Studio Brief 03 - Collaboration Branding: Colour Psychology Research

Here in this blog are some Business colour psychology research that I found, for our concept, so we can pick out which colours are suitable: 

Gold

Psychologically it is seen as the colour of inner wisdom, quality and wealth. It is associated with prestige, luxury and material wealth, suggesting that a product or service is expensive and exclusive.

Physiologically, it can induce great feelings of happiness and bliss or alternatively, deep anxiety and fear.

It implies generosity of time, money and spirit. It is the colour of victory, hence the use of gold medals for winners.

Used with dark blue it suggests honesty, trustworthiness and success. Used with black it suggests extreme opulence, elegance and wealth. Using it with white creates an elegant impression.

Positive Color Meanings in Business:

• wealth and prosperity, abundance
• value, quality, luxury, expensive, opulence
• victory, achievement, grandeur, importance
• happiness, beauty
• excellence, prestige, nobility, extravagance
• attraction, wisdom

Silver

Silver is a colour associated with prestige and wealth. It is seen as a sophisticated colour related to female energy, prosperity and modernity. With its reflective qualities it relates to intuition, clairvoyance and mental telepathy.

Physiologically, silver is calming and soothing, with a lightness that is more uplifting than grey. Silver is patience, reflection, perseverance, dignified, soothing & calming, self control, organisation and responsibility. It is illuminating and balancing (neither black nor white).

On packaging silver looks sleek, smooth, and lustrous. It has a coolness about it that relates to the future and science and technology.

Positive Color Meanings in Business:

• modern, sleek, high-tech, scientific
• glamorous, distinguished, elegant
• conservative, prestige
• calming and balancing
• illusion, intuition, imagination
• feminine power, sophisticated
• wealth and riches
• aids mental, emotional and physical releasing and cleansing
• illumination

Black

Psychologically black means authority, power and control. In many situations it can be intimidating, unfriendly and unapproachable. Alternatively, it can be seen as sophisticated, dignified and serious. Physiologically, it is intimidating and controlling, although its power can in still confidence in some. Black is favoured by the youth market aged approximately 16 to 25, who are still trying to find their own sense of identity and place in this world. Those who are achievement oriented and ambitious also favour black.

Black board with printing in any of the jewel colours of red, emerald green, magenta, or bright blue, or gold, silver or white will create a dramatic impression. Black packaging can make an item appear expensive and heavier.

Positive Color Meanings in Business:

• authority, power, control
• protection and comfort
• strong, contained, formal
• sophisticated
• seductive, mysterious
• endings & beginnings

White

In colour psychology white is the colour of new beginnings, wiping the slate clean, so to speak. It is the blank canvas waiting to be written upon. While white isn't stimulating to the senses, it opens the way for the creation of anything the mind can conceive. Physiologically, white is calming as it creates simplicity, organisation and efficiency out of chaos. It clears the way forward. White's basic feature is equality, implying fairness and impartiality, neutrality and independence. It is a reassuring colour which helps to create order and proficiency. White is useful in businesses where cleanliness is imperative, such as dental surgeries and medical centres, but these businesses need some green or pink to assist in healing and to create a calm and caring atmosphere for patients.

Positive Color Meanings in Business:

• innocence
• purity, cleanliness
• equality, complete and whole
• simplicity
• immaculate and neat
• self-sufficient, pristine and open
• new beginnings

Blue

Blue is the most universally favoured colour of all and therefore the safest to use. It relates to trust, honesty and dependability, therefore helping to build customer loyalty.

Blue indicates confidence, reliability and responsibility. It relates to one-to-one communication rather than mass communication. It inspires wisdom and higher ideals but is also conservative and predictable. Physiologically, blue is calming, reducing tension and fear. It slows the pulse rate and reduces appetite. Being a cool colour it creates a sensation of space.

Blue adds strength and unity, and is therapeutic to the mind and body. It brings harmony to the spoken word.

Blue works well for the corporate world and is often used for more conservative types of businesses such as accountants, insurance companies, banks and other financial companies where trust and reliability are important.

Positive Color Meanings in Business:

• loyalty, trust and integrity
• tactful, caring and concerned
• reliability and responsibility
• conservatism and perseverance
• idealistic and orderly
• authority, devotion and contemplation
• peace and calm

Grey

Grey is a conservative colour signifying neutrality, indifference and reserve.

Physiologically, grey can drain you of energy, be depressing or uplifting, depending on how much lightness and white is in the grey. Grey serves as a good background for other colours as it doesn't attract attention, allowing the other colours to take prominence.

Grey suggests security, reliability, modesty, maturity and dullness. It can imply that you can't make decisions, 'the fence-sitter', that you don't have an opinion on anything.

Positive Color Meanings in Business:

• intellect, knowledge, wisdom, security
• perceived as long-lasting, and classic
• sleek, professional, mature
• refined, dignified, conservative
• controlled and inconspicuous
• colour of compromise - between black and white
• neutral, contemporary

Brown

Psychologically, brown is associated with strength and solidarity, comfort and earthiness, maturity and reliability.

Physiologically, brown gives people either reassurance and comfort or a feeling of dirtiness and suffocation.

Brown relates to the acquisition of material possessions which implies security and safety, comfort and homeliness.

Brown suggests endurance, duty and stability. It relates to the outdoors, the practical and down-to-earth and the family unit.

Many men love brown due to its strength, security and practicality.

Sometimes brown is regarded as a neutral colour, although the lighter versions of it such as beige and taupe tend to work better as background neutrals than the deeper shades of brown.

Positive Color Meanings in Business:

• practical, earthy and down-to-earth
• comfort, reassurance, strength, security, simplicity
• reliable, dependable, credible and durable
• friendly and approachable
• stability, humility
• homely, comfortable, warm
• wholesome, natural and organic