Color has a powerful subconscious effect on every part of our lives and understanding color meanings in business is essential when you are establishing a sign for your business. We don’t often realize the impact of our color choices but this can be an invaluable tool to get the best color choices as possible. Here is what the main colors mean for your sign and for your business.
Design Using Red
You can’t get much bolder than red! Businesses such as restaurants, technology, cars and retail use this color to draw on customers sense of urgency to buy right away, especially if a sale isn’t lasting long.
- Action, power
- Passion, desire,
- Strength, courage
- Attention-getting
- Warm, assertive and confident
Design Using Orange
Orange can be used to suggest adventure, fun and optimism. It encourages sales in restaurants, cafes, bistros and diners as it stimulates appetite and conversation making patrons sit longer and spending more money.
- Adventurous, risk-taking, vibrant
- Stimulation to the senses
- Affordable
- Warm, sociable, optimistic
- Creative flair
- Warm-hearted, agreeable and informal
Design Using Yellow
Yellow evokes feelings of optimism, clarity, and warmth calling customers to want what you have. This color encourages customer to have fun and is great to have as a starburst or call to action.
- Cheerful, happy, playful, fun
- Optimistic, uplifting, illuminating
- Confidence, originality, creativity
- Communication of new ideas
Design Using Green
Green is beneficial for anything to do with health and healing, money, financial businesses and where you need people to see both sides of a situation as it aids in clear thinking and decision making.
- Growth and vitality, renewal and restoration
- Nature lover and family oriented
- Sympathetic, compassionate and nurturing
- Adaptable and flexible
- Encourages “Social Joining” of clubs and other groups, a need to belong
Design Using Blue
Blue is a color that evokes the feeling of calmness, reliability and a sense of dependency and trust. Blue signage creates a trusting relationship between you and your customers.
- Loyalty, trust and integrity
- Reliability and responsibility
- Conservatism and perseverance
- Authority, devotion and contemplation
- Peace and calm
Design Using Purple
Purple used on signage suggests creativity, wisdom and luxury. It can also evoke nostalgia and works well for businesses that have rare items.
- Unusual and individual, creative and inventive
- Mystery, fantasy and the future
- Royalty, luxury, education and elegance
Design Using Gold
Business marketing items of high perceived value will benefit from the use of gold. Gold combined with dark red, dark blue or dark green imparts a message of quality, wealth and prestige.
- Wealth and prosperity, abundance
- Value, quality, luxury, expensive, opulence
Design Using Silver
Silver reflects quality craftsmanship and artistry and would benefit businesses offering a first-class quality service or product or those selling exquisite items to the prestige market. Appropriate for the hi-tech, innovative computer market and scientific and technological companies.
- Modern, sleek, high-tech, scientific,
- Illusion, imagination
- Sophisticated
- Wealth and riches
Design Using Black
Using Black is seen as cutting edge and trendy. It can be used to create dramatic effect with combined with bright, rich, jewel colors such as red, emerald, cobalt, yellow magenta and orange. Using too much black can be intimating and unfriendly, so use wisely.
- Authority, power, control
- Strong, contained, Formal
- Seductive, mysterious
Design Using White
White is the best colors to use as the background color for signs. It allows all other colors to reflect from it and makes all colors except yellow and pastels to be very readable. It is the color of purity, innocence, clarity and cleanliness. Companies trying to convey health and hygiene and sanitation use this color.
- Innocence
- Purity, cleanliness
- Simplicity
- Immaculate and neat
- Self-sufficient, pristine and open
Design Using Gray
Gray is suitable for legal and financial businesses to suggest power and control. It is neutral and serious and can be combined with almost any other color to impart different message and to reach different target markets.
- Intellect, knowledge, wisdom, security
- Perceived as long-lasting, and classic
- Sleek, professional, mature
- Refined, dignified, conservative
- Neutral, contemporary
Design Using Brown
Brown is connected to the outdoors and down to earth activities and is suitable for businesses promoting outdoor products and services. Durability and credibility as well as homely and comfortable are positive messages given by the use of brown. Neatness, openness, approachability and friendliness are also associated with brown.
- Practical, Earthy and down-to-earth
- Durable
- Stability
- Homely, comfortable, warm
- Wholesome, natural and organic