As a startup owner, you have wide range of decisions to make that have a crucial impact on your future success. Research suggests that perhaps none have such a powerful subconscious impact on your customers than the colors you choose to represent your business.
For example, did you know that 85 percent of shoppers cite color as the primary influencing factor when purchasing a product, and that color increases brand recognition by 80 percent?
Color sets the mood and tone for your business, and subliminally conveys your startup’s values and personality. It also hints at what consumers may get out of your brand: a sense of wellbeing, comfort, stability, dedication, enthusiasm, humor… the list goes on.
This color branding infographic from Towergate Insurance breaks down the colors used by the top 20 brands across 26 different industries and drills down in to the values these colors convey.
Related: How Do Fonts and Colors Influence Your Audience?
Each sector appears to have a go-to color of choice. For example, the top 12 brands in apparel and accessories all use the color black, whereas the majority of equipment companies use blue.
The same color can have different meanings in different contexts. Very few pharmaceutical companies use red, which can have connotations of danger and death; whereas red is really popular amongst restaurant brands, where it connotes boldness and energy (some even believe it’s a color that can trigger hunger itself).
The infographic can be used as a basis for selecting the right color scheme for your company and for providing food for thought when making those design decisions that could be make or break for your brand.
Here’s a quick exercise:
What are the core values of your brand? What do you want to exude? Is it dependability (blue)? Passion (red)? Confidence (black)?
Once you have your core values written down, use the color psychology infographic to choose the colors that can best convey your brand’s values.
