How color impacts emotions and behaviors

Color plays an important role in brand identity—it draws consumers to products, stirs emotions and has a huge impact on brand recognition. Warm colors can evoke different emotions than cool colors and bright colors can create different feelings than muted colors. It all depends on how the psychological effects of color are being used.

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Colors can make us feel happy or sad… they can make us feel hungry or relaxed. That’s why it’s important to understand the psychological effects colors might have on an average person, or your client’s target audience. Let’s take a closer look at how color impacts our emotions and behaviors.

Warm colors
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Red, orange and yellow are next to each other on the wheel and are all warm colors. Warm colors often evoke feelings of happiness, optimism and energy. However, yellow and orange can also slightly irritate the eyes and red can increase a person’s appetite.

Think about fast food restaurants like McDonald’s or KFC — most of these places incorporate the color yellow and red. Why? Because they want people to get hungry and then eat quickly.

Red

Red is the warmest and most dynamic of the colors — it triggers opposing emotions. It is often associated with passion and love as well as anger and danger. It can increase a person’s heart rate and make them excited.

If you want to draw attention to a design element, use red. But use it as an accent color in moderation as it can be overwhelming.

Orange

Orange enhances a feeling of vitality and happiness. Like red, it draws attention and shows movement but is not as overpowering. It is aggressive but balanced — it portrays energy yet can be inviting and friendly. Orange is great for a call to action to buy or subscribe to a product.

Yellow

Yellow is perhaps the most energetic of the warm colors. It is associated with laughter, hope and sunshine. Accents of yellow help give your design energy and will make the viewer feel optimistic and cheerful. However, yellow tends to reflect more light and can irritate a person’s eyes. Too much yellow can be overwhelming and should be used sparingly. In design, it is often used to grab attention in an energetic and comforting way.