The Importance of Colours in your Design – Part 2

Last time we looked at the significance of Red, Blue, Yellow and Black in your colour schemes for design. This week we’ll take a look at some more colours and how people might interpret their use in graphic design.

Oranger
Made up from a mix between red and yellow, Orange combines the warmth and love of red with the happiness and enthusiasm of yellow. The positivity of the colour orange makes it a perfect colour for promoting social interaction and flowing conversation. Orange is often used subtly in restaurants as a colour to promote social behaviour and help customers to build up an appetite before they eat. The colour orange can polarise opinions though and is sometimes synonymous with some of the décor of the 1970s. An article in Forbes in 1991 suggested that orange often represented good value for money for many brands.
Uses of orange in society these days include the Sainsbury’s brand, traffic cones, and Dutch national sports teams.

Greenr
In the modern world green is closely related to nature and the idea of protecting the planet. Much of the planet’s coverage is green and the colour is heavily linked to preserving this. The colour green, particularly in light and pastel shades is used to promote relaxing environments. As well as nature and preservation green is often related to ideas of growth and new beginnings as it represents the start of new spring seasons. On the downside green is a colour that is used to describe a feeling of envy.
Prominent uses of green in society include Green Peace, BP and the Body Shop.

Purpler
Purple is a deeply spiritual colour and often linked to inspirational dreams about ideology. The colour is rare in nature but one of the strongest colours on a rainbow. Only a few thousand years ago in fact people would have rarely seen the colour at all. Nowadays purple is also heavily related to magical and mysterious powers and attracts those interested in deeper thinking, such as philosophers and psychologists. Culturally the colour has different meanings across the world. It is often associated with decadence, and in many countries has been a colour reserved for popes and emperors. Purple is also a fun and enjoyable colour for children.
Common uses of purple in society include the Dairy Milk & Milka chocolate brands, Barney the Dinosaur and Yahoo.

Silverr
The colour silver is closely associated to feminine power representing sophistication and class as opposed to the wealth and riches of gold. As a metallic colour it often relates to health and wellbeing. As well as being used to represent forward thinking and lighting the way in a hi-Tec world it is used to represent elegance and class. The close relations to grey however mean that it can sometimes be seen as dull, lifeless cold and neutral. Of course, in certain arenas it represents the runner up and second place.
Contemporary use of silver include silverware and jewellery, Honda, Mercedes and Audi brand logos.

Goldr
Finally gold is synonymous with words such as success, wealth, prosperity and victory. It represents wealth and extravagance. Whereas silver relates to feminine power gold is closely related to masculine power, the sun and the gods. Gold is associated with winners and first place. On a spiritual level it is associated with wisdom and self-knowledge. From a negative perspective it can represent over indulgence and associations with the story of Midas.

Some brands which use gold in their advertising include UPS, Lamborghini and Nescafe Gold blend.

It’s clear that the use of different colour can play such a vital role in your branding. Most big brands will use only one or two colours when it comes to their logo as they want aim be associated with a particular feeling. Make sure you consider the impact of colours when planning your logos and graphic designs.

To discuss the use of colour in your next print job, or even to chat through special printing finishes, which can change the way a colour looks give us a call on 01704 893938