The Meaning Behind Colours and How to Best Use Them

The Meaning Behind Colours and How to Best Use Them

Colours have always managed to affect our minds on a large scale. In fact, the human mind has become so accustomed to the impact of colours that we are by that without even knowing it.

Whether you own a business or you want to make something attractive for occasions, you must know the right way to use colours. This article is going to decipher everything about colours and will help you make the most use of them.

Since in all these cases, experts focus on grabbing the attention of people in the shortest span possible. Be with us for a few more moments as we go on discussing the meaning behind colours. 

The power of colours

Colours have several powers. They have been used by human civilisation for a long time. Colours have been found to impact human mood, behaviour, emotions, etc.

Due to such an intimate connection between the human mind and colours, businesses and institutions have been making fair use of colours for the promotion and other such purposes. Here are the results from some prominent studies on colours.

  • In the field of brand awareness, the use of the right colours leads to increased brand awareness by more than 80%. 
  • The majority of product assessments are based on colours. In fact, some studies have shown that about 90% of those assessments are based on colours. 
  • About 85% of people’s decisions about purchasing something are influenced by colours. 

These are a few reasons why businesses make the right use of colours. And this is not an easy thing because every colour has a specific role and you have to use those colours at proper places to affect people in the right way. Understanding the meaning behind colours is really important in doing it the right way. 

Colour wheel
Colour wheel (Source)

Understanding the meaning behind colours briefly

The paragraphs above are enough to make you familiar with the fundamentals. It is now time to decipher the meaning behind colours. 

Orange

This colour is a proper combination of Red and Yellow. It is highly opted for when you want to portray energy, speed, and activity. This colour is highly noticeable under almost any circumstance.

This is the main reason why the orange colour is used to represent freshness and health in many cases and it serves those purposes quite well. The thing about colours is that there are different meanings associated with different shades of the same colour. 

The same thing is true in the case of Orange. The light tone of orange colour is used to represent sweetness and that is why it appears more conversational on many occasions. And you can opt for intense tones of the same colour in order to represent importance, and encouragement in a particular situation. 

Red

Red is one colour with numerous definitions. That is the main reason why it is among some of the most widely used colours of this age. It has been used to portray danger and other such warning signs for a long time but there are meanings of this colour as well.

In the modern era, red is used to represent sexuality, danger, heat, and sacrifice. Since this colour is highly associated with desire, the brands of this age make the most use of this colour in order to enhance the feeling of desire among the customers. The red colour is highly used to symbolise power, confidence, and strength. 

In fact, red is quite an ironic colour in many ways. On one hand, being the colour of things like blood, fire, etc. it acts as a warning sign while on the other the same colour is highly associated with feelings and emotions. Different cultures have managed to make different meanings out of the same colour.

When you are using colours in a process to promote your products, you must consider the perception of your target audience in order to maximise returns. The meaning behind colours varies a lot in different locations. 

Yellow

Yellow is mostly associated with light for a long time. This is the main reason why it acts as a symbol of positivity. And that positivity can take any form like energy, joyfulness, smile, pleasant, cheerfulness, etc.

Since it is highly visible from a distance, the yellow colour is widely used in life vests, cordoning tapes, and other areas that pose a hazard to human life. But here too, different shades have different meanings. And you must pay close attention to this process because some shades of yellow appear quite cheap and may not work out the way you want in your brand’s promotion. 

Blue

Just like Red, Blue is also a colour with numerous applications. Since it has been associated with a large number of things like art, military, nature, and business, it is one of the most common colours you see on a daily basis.

In many cases, this colour is used to portray authority as you can see the word Police is written in blue in most countries. The modern world of business has a completely new and unique way of using this colour as a symbol of trust and reliability.

Some of the major companies of the world make the right use of this colour e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Samsung, etc. 

Apart from those modern usages, the colour blue is also used for calmness and generates a relaxing feeling among people. We are much more accustomed to this colour as we have been seeing the blue sky since our childhood. Our association with this colour has come a long way.

Apart from other usages, you can use blue as a symbol of professionalism in many ways. In order to make the right use of these colours, you must choose the right shade that suits your purpose. Once you make the wrong choice in this process, you will completely lose the meaning. 

Final words

Understanding the meaning behind colours is not so simple and concise that you can do it with a single article like this. Once you step into this field, you have a lot of things to know and consider. 

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