Color Psychology

Color is a magical element that gives feeling and emotion to art, design, and advertising. By understanding color meaning, (or the psychology of color) you can choose the right color to support and emphasize your design.

A dominant color or overall color scheme can determine the tone of your document. Certain colors will help your product, corporate document, or advertisement attract specific audiences and evoke desired responses.

The information below provides generally accepted guidelines on the symbolic meanings of color and how you can use color more effectively in your marketing pieces.

The meaning of the color yellow (including coral, orange, amber, gold)

Symbolizes: Energy, caution, warmth, cheer, joy


Yellows are often associated with the following characteristics: homey, friendly, soft, welcoming, moving, excitement, or adventure. Good for press kits, stationery, and shopping bags.

Use yellow for signage in work situations warning of danger. Yellow is also good for any project that needs to evoke feelings of lightheartedness, humor, or friendliness.


The meaning of the color red (including mauve, magenta, crimson, scarlet, poster red)

Symbolizes: Power, romance, vitality, earthly, energy

Reds evoke highly charged emotions such as aggression, danger, or love. Red makes us pay attention and catches our eye immediately so use reds on items that need to grab attention.

In the financial arena, red symbolizes a negative direction.


The meaning of the color green (including lime, leaf green, sea green, emerald, teal, sage)

Symbolizes: life, foliage, grass, trees, water

Greens are sensuous and alive. Green is associated with the following characteristics: friendliness, dependability, freshness, non-threatening, safe, secure, healthy, strong, expensive, and primitive.

In the business world, green symbolizes growth and prosperity.


The meaning of the color blue and purple (including sky blue, ultramarine, violet, purple, azure)

Symbolizes: Peace, law and order, logic, analytical, intelligent, honest, calm, clean, good will, tranquility, compassionate, serious, thoughtful, quiet, reflective, regal, classic, dependable, trustworthiness, tradition, magical

Blues are often used for older, more mature audiences and situations. Blue is common in financial institutions, hospitals, and legal and medical professions.

Purples have long been associated with royalty, magic and power Purples are often used with feminine, rather than masculine designs.


Discover what top color combinations really make your designs pop.



About the Author

Karen Saunders is the author of "Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools!" Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! Pick up FREE articles, audio classes, eCourse and ezines at http://www.macgraphics.net

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What is Graphic Design

Graphic design is the process of communicating visually using typography and images to present information. Graphic design practice embraces a range of cognitive skills, aesthetics and crafts, including typography, visual arts and page layout. Like other forms of design, graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated

Uses
Graphic design is used whenever visual intricacy and creativity are applied to the presentation of text and imagery. Contemporary design practice has been extended to the modern computer, in particular WYSIWYG user interfaces, often referred to as interactive design, or multimedia design.
Anywhere there is a need tocommunicate visually, there is potential enhancement of communications through graphic design. Here are a few examples:

In Administration
From road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums to reference manuals, graphic design enhances transfer of knowledge. Readability is enhanced by improving the visual presentation of text. Intricate and clever pictures are used when words cannot suffice.

In Advertising
Graphic designs have a unique ability to sell a product or idea through effective visual communications. It is applied to products as well as elements of company identity like logos, colors, and text, together defined as branding. See advertising. Branding has increasingly become important in the range of services offered by many graphic designers, alongside corporate identity and the terms are often used interchangeably.

In Education
Graphics are used in textbooks for subjects such as geography, science, and math to illustrate theories and diagrams. A common example of graphics in use to educate is diagrams of human anatomy. Graphic design is also applied to layout and formatting of educational material to make the information more accessible and more readily understandable.

In Entertainment
From decoration, to scenery, to visual story telling, graphic design is applied to entertainment. From cover to cover in novels and comic books, from opening credits to closing credits in film, from programs to props on stage, graphic design helps set the theme and the intended mood.

In Journalism
From scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation of opinion and facts is often improved with graphics and thoughtful compositions of visual information. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and film documentaries may use graphic design to inform and entertain.

On the Web
Graphic designers have long been involved in web design. Combining visual communication skills with the interactive communication skills of user interaction and online branding, graphic designers often work with web developers to create both the look and feel of a web site and enhance the online experience of web site visitors. In the job field, companies these days look for someone who can do both graphic and web design. There is a great deal of argument in the professional design community about whether or not this trend is positive. Although it has created new job opportunities for skilled graphic designers, it has also created a glut of web designers who think they can do graphic design but really have little artistic talent. It is important for designers to understand the intricacies of the other medium before offering the skill as a professional service(transitioning from graphic design to web design).

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