychological Functioning," Current Directions in Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell) 16.5 (2007): 250-254.

2. Cherry, Kendra, "Color Psychology: How Colors Impact Moods, Feelings, and Behaviors," About.com.

3. Cross, Candi S. "Color psychology." Industrial Engineer: IE 40.11 (2008): 6, Academic Search Complete, EBSCO, doi:4.511

4. Mahan, Rachel, "Seeing Red," Psychology Today 41.5 (2008): 53.

5. Cherniss, Cary, "Emotional Intelligence: What it is and Why it Matters." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, New Orleans, LA, April 2000.

6. Jena McGregor, "USAA'S BATTLE PLAN," BusinessWeek 4168 (2010): 40-43.