Words and pictures are often touted as the best communication methods, but what we don’t realize is that behind, between and all around those words and pictures are colors. Colors tell us a story that words cannot. With color you can create an impact that will become a valuable tool in your branding arsenal. People are visual beings for whom color evokes emotions, memories and associations.
Did you know that almost 85% of people make the purchasing decisions they do based on the color(s) of the product? According to Forbes “Color is powerful because it exudes brand attributes and makes you memorable”. To that end, what are you doing with your Retriever Digital Signage slides to make them stand out in your viewers’ mind? Color improves comprehension, learning and readability, so let’s explore ways you can use color (and it’s psychology) to make your Retriever Digital Signage slides stand out.
- Consider your design aesthetics before you start changing up your colors – choose your overall color theme and then use complimentary colors to enhance your slides. Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%!
- Colors have an emotional impact – soft and soothing pastels should never be on a slide that you want people to notice. Neons and Primary colors grab your attention and tell you to take note. Neutrals blend into the background and have little to no impact.
- Color in harmony – When you choose the colors for your slides, consider that they should look good together. Use bold, primary colors with neutral backgrounds to capture attention. Tinted colors (color mixed with white) if your organization deals with personal care or hospitality. Making a news announcement? Choose lettering that has a shaded effect to draw your readers interest.
- Variety – Once you’ve decided on your over all color palate, branch out. Having a theme is great, but 17 slides on your tv signage with the same background color will be like a never-ending blend of the same message. For instance, a spa using Retriever Digital Signage would want to keep their slides more peaceful in nature, but for slides that advertise a sale, they would want to switch from a tinted color to a pure color, even within the same color palate.
Designing with color has the potential to take your digital signage from ho-hum to Wow! Be wise with the choices and palates you choose and you can elevate your level of communication. Just as black and white movies are no longer what brings in the audiences to a theater, people don’t get excited about plain black and white text on Retriever Digital Signage. Color is a key in audience interest and participation, so in closing here are the common associations for colors in our Western society:
- Black – the color of authority and power, stability and strength. It is also the color associated with intelligence and is a serious color that evokes strong emotions; it is easy to overwhelm people with too much black.
- White – the color of cleanliness and purity.
- Gray – associated with the practical, timeless, middle-of-the-road, solid things in life. Too much gray leads to feeling mostly nothing; but a bit of gray will add that rock solid feeling to your product.
- Red – If you want to draw attention, use red. It is often where the eye looks first.
- Pink – the most calming of all colors and studies show that the color drains energy and calms aggression.
- Blue – associated with steadfastness, dependability, wisdom and loyalty.
- Green – the traditional color of peace, harmony, comfortable nurturing, support and well paced energy.
- Yellow – A person surrounded by yellow feels optimistic because the brain actually releases more serotonin (the feel good chemical in the brain) when around this color. It is associated with optimism but be careful with yellow; when intense, it is the color of flames and studies show babies cry more in (bright) yellow rooms and tempers flare more around that color too.
- Orange – the color tied most to fun times, happy and energetic days, warmth and organic products.
- Purple – Use purple most carefully to lend an air of mystery, wisdom, and respect.
- Brown – This color is most associated with reliability, stability, and friendship. It too is associated with things being natural or organic.