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You are here: Home / How To Guides / What does this colour mean?

What does this colour mean?

25 October 2013 By Lee Johnson Leave a Comment

Colour is in everything we see and we subconsciously associate colour with preconceived meanings.

Colour and Psychology

Using the right colours for the right situation is paramount to success when designing web or print media. Designers use colour and their meanings to influence your perceptions especially when creating a company logo and branding.

McDonald’s logo is red and yellow depicting energy (red) and youthfulness (yellow). Starbuck’s logo is green signifying organic, natural and fresh. Amazon’s logo includes orange for friendliness. You may have noticed before how the walls of some doctor’s offices are yellow. This is not a coincidence. Yellow is a relaxing colour and puts you at ease.

Colour can make or break a design. Whether designing a logo or website make sure you know what feeling and atmosphere you will create by using specific colours.

Below are colours and their related meanings to help you promote the qualities you want in your designs. You will note that sometimes more than one colour represents a quality.

What does each colour mean to you?

Red Blue
Allure
Anger
Danger
Daring
Dynamic
Energy
Evocative
Excitement
Hunger
Immediacy
Love
Passion
Power
Sale
Stimulating
Stop
Style
Thrill
Urgency
Warmth
Calmness
Cleanliness
Confidence
Conservative
Credibility
Dignity
Faith
Healing
Integrity
Intellience
Loyalty
Protection
Serenity
Sincerity
Smart
Stability
Tranquility
Trust
Understanding
Wisdom
Green Purple
Balance
Eco-friendly
Envy
Fertility
Freshness
Generosity
Good luck
Growth
Healing
Jealousy
Money
Nature
Neutral
Organic
Relaxation
Renewal
Restful
Revitalizing
Safety
Youth
Creativity
Dignity
Eclectic
Elegant
Enlightenment
Imaginination
Independence
Luxury
Magical
Mystery
Nostalgia
Passion
Professional
Re-balance
Respect
Royalty
Spirituality
Transformation
Wealth
Wisdom
Yellow Brown
Action
Attention
Calming
Caution
Cheer
Cheerfulness
Childish
Cowardice
Creativity
Dishonesty
Energy
Hope
Idealism
Imagination
Joy
Jubilant
Liberal
Light
Optimism
Philosophy
Adaptive
Anticipation
Comfort
Earth
Endurance
Friendship
Genuine
Honesty
Masculinity
Nature
Random
Reactive
Realiability
Rebellious
Rustic
Safety
Simplicity
Structure
Support
Volatile
Pink Orange
Affectionate
Beauty
Calming
Caring
Compassion
Compassionate
Delicacy
Enchanted
Faithfulness
Female
Fidelity
Friendship
Intimate
Love
Romance
Sensitive
Sexuality
Softness
Sympathy
Tenderness
Ambition
Attraction
Autumn
Balance
Creativity
Energy
Enthusiasm
Fascination
Flamboyant
Friendliness
Fun
Happy
Health
Inviting
Retro
Solar
Stand out
Thirst
Wealth
Youthful
Gray Silver
Authority
Calm
Conservative
Elegant
Formal
Futurism
Impartial
Intellect
Maturity
Modesty
Neutral
Quiet
Reliable
Reserved
Security
Stability
Subdued
Strength
Technology
Unconcerned
Fluid
Emotional
Mysterious
Sensitive
Illumination
Reflection
Prestige
Wealth
Feminine
Power
Calm
Soothing
Lifeless
Negativity
Dignity
Responsibility
Maturity
Respectable
Coldness
Sophisticated
Black White
Accurate
Agression
Authority
Bold
Death
Elegance
Emptiness
Evil
Fear
Fierce
Fomality
Inconspicuous
Intense
Mystery
Power
Prestigious
Rich
Sexuality
Strength
Unhappiness
Angelic
Cleanliness
Coolness
Death
Freshness
Goodness
Health
Hope
Indifferent
Innocence
Meditative
Philosophical
Precision
Professional
Purity
Rebirth
Safety
Simplicity
Sterility
Technology

Colours evoke a reaction. The reaction may be conscious or sub-conscious and will influence how you feel about a particular brand. Designers use this to their advantage and attempt to create something that will appeal to a wide audience which will hopefully convert into customers. Designers use a variety of colour tools to help create a colour scheme that works. It is important to bear in mind that not all colours mix well together.

Look around you. Look at the logos and colour schemes on the products near you. How do they make you feel? What do you imagine the company or product to be like based upon their colour? Think about your own logo and branding. Which colours does it use? Do they give the correct feel and image of your business? What do your colours mean to you?

Share this post and your thoughts!

I hope you have found this article useful and now have a few more tools in your web designer’s bag. I would be very interested to hear how you use color so please comment below.

Please share this article on your social media networks.

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Filed Under: How To Guides Tagged With: color, design, effects, mean, meanings, subconcious, tools, useful

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