Conveying emotions through colors
When designing an application or website, one of the first questions we need to ask ourselves is what emotions do we want to evoke? Different shapes and colors help us convey moods. Bot print ads and commercials created by advertising agencies are good examples of how to convey certain emotions. Ad agencies are good at persuading through suggestions and emotions. One of the main techniques ad agencies use to convey emotion is through colors.
In this article, we will look at 5 main color palettes and how we can use them to convey different moods. The first color we will look at is red. A lot of sports car ads use red cars to suggest a dynamic vehicle. We can also see red in many ads during Valentines Day. Red also tends to evoke feelings of love and wanting. Red is attention getting, dynamic and evokes deep emotions. We can also use different shades of red to create a more subtle mood. Darker reds like burgundy evokes a more formal mood where as brighter reds tend to evoke a more playful mood.
The next color we will look at is yellow. Yellow is attention grabbing and we can see them in caution signs everywhere from street signs to warning labels. Yellow also conveys intelligence. As with red, there are many different shades of yellow that will evoke different emotions. The most common use of yellow is when it it combined with black like in all the caution signs. The yellow and black combination grabs our attention and the black and yellow contrast makes it easy on our eyes to read. A less bright shade of yellow can convey intelligence, joy and calming energy.
We can also see green in every day life. Green is the color of leaves and grass and evokes freshness, renewal and growth. Green also means go to a lot of us as we got used to traffic signs. Green is also a color associated with youth. Too much green can cause people to feel lazy and placid. Too little green can cause feelings of apathy. Dark green tends to represent greed, action and wealth. Yellow-green tens to represent sickness, jealousy and cowardice.
The color blue is popular among large companies and hospitals since it symbolizes loyalty, strength, wisdom and trust. Blue is also the color of the sky and the sea and often evokes a calming feeling. The shades of blue also has it's nuances. A darker blue tends to be associated with knowledge, integrity and professionalism. A lighter blue tends to represent health and tranquility.
The color purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. It is commonly associated with nobility, luxury and ambition. Light purple hues represents femininity. Dark purple hues tend to evoke feelings of sadness and frustration. Too much purple tends to evoke feelings of arrogance. Because the color purple is created by combining a strong warm with a strong cool color, it retains both warm and cool properties. The color purple can boost imagination and creativity, on the other, too much purple can cause moodiness.
Choosing the right color palette will help convey our intended mood for our application. Depending on what we want to convey, color is one of the main ways we can guide users to a more personal experience which will give us an edge in creating a relationship between our application and the user.