#Color wheel psychology picker windows

Blue is the world’s favorite color, so it’s no surprise that it’s used extensively in communications of all kinds.It’s also strongly associated with money and luck. Green is easily processed by the human eye, and is therefore often used to create a sense of relaxation.Yellow attracts focus and grabs the attention of consumers.This is why it’s not often seen outside of logos or accent colors.

Orange can be used for calls to action but can also be irritating if overused.If used too heavily, it can turn some customers away. Red is strongly associated with buying and sales.Here’s a brief rundown of how each hue affects consumer behavior (more detailed information on the use of color for marketing can be found in this infographic from Suyati). When they see a yellow sign in a window, they take a moment to read it because they expect it will include pertinent information (yellow is one of the colors most visible to the human eye, so it naturally draws attention). When they see a red price, they assume that whatever they’re looking at is on sale or clearance. Many of these choices are based more on tradition than hard science, but that in turn has created an expectation among consumers.

#Color wheel psychology picker windows

It’s why signs in shop windows meant to grab passerby attention are often yellow, and sale prices are often denoted in red. Marketers have long relied on color to influence consumers to take certain actions. Effect of Color on Consumer BehaviorĬolor can affect a person’s mood or thoughts, but can it also affect their behavior? Combining cool colors with black can make them more mysterious, while combining them with white can make them more calming and relaxed. Combining those same warm colors with black can make them appear more intense and dramatic. For example, combining warm colors with white can create a design that appears lighter (in terms of weight, not just in terms of overall vibrancy) and carefree. Neutral colors (brown, tan, gray, white, and black) tend to take on the characteristics of the colors they are combined with, though they can also subdue or enhance those effects. Rather than blending into the background, warm colors “pop” on the screen or page and tend towards being in the forefront of a design. They are typically energizing and can add life to a design. Warm colors tend to be invigorating and lively. It’s vital that designers pay attention to how the colors in their palettes work in harmony with each other, and how each color influences the others around it. In many western cultures, white is largely associated with purity and peace, and yet in some Asian countries, white is associated with death and mourning. There are seemingly endless factors that can influence how a color is perceived and how it affects human behavior and thought.Ĭultural differences can also have a profound effect on color meanings. This is one reason why color psychology and color theory is so complex. For example, red (a warm color), can evoke feelings of rage or danger (consider Holly Golightly’s monologue about the “mean reds” in Breakfast at Tiffany’s), while green (a cool color) can evoke feelings of growth and new beginnings. Still, those associations aren’t hard and fast rules. Most often, warm colors (yellow, red, and orange) are considered to be positive colors, while cool colors (blue, green, and purple) are considered to be negative. There’s a common idea out there that some colors are inherently positive or negative. This guide to color and emotions can help designers create and apply an effective palette. And in a worst case scenario, colors can turn people off even when everything else about a design is optimized. That results in a lot of wasted effort and color palettes that aren’t necessarily influencing a desirable response to a product. Color has the single greatest effect on how people perceive designs, yet too many designers do not spend the necessary time and effort to properly create color palettes for their projects. UX designers can utilize color to great effect in order to influence people’s emotions as well as their actual behavior. (He referenced the color green in relation to jealousy at least three times in his works.)

People associate red with anger (or lust), blue with depression, and since at least Shakespeare’s day, green with jealousy. Popular idioms show that people have long associated colors with the emotions they evoke.