Websites and the Psychology of the Color Red
I have taken a class in the past for my webmaster certificate. One of the things that was discussed in the class was the psychology of color. Choosing a color in advertising, logos or for websites really makes a difference. It has been a long time since I thought about it and recently saw an article online that brought back some memories. The color I am talking about today is RED, a primary color.
RED can actually mean many things so be careful how you want to be perceived. Is the color RED right for your particular niche? Often we can look to successful campaigns and see who is using that color.
Do you have a food website? If you do, then RED is a good choice. Research has shown that RED will stimulate the appetite. Think of all the restaurants or food products that are using the color RED. Some that I can think of are McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, Red Robin, Heinz Ketchup, Lays Potato Chips and Nabisco to name a few.
Do you have a shopping website? If you do, then RED is a good choice. However choose wisely as RED is usually associated with sale prices and even gets your heart racing for clearance items. If you want to be perceived as a high end shopping site then maybe RED is not for you, but if you want to create an urgency to buy and this price will never be lower type of website, then RED is a good choice. Also RED is used to invoke impulse. Think of all the shopping websites that are using the color red. Some that I can think of are Target, K-Mart, Ace Hardware, Avis Car Rentals, Netflix Movie and many more.
Do you have a website for a product that you want to invoke passion for? Then RED is the right color. Red is the color of roses which represents love. You can use the color RED to invoke passion for any product you are marketing. Think of products that use RED for their logo. Toyota cars, NetFlix Movies, YouTube, Virgin Mobile phones and many more are using the color.
These are just a few examples to get you thinking before choosing a color for your website or logo.
Recent Comments
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That's true! I guess that is why we typically choose a red for a sports car because we want to invoke passion and we believe it when behind the wheel - it makes our heart race for sure.
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Interesting thoughts and impression. In Asia Red is considered very lucky combined with gold.
Yes, I can just visualize the red and gold together for Asia. I didn't know it was meant to be very lucky. Thanks.