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Color impacts us in various ways – it is not only that we associate color with certain feelings or sensations, but we also associate the same colors we encounter in different ways depending on the personal situation of the viewer as well as the way in which the color is presented to the viewer.

Here’s a simple test for you to do right now – think of “cold ice” and think of a color to represent this.

Chances are you thought of a shade of blue.

Now the reverse, think of high excitement and euphoria – a real adrenaline rush – and now think of the color to represent it.

Chances are you imagined a red or bright orange color.

We have in-built into our psyches a whole spectrum of colors which are automatically assigned to certain feelings and sensations by our brains.  Ice is blue; the sun is red/orange and the sensations of hot becomes the color red and for cold it is blue – which is how we mark out tap faucets.

Think about the color red.

If you work in finance and accounting, what does the color “red” immediately bring to mind?

Losses – costs – a negative balance?  Something to be avoided.

If you are an engineer, the color “red” will mean danger or heat.

For a medical professional “red” will mean oxygenated – a good thing.

Now consider the color, “green” – for a doctor or nurse, green represents “infection” but for a motorist it means “go”.

Yellow means “substantial” or “highlighted” to a finance professional but to a medical practitioner it will mean “jaundice” and to an engineer or car driver, it will mean “caution”.

“Blue” means poison to chemists, biologists and medical personnel but to a corporate viewer it is likely to evoke stability and reliability.

Color impacts us in numerous ways which we as designers and you as a customer looking for marketing collateral which will sell, must recognize and become attuned to – it is unlikely that a brochure making heavy use of “yellow” and “green” will positively impact on an audience of medical personnel for instance – it will evoke feelings associated with jaundice and infection – hardly feelings to hope for in a reader you are trying to sell a luxury holiday to!