What do colors mean

It can suggest loyalty and integrity as well as conservatism and frigidity. To understand the color blue. Indigo is the color of intuition.

In the meaning of colors it can mean idealism and structure as well as ritualistic and addictive. For more on the color indigo. Purple is the color of the imagination. It can be creative and individual or immature and impractical. For more on the color purple. The color meaning of turquoise is communication and clarity of mind. It can also be impractical and idealistic.

For more on the color turquoise. The color psychology of pink is unconditional love and nurturing. Pink can also be immature, silly and girlish. For more on the color pink. In the meaning of colors, magenta is a color of universal harmony and emotional balance. It is spiritual yet practical, encouraging common sense and a balanced outlook on life. It can be very simple, clean and modern. Marc Jacobs prints a simple black logo onto white luxury retail boxes and shopping bags.

Health and beauty brands that want to convey an air of purity and natural ingredients will also tend to use white in their packaging. White space can be as important in a design as all the other creative elements.

White tends to be the color used for website backgrounds as it ensures that your text is easy to read. Together with pastels, it can bring to mind spring and femininity; combined with simple black it becomes classic and minimalistic. Gray is a more mature, responsible color, associated with the gray hair of old age. Its positive connotations include formality and dependability, while the negative side can mean being overly conservative, conventional and lacking in emotion.

Gray is rarely the star of the show. Nintendo briefly favored a gray logo from to but has since gone back to its earlier red. Jewelry brand Swarovski does have a gray logo, although if you look at the website the version used there is black. Use gray if you have a serious brand and you want to communicate the authority and stability of a corporate institution. Combine it with blue for the ultimate in conservatism and dependability. You may want to consider using gray as an alternative to white for a softer website background—or as an alternative to black text for a less harsh contrast and an easier read.

So what happens when you bring them all together? What feelings are evoked with multicolored designs? Well, while monochromatic branding can bring focus and style, colorful branding can show that a brand is playful, informal and creative.

Google uses multiple colors in its logo to represent the playfulness of the brand. An interesting case is ebay , which had a similarly colorful logo up until when it simplified its logo to one color in its marketing although the colored logo is still used on the website.

Likewise, Apple evolved its logo from the multicolored striped apple to a sleeker silver one. Why choose one when you can choose them all?! Using many colors in your branding and designs can be a great way to stand out, show your playfulness and appeal to children or a more creative audience. You can read more about these different color combinations in this article on color theory. Gold and silver are both precious metals, associated with riches and expensive jewelry. Often combined with black, adding a touch of glimmering metal can immediately give a brand that element of glamor.

Gold is also the color of a winner, associated as it is with the medal for first place, and can represent success. Silver is cooler and a little less luxurious, coming in at second place but still representing grace and elegance.

Rolex uses a gold crown in its logo, while Lamborghini and Porsche use elements of gold as well. Clearly, gold is the color of luxury! On the other hand, silver is used a lot in car logos— VW , Toyota , Hyundai , Nissan , Audi , Mercedes —where it denotes quality and workmanship. Gold is essentially a shiny yellow, silver is shiny gray and bronze shiny brown.

You can still suggest metallic tones on a website or in a logo using shading and highlighting but the full impact will be seen on printed materials where you can use a foil to get that metallic sheen.

So there you go, an epic journey through colors and emotions. People may have personal preferences that override any deeper biological tendencies, cultures vary in their interpretations and there may be other things you want to take into consideration as well. Now that you know the rules, you can play around with them and see what works for you. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.

According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature; some people consider it to be artificial. Light purple is a good choice for a feminine design.

You can use bright purple when promoting children's products. Light purple evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings. Dark purple evokes gloom and sad feelings. It can cause frustration. White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection. White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation.

White can represent a successful beginning. In heraldry, white depicts faith and purity. In advertising, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness because it's the color of snow. You can use white to suggest simplicity in high-tech products. White is an appropriate color for charitable organizations; angels are usually imagined wearing white clothes.

White is associated with hospitals, doctors, and sterility, so you can use white to suggest safety when promoting medical products. White is often associated with low weight, low-fat food, and dairy products.

Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown black holes. It usually has a negative connotation blacklist, black humor, 'black death'. Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color black tie, black Mercedes. In heraldry, black is the symbol of grief.

Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth, but a black background diminishes readability. A black suit or dress can make you look thinner. When designing for a gallery of art or photography, you can use a black or gray background to make the other colors stand out.

Black contrasts well with bright colors. Combined with red or orange — other very powerful colors — black gives a very aggressive color scheme. Infographic made by GraphicSprings. Mixing Color Wheel. Download Color Wheel Pro: color-wheel-pro. Color Meaning Red Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Orange Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. Look inside. Please help and share:. More Kindle book s:. Home Top Menu Quick Links. Meanings of color Here is a table of colors and many of the meanings they tend to evoke, particularly in Western cultures. PINK :. Elegance, sophistication, formality, power, strength, illegality, depression, morbidity, night, death.

Cleanliness, purity, newness, virginity, peace, innocence, simplicity, sterility, snow, ice, cold. Eastern: luck, prosperity, happiness, long life, fertility, power Some Africa: mourning. Eastern: sacred, imperial, wisdom, male Some Middle-East: mourning Africa: high rank France: jealousy Greece: sadness. Eastern: birth, hope, new beginnings, youth, immortality, fertility Middle East: Islam, strength, luck, fertility, prestige Africa: corruption South America: death.