The color orange in advertising means... The meaning of color in advertising

Color doesn't just have a significant impact on visual perception. Color is a tool that is widely used in marketing. Numerous studies confirm that colors have an impact on consumers. Different colors, stimulating parts of the brain, provoke different emotions: from excitement to calm. Using this psychological factor, brands have learned to attract their target audience. How do you use color in marketing?

How color affects a person

Red

• Stimulates appetite, often used by fast foods.
• Creates a sense of urgency, urgency.
• Often used during full sales.
• Associated with movement, emotional excitement and passion.
• Instantly attracts attention.
• Physically stimulates the body, causes nerve impulses, increases blood pressure and accelerates the heart rate.

Blue

• Preferred color for men.
• Associated with calm, water and reliability.
• Creates a feeling of security and trust in the brand.
• Restrains appetite, stimulates productivity.
• The most popular color for offices and conservative brands.
• It has a calming effect on the mind and causes a feeling of peace.
• Children associate this color with growing up.

Green

• Associated with health, tranquility and nature.
• Also associated with money, wealthy people or successful brands.
• Used to decorate store interiors and promote relaxation.
• Often used to promote environmental responsibility.
• Green is associated with harmony, promotes balance between the body and emotions, and gives determination.

Violet

• Associated with loyalty, wisdom and respect.
• Stimulates the parts of the brain responsible for solving certain problems and creativity.
• Often used in the cosmetics industry, especially for anti-aging products.
• Popular with creative and original brands and services.

Yellow

• Instills optimism and cheerfulness
• Used to attract impulsive buyers and window-watchers.
• Stimulates the logical centers of the brain, causing enthusiasm.
• If used too often, it may cause anxiety.

Black

• Associated with power, strength, strength, stability.
• Often used as a symbol of intelligence.
• Used as a way to reduce the size of something.
• Excessive inclusions of black have a depressing effect on a person.

Grey

• A symbol of practicality, constancy and solidarity.
• Excessive presence often makes something feel unimportant.
• Gray somewhat smoothes out the emotions associated with age crisis, depression or death.

White

• White is a feeling of immaculateness, purity and safety. Neutrality.
• Absence of something specific (used when there is no need to evoke any specific emotions provoked by certain colors).
• It can serve as a signal for a creative impulse.

Correct Application of Color Theory

Contrast selection

Contrast reduces visual stress and focuses the user's attention on specific objects.

One-stop fashion

1. Choosing strong, complementary colors makes it easier to read
2. A color scheme in which a particular element is the lightest helps prevent eye strain by focusing attention.
3. Lack of contrast between a design element and the background inevitably leads to eye strain.
4. The current design trend is the background in a very light color scheme, the text and other elements are dark. Or vice versa...

Color resonance defines the mood of your web design

1. Choosing lighter colors conveys the brand's energy to users, making it easier to resonate with potential customers.
2. If the site is filled with content and you want readers to focus on it, it is better to choose a more neutral or dark color scheme, putting the user at ease.

Different color schemes - different effect

Black and white

Use one color in different variations, adding shades and midtones as necessary. An option that is gentle on the eyes. It is used when the design of a product or website is made in the tradition of minimalism.

Complementary

Use two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. This approach, like the previous one, does not create an unnecessary load on visual perception. Often this scheme is used by the printing press for greater color variety.

Tricolor

Harmonizing effect; The scheme is popular among web designers. It is worth resorting to if you need a powerful impact from the visual component of the website.

What results can you achieve using color in marketing?

Brand color influences consumers when purchasing products

• 3% pay attention to the texture of the product
• 1% of consumers make purchasing decisions based on smell or sound
• 93% focus on appearance

Color may be the only reason to make a purchase

• 84.7% of customers believe that color is a brand’s “trump card”
• 52% do not return to a store if they do not like its aesthetic component.
• 80% of buyers believe that color has an impact on a brand's popularity

Color and large corporations

McDonald's

Red and yellow are the colors that children love more than others.

Red

It is used as an appetite stimulant and a sense of urgency, thereby forcing the client to quickly place an order and immediately leave the catering establishment.

Yellow

A life-affirming, optimistic color. The yellow “M” symbol promotes a positive perception of the McDonald’s brand and serves as a graphic complement to the “I’m lovin’ it” slogan.

Mascot

The corporation's mascot, Ronald McDonald, is a clown in yellow and red clothes and is a source of joyful emotions for children.

The color combination can also stimulate consumption and speed up customer turnover.

Starbucks

Green

The only world famous brand whose main color is green.

Mermaid

The image of a mermaid as a logo is another reason for associations with nature .

Relaxing effect

Promotes stress relief and relaxation. Green is an invitation to drink a cup of coffee and relax.

Fanta Orange

Orange

Life-affirming and warm, it serves as a lure for impulsive buyers who are attracted by bright colors.

Fanta

The manufacturer is experimenting with ingredients, trying to achieve greater flavor diversity. Therefore, in the future we can expect the assortment of Fanta drinks to appear in all sorts of colors of the rainbow spectrum.

Favourite drink

There are other flavor and color variations of this drink, but it is Fanta Orange that generates up to 70% of total financial revenue.

Interesting, which is why people are designed in such a way that they do not pay attention to pale colors, but bright colors will immediately attract the eye.

What should advertising be like?

Arouse desires and also attract attention to yourself. It is her responsibility to present the product in the best possible light in order to entice the potential buyer to purchase a particular product.

It is important to know about the influence of color in a particular country

For this type of advertising, such as print, color is the most convincing element and, along with the slogan, has an important function. When studying the influence of color in advertising, they take into account the national characteristics of color perception. Because for one country, color can inspire and encourage action, while in another country it drives people to despair.

From all of the above, we can conclude that marketers and other advertising agents you should know exactly where and what a certain color will mean.

When psychologists conducted research, what does a specific color mean in different countries, then the following was established:

The meaning of flowers in different countries

• green: in India and the USA - hope, in China - luxury;
• red: in the USA - love, in China - luck, in the Russian Federation - aggression and struggle;
• blue: in the USA - faith, in China - mourning, in the Russian Federation - peace;
• black: in the USA - a difficult situation, in China - honesty;
• white: in the USA - peace, in China - mourning;
• yellow: in the USA - prosperity, in the Russian Federation - separation, in Syria - death and mourning;
• purple: in India and Brazil - grief and sadness.

You should consider in more detail the use of color in commercials, slogans and other advertising.

Pink color

It will be effective when promoting products to the market such as children's products and sweet foods.

Red color

For Europeans, the color is too intense, so it is better to use it minimally. It will look good with gray. In any case, it will attract all attention to itself and evoke more than one emotion at once.

Signs on the road indicating a ban always attract attention, and the red color in advertising will encourage you to take a closer look at the product.

This is why there are a larger number of gamblers in the red halls of the casino than in other halls.

Red is also well suited for decorating car showrooms and various food establishments, as it stimulates appetite.

Orange color

It is not recommended for use in large open spaces because, like red, it is an stimulating shade. Well used in advertising some technical equipment.

Yellow

It has the ability to remain in people's memory for a long time. When yellow has a predominant hue of gold, then it goes straight connection with power and a feeling of complete superiority.

Green color

It is preferable to combine it with other colors, since this shade itself brings calmness, relaxation and can create a somewhat inactive atmosphere, which is unacceptable in advertising.

Blue and blue colors

If marketers often use blue shades when they need to launch advertising for medicines, then the blue shade will be most preferable, since along with calming, it carries a call to action.

Purple

It has a strong impact on mental condition people, disintegrates to some extent, so it is recommended to use it only in small areas and in combination with other shades.

Beige color

Represents moderation. Suitable for this type of advertising: “traditional choice”, “standard choice”.

Turquoise

This shade often acts as an additional addition to another, primary color, due to its coldness for independent participation in it.

Black color

It seems to be separated from other colors, but despite the fact that in Western countries it is a symbol of mourning, the shade of black can be a symbol of expensive, elite things, full of grace and originality.

America and Europe have allocated a special separate section dealing with the selection of colors for proposal items.

Marketers deal with attitudes towards color based on nationality, and also study stereotypes of thinking and certain traditions.

© V.I. Shuvanov

Light and color are essential for effective advertising. Psychologists believe that light challenges a person and calls him to action. Shades of lighting evoke different moods in him. The combination of various lighting elements should provide such a play of light and shadow as to help show the product in a more favorable light, and vice versa, to weaken the perception of its least effective attributes.

Psychological studies have shown that a store window with lighting of 800 lux aroused the interest of 5 out of 100 passersby, with illumination of 1,200 lux, 20 people “lingered,” and illumination of 2,000 lux attracted the attention of 25 passers-by. It has been established: the weaker the light source, the thicker the shadow it causes, which results in the visitor’s fatigue in his efforts to examine the light and dark sides of the advertised product.

When preparing a poster, booklet or other printed advertisement, it is very important to think through the design well: position the text correctly, find an effective picture and choose the color scheme against which the product advertisement will be perceived best.

According to the results obtained in the course of numerous psychological experiments, scientists concluded that color in a certain way influences a person’s perception of body weight, room temperature and assessment of the distance of an object.

Thus, red, yellow, orange colors visually bring the object closer, increasing its volume and, as it were, “warming up” it. Light blue, blue, violet, black - visually move the object away, make it smaller and “cool” it. Therefore, when choosing a particular color to advertise a product, you should evaluate it in terms of these parameters.

The perception of color depends on the emotional state of a person. This is precisely what explains the fact that a person, depending on his emotional state, is attracted to some colors, indifferent to others and does not accept others. These patterns were discovered by Max Luscher in the middle of the 20th century. In creating his color test, Luscher proceeded from the fact that human perception of color was formed as a result of lifestyle and interaction with the environment over a long period of historical development.

At first, human life was determined mainly by two factors that were not subject to arbitrary change: night and day, light and darkness. Night meant conditions when active work could stop. The day required active action - searching for food, basic arrangement. Hence, the dark blue color was associated with the peace of the night, and yellow with the sunny day and its worries. The red color was reminiscent of blood, flame and related situations that required high mobilization and activity.

The attitude towards color was determined by the nature of life activity of many generations, gaining stability, and any manifestation of life activity, in turn, was always accompanied by one or another emotional state. Therefore, the attitude towards color has always been and remains emotional.

In addition, Luscher made another important conclusion for the advertising industry - color not only causes an appropriate reaction in a person depending on his emotional state, but also shapes his emotions in a certain way.

Semantics of color

Red - instills determination, is able to evoke in a person a strong desire to perform one or another action and, in relation to the topic of our conversation, to make an energetic effort and buy, for example, the advertised product. This color, like no other, can quickly attract attention and fix the eye on the subject of advertising. The semantics of this color is “attention, don’t pass by, act for the sake of action: boldly, thoughtlessly, give in to your first feelings.” The color red also has a certain sexual charge. This is especially necessary to take into account those who advertise products addressed to men, for whom red has always been a symbolic color.

However, do not overestimate this color: it is good in moderation. Thus, a small detail of an ad or catalog highlighted in red will be appropriate and will immediately attract attention, while its excessive use can cause aggressiveness and even irritation with the subject of the advertisement in the consumer.

Orange - helps to induce a surge of vitality, gives an optimistic tone. The ancients considered it the color of health and creativity. This color is best used in advertising medicines, children's products, as well as health and education services. Orange color adds activity, but at the same time gives a feeling of inner balance and spiritual harmony.

Yellow - sets up communication skills. This is the color of openness and sociability. It also helps to bring balance to runaway emotions, find inner peace, and calm emotional unrest. In addition, yellow can “endow” an object with intelligence, therefore, for example, advertising of high-tech products is best done in yellow. This color will be successful in advertising children's products, services of travel agencies, as well as advertising and PR agencies.

Green - softens everything, relieves the severity of experiences. This color has a healing, relaxing effect. And it will be appropriate and effective in advertising medicines, water purification systems, dental clinics and pharmacies, veterinary hospitals, health and environmental protection centers.

Pink - an excellent assistant in the field of personal relationships: it enhances feelings, makes us more attentive, affectionate and sensitive. The range of use of this color can be the widest: from advertising perfumes, products for women and children to the services of marriage agencies and family centers.

Blue - also tunes in to the area of ​​feelings, but more sublime, more platonic than mundane. This is the color of friendly affection, kinship of souls. Blue is the color of peace and universal harmony. It makes it possible to feel an invisible connection with the Universe and is able to give the subject a holistic appearance, and the issue or matter - globality and a favorable outcome.

Blue - helps you concentrate on what’s most necessary: ​​don’t get lost in details, don’t get scattered. A blue detail in a catalog or advertising brochure will immediately attract attention and, unlike red, will never cause negative emotions.

Violet - the color of inner concentration. This color promotes internal deepening: it will help you abstract from everything unnecessary at the moment and concentrate on the main problem. Another interesting detail is that purple stimulates the brain well and promotes solving creative problems. It is no coincidence that purple is so loved by creative people. Therefore, if you are advertising a product with which you want to emphasize the creativity of the product or are focused on providing services to the creative elite, a detail in purple will be simply necessary!

Black - the color of self-immersion: it helps to isolate yourself from everything, isolate yourself and concentrate on solving a particular problem. At the same time, this color can induce melancholy and despondency. In black comes a feeling of loneliness and isolation from the outside world. That is why it is better not to use this color in print advertising. This recommendation, of course, does not apply to fonts and tables. It is in relation to them that, with rare exceptions, it is better not to experiment.

White- the color of complete openness, readiness to perceive the world in all its diversity. This color is also good because it does not carry any discomfort. One has only to note that the mono-use of this color in print advertising can create a neutral effect when the advertising consumer is simply informed of information about the product, without establishing any emphasis or priorities.

It is interesting that each country has its own attitude towards color, and even has its own national and cultural specifics, which must be taken into account when developing an advertising campaign in a particular country.

In America, red is associated with love, yellow with prosperity, green with hope, blue with loyalty, white represents purity, calm, peace, and black is a symbol of complexity and emergency. In Austria the most popular is green color, in Bulgaria - dark green and brown, in Pakistan - emerald green, and in Holland - orange and blue.

In general, the closer to the East, the more importance is attached to the symbolism of color. Thus, in China, red means kindness and courage, black means honesty, and white, unlike the symbol of purity and holiness generally accepted by Europeans, is associated with meanness and deceit. Therefore, when developing an advertising campaign, say, in China, you need to choose the right color scheme, otherwise there is a chance of being misunderstood.

As for Russia, our favorite color has always been red, which from time immemorial has been associated with wealth and love. Until now, the key colors that decorate the Russian flag remain red, white and blue (a symbol of purity and spiritual improvement).

The symbolism of color in Japan is interesting, although here everything is somewhat more complicated due to the fact that much depends on the form of the color image. Very interesting data regarding the influence of color and graphic solutions on human emotions. It is generally accepted that vertical or horizontal straight lines are associated with calm, clarity and even solidity, while curved lines are associated with grace and ease. However, this is only true under certain conditions. For example, the more frequent the vertical and horizontal lines and the more contrasting the colors chosen to depict them, the more unpleasant sensations they produce.

Simple and symmetrical forms are “read” much faster than others. The most difficult to perceive are fantastic, sophisticated forms, devoid of obvious associations. They attract attention, but can cause an unpredictable attitude.

It has been established that the symbolism of the reflection of the form corresponds to real sensations. For example, a zigzag line “^” conveys the impression of a sharp change, concentration of force, rapid release of energy. This is how all nations graphically depict lightning. Unbalanced forms cause feelings of discomfort; a person strives to mentally complete and complete unfinished forms.

The strong emotional impact of certain shapes and color combinations was noticed and mastered in ancient times. Color and shape were purposefully used for psychotherapeutic purposes. The perception of color and emotional attitude towards it depends mainly on the emotional state of a person. It turned out that certain emotional states of a person correspond to his stable relationship to color and color combinations: one color is preferred, another does not evoke any special emotions, and a third is completely rejected.

Another important means of psychological influence in advertising is color (colour). Color affects the position of a product on the market so seriously that it is used as a powerful tool in competition. The color scheme of an advertising video or poster is no less important when positioning and promoting a product than the company logo or advertising slogan.

When you see good advertising films, leaf through booklets, look at posters, you cannot help but pay attention to the completeness and expressiveness of color and spatial solutions. The impact of color on a person has long been of concern not only to advertisers, but also to doctors, teachers, and designers. Chemistry developed, and the language could no longer keep up with the colors. To name them, it was necessary to borrow words from the world of plants and animals, geographical names and even proper names. This is how “Prussian blue”, the color of “sea wave”, “ivory”, “coffee with milk” appeared.

Each area of ​​human activity develops its own nomenclature of color terms only for specialists: horse colors - bay, roan, brown; artists' paints - ocher, umber, etc. A person sees pure colors, exactly the same as in nature - only green color is reflected from a green spot in a picture, and only yellow is reflected from yellow. All colors have additional properties that are inherent in them or attributed to the way in which they are used. For example, green – “fresh, natural”; red – “stimulating”; beige – “gray-haired”; crimson – “full and rich”; black – “very elegant”, etc.

The perception of color is associated not only with a person’s physiological capabilities, but also with his genetic memory. Hence the different roles and functions of color in different cultures. So, in Europe, black is a symbol of sadness and mourning, and in Japan, on the contrary, joy. Therefore, it is necessary to seriously study the symbolism of color and the peculiarities of its perception by various national and demographic groups.

Color itself often creates a certain image for a product. A very popular color is gold, which denotes the highest grade, high value and high prestige.

There are stereotypes of color perception: almost without any exception, colors affect a certain way nervous system, and then on feelings. Associations regarding colors initially arise in a person at the subconscious level, but gradually, with their repetition, a person begins to become aware of them. And then the color is perceived symbolically.

The color must fully correspond to the quality of the product, its areas of application and consumer psychology. Color can make objects appear larger or smaller. The existing classification of colors primarily distinguishes hue, saturation and brightness. In addition, a distinction is made between the actual and visible color of an object. Actual coloring is the color shade of an advertising object, any figures, spaces or planes, and visible coloring is the visual perception of color under specific conditions, depending on the lighting, background and distance of the advertised object.

Choice color shades, their saturation and brightness allows the artist to focus the attention of viewers on the most important component of the advertising message. In most cases, this is possible thanks to an asymmetrical grouping, the basis of which is the necessary formal balance between some small but important form of address and several larger but less important forms. This balance is achieved through a rational, organized transition of colors from one to another or by highlighting essential element advertising appeal with intense coloring.

The perception of color depends on the form in which a particular color is contained. One form emphasizes the meaning of a color, while another form dulls it. A rich color in a pointed form enhances the inherent properties of the color (for example, yellow in a triangle). "Soft" colors enhance their impact when round shapes(for example, blue in a circle).

• between the colors themselves (for example, red - blue - yellow, purple - green - orange);
• between cold and warm colors, for example, contrasting cold colors (light green, blue, light purple) with warm colors (yellow, light orange, orange, red);
• sharp contrast (for example, red-orange with light green);
• additional contrast (contrast of diametrically opposite colors, for example, yellow - purple, blue - orange, red - green);
• qualitative contrast (for example, contrasting saturated colors with unsaturated ones, pure colors with mixed ones);
• quantitative contrast (for example, contrasting large planes with small ones). More precisely, it is a contrast of proportion, thanks to which the effect of all known contrasts can be changed;
• simultaneous use of various contrasts.

• promoting maximum assimilation of information;
• strengthening argumentation and appeal;
• stimulation of emotions and associations;
• facilitating recognition and organizing advertising objects, advertising media, etc.;
• highlighting the most important parts of printed materials and distributing various announcements.

The advertiser also needs to take into account the fact that color has varying degrees of memorability. The color yellow is especially well remembered, which is why it is widely used in posters and billboard advertising. To enhance perception, a contrasting color, black, is added to yellow. This combination causes an unconscious feeling of anxiety, danger, is associated with bees, wasps and exacerbates the perception of the advertising message.

Color in advertising, under the influence of psychological, social and cultural factors inherent in certain segments of the consumer market, will make it possible to create advertising products with enhanced impact. Thus, in various advertising compositions it is important to provide for color nuances, proportionality and distribution of colors. In this case, the color intensity of the component being determined should not be repeated in another part of the composition. The famous French sociologist and philosopher J. Baudrillard believes that in advertising, paint becomes one of the constituent elements of the overall solution to the appearance of a thing and its advertising presentation.

When composing printed advertising messages, you should remember that color plays big role in the recognition of advertisements. A newspaper ad printed in a second color is read by 22% more people than one printed in black and white. It has been experimentally established that the second color is effective only if there are no more than eight such advertisements on an A2 page. When using three colors, the number of readers increases to 68%.

Occupies a special place color fashion, which sometimes predetermines new trends. For example, the development of some winter sports led to the spread of "luminophors" first in sportswear, then in advertising. US Color Association (Color Association of US) was created back in 1915. Today, in particular, it analyzes and develops recommendations for the use of color combinations in fashion and interior design, and predicts changes in color preferences.

Interesting associative color orientation, color perceptions(Table 9.1). Thus, in different countries, color has different associations among people. For example, Eskimos distinguish up to 200 shades white, and many European corporate styles created and implemented based on the color white would fall apart for them

Table 9.1

Color perceptions characteristic of the Western tradition

and into disconnected fragments. The Caduveo Indians call yellow and green the color of the parrot. Americans associate red with love, yellow with prosperity, green with hope, blue with fidelity, white represents purity, calm, peace, and black is a symbol of difficulties and emergency situations.

In Austria, the most popular color is green; in Bulgaria – dark green and brown; in Pakistan – emerald green; in Holland - orange and blue; in Egypt - blue and green, Iraq - light red, gray and blue; Ireland – green, Mexico – red, white, green; Syria - indigo, red, green. The closer to the East, the more importance is attached to the symbolism of color. Thus, in China, red means kindness and courage, black means honesty, and white means meanness and deceit (it’s not for nothing that all the negative characters in folk historical dramas are hidden under white masks). Color symbolism is also strong in India. For example, an Indian woman puts on red clothes at the first time of marriage, since this color symbolizes love. By the way, it was India that gave the world an ingenious combination - white, red, blue, which is used in many national flags. Dominant colors and combinations that should be avoided: in Brazil - purple and yellow (symbol of disease); Iraq – olive green (the color of Islam); China - a combination of white, blue and black (signs of mourning); Peru - purple; Syria - yellow, etc.

There is such a thing as “state colors”, or “primary colors”. It indicates those colors that are strictly located on the flag and have their own historically defined meaning.

The perception of color in Russian symbolism is interesting. Thus, the famous scientist V. Trutovsky proved that the “tricolor” of the Russian flag (white, blue and red) established in 1699 by Peter I (white, blue and red) is more consistent with the spirit of Russians than the color of the flag approved in 1858 by Alexander II (black, yellow and white) or red Soviet banner. Black color has always been in Rus' a symbol of humility, sorrow, death, detachment from worldly vanity. Yellow is associated with the sun, gold, and Rus' grew up on silver. But white has always been a favorite; it is a color that symbolizes spiritual and physical purity, the attire of brides. The truly popular color is red. In Russian, it has a number of synonyms - red, scarlet, worm-like, scarlet, as well as a lot of shades and means beautiful, most beautiful, solemn, ceremonial. Red is the color of Russian folklore (decoration of wooden utensils, houses, women's suits and so on.). The blue color and its shades - blue, azure - were also widespread in Ancient Rus'. It is the color of the heavenly, the religious; it is used in the home (on stove tiles, earthenware, enamel, sewing, etc.). Finally, in Orthodox symbolism: red is the blood of the Lord, white is holy vestments, blue is heaven. The combination of white-blue-red speaks of the power and greatness of the state.

It is very important that the same person’s attitude towards color can change throughout the day. However, it can remain stable for months. The thing is that the perception of color and the emotional attitude towards it depends mainly on the emotional state of a person. The state has changed - the attitude towards color has changed. So, one color is preferred, another does not evoke any special emotions, and the third is completely rejected. These patterns were discovered, studied and described by the Swiss psychologist Max Luscher in the middle of the 20th century. When creating his color test, Luscher proceeded from the following considerations: human perception of color was formed as a result of lifestyle and interaction with the environment over a long period of historical development. Thus, dark blue was associated with the peace of the night, and yellow with a sunny day and its worries; the red color reminded of blood, flames and related situations that required high mobilization and activity.

Thus, the attitude towards color was determined by the nature of life activity of many generations, gaining stability, and any manifestation of life activity is always accompanied by one or another emotional state. Therefore, the attitude towards color is emotional. A person, depending on his emotional state, is inclined towards some colors, indifferent to others and does not accept others. Moreover, this choice depends on the type, condition, degree of its severity and individual characteristics of the person. Luscher believed that his “test” was universal and “worked” equally well in different countries. Luscher's discovery is directly related to advertising. He argued that color not only causes an appropriate reaction in a person depending on the emotional state, but in a certain way shapes the person’s emotions themselves (and we know that 90% of purchases are made on emotions). Open up to the emotions you are about to appeal to and the results will manifest very quickly.

Psychology of form

Surface and space do not exist outside of color. It is worth citing some interesting data regarding the influence of color and graphic solutions on human emotions. It is generally accepted that vertical or horizontal straight lines are associated with calm, clarity and even solidity, while curved lines are associated with grace and ease. The more frequent the vertical and horizontal lines and the more contrasting the colors chosen to depict them, the more unpleasant - even dizzy - they cause sensations.

Simple and symmetrical forms are “read” much faster than others. The most difficult to perceive are fantastic, sophisticated forms, devoid of obvious associations. They attract attention, but can cause the unpredictable. Unbalanced forms give a feeling of discomfort; a person, as it were, strives to mentally complete and complete unfinished forms.

Various shapes geometric shapes have great importance in the formation of images in advertising (Fig. 9.1).

The skillful use of color and shape in advertising helps to visually represent the selected product position. Thus, gray and burgundy are the colors of moderation, solidity, red color symbolizes willpower, activity, offensiveness, aggressiveness. Blue color is associated with passivity, sensitivity, calmness. For example, by changing the color of the packaging to blue, Pepsi-Cola achieved recognition in the Russian market trademark increased by 10% and reached 73% (Fig. 9.2).

Rice. 9.1.

Rice. 9.2.PepsiCo color and shape symbolism

The combination of various lighting elements should provide such a play of light and shadow as to help show the product in a more favorable light, and vice versa, to weaken the perception of its least effective attributes.

Psychological studies have shown that a store window with lighting of 800 lux aroused the interest of 5 out of 100 passersby, with illumination of 1,200 lux, 20 people “lingered,” and illumination of 2,000 lux attracted the attention of 25 passers-by. It has been established: the weaker the light source, the thicker the shadow it causes, which results in the visitor’s fatigue in his efforts to examine the light and dark sides of the advertised product.

When preparing a poster, booklet or other printed advertisement, it is very important to think through the design well: position the text correctly, find an effective picture and choose the color scheme against which the product advertisement will be perceived best.

According to the results obtained in the course of numerous psychological experiments, scientists concluded that color in a certain way influences a person’s perception of body weight, room temperature and assessment of the distance of an object.

So, red, yellow, orange colors visually bring the object closer, increasing its volume and, as it were, “warming” it. Light blue, blue, purple, black- visually move the object away, make it smaller and “cool” it. Therefore, when choosing a particular color to advertise a product, you should evaluate it in terms of these parameters.

Semantics of color

Red- instills determination, is able to evoke in a person a strong desire to perform one or another action and, in relation to the topic of our conversation, to make an energetic effort and buy, for example, the advertised product. This color, like no other, can quickly attract attention and fix the eye on the subject of advertising. The semantics of this color is “attention, don’t pass by, act for the sake of action: boldly, thoughtlessly, give in to your first feelings.” The color red also has a certain sexual charge. This is especially necessary for those who advertise products aimed at men, for whom red has always been a symbolic color.

However, do not overestimate this color: it is good in moderation. Thus, a small detail of an ad or catalog highlighted in red will be appropriate and will immediately attract attention, while its excessive use can cause aggressiveness and even irritation with the subject of the advertisement in the consumer.

Orange- helps to induce a surge of vitality, gives an optimistic tone. The ancients considered it the color of health and creativity. This color is best used in advertising medicines, children's products, as well as health and education services.

Yellow Orange color adds activity, but at the same time gives a feeling of inner balance and spiritual harmony. - sets up communication skills. This is the color of openness and sociability. It also helps to bring balance to runaway emotions, find inner peace, and calm emotional unrest. In addition, yellow can “endow” an object with intelligence, therefore, for example, advertising of high-tech products is best done in yellow.

Green This color will be successful in advertising children's products, services of travel agencies, as well as advertising and PR agencies.

Pink- softens everything, relieves the severity of experiences. This color has a healing, relaxing effect. And it will be appropriate and effective in advertising medicines, water purification systems, dental clinics and pharmacies, veterinary hospitals, health and environmental protection centers. from advertising of perfumery products, products for women and children to the services of marriage agencies and family centers.

Blue- also tunes in to the area of ​​feelings, but more sublime, more platonic than mundane. This is the color of friendly affection, kinship of souls. Blue is the color of peace and universal harmony. It makes it possible to feel an invisible connection with the Universe and is able to give the subject a holistic appearance, and the issue or matter - globality and a favorable outcome.

Blue- helps you concentrate on what’s most necessary: ​​don’t get lost in details, don’t get scattered. A blue detail in a catalog or advertising brochure will immediately attract attention and, unlike red, will never cause negative emotions.

Violet- the color of inner concentration. This color promotes internal deepening: it will help you abstract from everything unnecessary at the moment and concentrate on the main problem. Another interesting detail is that purple stimulates the brain well and promotes solving creative problems. Not by chance purple is so loved by creative people. Therefore, if you are advertising a product with which you want to emphasize the creativity of the product or are focused on providing services to the creative elite, a detail in purple will be simply necessary!

Black- the color of self-immersion: it helps to isolate yourself from everything, isolate yourself and concentrate on solving a particular problem. At the same time, this color can induce melancholy and despondency. In black comes a feeling of loneliness and isolation from the outside world. That is why It is better not to use this color in print advertising. This recommendation, of course, does not apply to fonts and tables. It is in relation to them that, with rare exceptions, it is better not to experiment.

White- the color of complete openness, readiness to perceive the world in all its diversity. This color is also good because it does not cause any unpleasant sensations. One has only to note that the mono-use of this color in print advertising can create a neutral effect when the advertising consumer is simply informed of information about the product, without establishing any emphasis or priorities.

It is interesting that each country has its own attitude towards color, and even has its own national and cultural specifics, which must be taken into account when developing an advertising campaign in a particular country.

In America red is associated with love, yellow with prosperity, green with hope, blue with fidelity, white represents purity, tranquility, peace, and black is a symbol of difficulty and emergency. In Austria the most popular color is green, In Bulgaria- dark green and brown, in Pakistan- emerald green, and in Holland- orange and blue.

In general, the closer to the East, the more importance is attached to the symbolism of color. So, in China red means kindness and courage, black means honesty, and white, unlike the symbol of purity and holiness generally accepted by Europeans, is associated with meanness and deceit. Therefore, when developing an advertising campaign, say, in China, you need to choose the right color scheme, otherwise there is a chance of being misunderstood.

Concerning Russia, then our favorite color has always been red, which from time immemorial has been associated with wealth and love. Until now, the key colors that decorate the Russian flag remain red, white and blue (a symbol of purity and spiritual improvement).

__________________________________