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The Psychology of Color: What Do Colors “Mean”?

Color choice in design – whether you are painting a bedroom or developing a brand – involves a critical set of decisions that can easily lead your project astray. As in most things, some people have a talent for choosing color – its appropriate use, mixing and matching with other colors, varying hues and shades to create a desired effect – and they can do it intuitively. But for the rest of us, there is help – lots of it – in making color selections based on the security of a more scientific approach, or at least a time-tested one.

Color Choice for Print, Web, Marketing projects
Good color selection for any project is critical to its success.

Please don’t choose a color for your website or print project based on the fact that you like green. It’s great to like green… but it may not be the most effective choice for the brand you are illustrating or effect you are hoping to create. Also, any color on the color wheel has an almost unlimited variation of hue and saturation that can take a warm color into the cool spectrum and a happy color into melancholy! The choice of secondary colors in your palette can also disturb or enhance the effect you are creating and must be selected with all of this in mind. A lot of things to think about – right?

Two great resources to get you thinking about what your color selection might convey: check out Andy Crofford’s infographic at TechKing.com for a beautiful illustration of the color spectrum and how each stop along the way can best be used in design and what it represents.

Another great infographic is from Kissmetrics.com, explaining how color selection affects purchasing among consumers.

Here’s a brief framework of color psychology basics (at least on the positive side – with changes in hue and saturation, these colors can take on societally defined negative connotations as well):

White: clarity, openness, simplicity
Black: power, elegance, mystery
Gray: calm, a conservative approach
Brown: stability, hearth & home
Blue: dependability, security
Purple: wealth, nobility, creativity
Green: balance, rejuvenation, spring
Yellow: happiness, light, energy
Orange: energetic, warm, autumn
Red: passion, aggression, fire

Bear in mind, these are attributes Western society attaches to these colors. Many marketers have found out the hard way that these do not always hold consistent cross-culturally!

A great resource for developing a palette of colors to work with on any project is Adobe Color CC (formerly kuler) – built directly into InDesign and accessed with the Color Theme Tool. You can create various color themes with a simple click on any photo or artwork, add them to your swatches or export them into Creative Cloud Apps.

If your issue is the color paper you are printing on, Neenah Paper has both an app and an online Paper Selector to help.

Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, high impact marketing solutions.
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Rack Cards – 6 Tips to Rack Up Profits

Rack cards are one of the most concise, effective and affordable marketing tools to put information into the hands of your customers. You can maximize their impact by keeping a few key issues of content and design in focus. Include a QR code, and you have bridged the gap between your printed marketing and your online presence.

High Impact, Low Cost, Full Color – The Benefits of Rack Cards

Rack Card Full Color
Full Color, Low Cost, High Impact Rack Cards

The very simplicity and size of rack cards make them a powerful, straightforward marketing tool. Standard rack card size is 4″ x 9″, suitable for easy display in high traffic areas and convenient to pick up and carry. They also fit nicely into a #10 envelope for mailing. Eyecatching color and graphics can work to ensure your content is noticed. Some rack card subject ideas include: company overviews & introductions, mission statements, sales events & promotions, specific product information,  announcements, and informational/educational content. They should also encourage connection to online content and purchasing.

6 Tips for Designing & Printing Rack Cards

The size of rack cards encourages you to be specific about the information you include – keeping content focused, clear and effective. Here are a few tips for creating your layout – some are common to all printing projects, some unique to rack cards:

  1. Maximize use of color and photographs. You only have a second to catch the eye of a consumer passing your rack card display and you will want to make the card something they pick up and enjoy visually. The top portion of the card needs to include either your logo or the title of the card’s content, and an eye-catching colorful image. Maximize use of unique, original photos of your business or subject matter, minimizing use of stock photography when possible. A good tip for inspiration: visit rack card displays and notice the cards that pop out and make you want to pick them up — study those!
  2. Brand your work. Rack cards are a “high touch” marketing tool, and many people will see your card, even if they do not pick it up and carry it with them. It is essential your rack cards are designed to maintain the standards of your brand in both color, quality and content. To select a generic template online that does not match your brand, or to throw together a quick layout may save you money in the short run, but will establish a perception that is confusing and/or negative to many potential clients or customers.
  3. Focus your content. Before you begin to write copy, be clear about the message you want to relate and your target audience. A specific message, directed to a specific type of consumer, increases your card’s chances of being picked up and remembered. Practice defining the subject of your copy in five words or less. If you can’t do it effectively, you need to narrow the focus of your subject matter.
  4. Don’t limit print with low-tech assumptions. Printed pieces are a time-proven means of getting your information into the public. But they can now be the essential link between a hands-on contact and your online marketing. Use QR codes on your cards to drive traffic to online promotions or websites. You can then track exactly who, by clicking their smartphone’s camera, is coming to your site, and judge the effectiveness of your rack card promotion. At the very least, include your web address and direct people to find you online.
  5. Multipurpose. A run of rack cards can and should be used in several different ways to maximize their effect. You can arrange a display at your business and find as many appropriate places as possible in public areas to display your cards. Ask vendors, neighboring businesses, and related but non-competitive businesses if you can leave some cards in their lobby. Also, use the cards for bulk, targeted mailings.
  6. Don’t forget to include the basics… and proofread! You have limited space left after your photos and branding but you need to include the information a potential customer will need to contact you. Include a map (they are easy to get your hands on these days) to your location. If you want to push traffic to your website instead, replace the map with a LARGE version of your web address and a QR code. Phone numbers, fax numbers, mailing address… check and double-check for errors. The amount of waste due to one misplaced character is incalculable.
Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on rack cards, and more useful tips on how to create custom, high impact marketing solutions.