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1
The intentional use of color in design to persuade consumers to think and feel a certain way has
been heavily utilized by artists and designers to sway an individual’s preferences
subconsciously. It is accepted that color has an effect on emotion in a way that is reliably
predictable (Wilms, 2018, p. 896). The level of predictability that the emotional reaction to
color has allows for fields of communication to reinforce ideas that are presented onto the
individual without the individual being aware of the persuasive methods. If the knowledge of
color theory was known by the common consumer in that the use of color is chosen
purposefully to manipulate the consumer to feel a certain way, the actual effectiveness of color
in designs would change.
A basic premise of color theory is that the longest wavelengths of color cause high levels of
arousal while the shortest wavelengths cause an inverse effect on the emotions of an individual
(Wilms, 2018, p. 896). The longer wavelength colors, such as red and orange, give a
dramatically different feeling then the short wavelength colors, such as blue and green, where
their uses can be seen as obviously appropriate or inappropriate depending on the context they
are used in. We can feel when a color is out of place since the feelings we associate with
specific colors are either learned associations or instinctual responses from repetitive
tendencies through evolution (Elliot, 2007, p. 251). It’s learned that wearing black clothing
during a funeral in regions heavy with European descendants is appropriate yet wearing black
during a wedding is not. This would be learned associations of color. In nature, color often
serves as an indicator for what is safe and what is potentially hazardous such as bright reds,
oranges, and yellows often indicating poison or venom or the ripeness of fruit (Elliot, 2007, p.
251).
The effects of color on a subconscious level can be found in a wide array of things outside of
creative/communication fields. Red ink on paper is linked to harsh grading, resumes printed on
yellow paper are rated more negatively compared to equivalent ones printed on white, and
paper color has a subjective effect on a person’s reading performance fatigue (Clary, 2007, p.
42-43). Even one that aligns themselves with the Republican party will find political posters
2
more appealing if blue on white were the color choices in design when no political party is
established (Howard, 1984, p. 209). It can be concluded that the calmer, more reliable aspect of
the color blue outweighs the political ties that red has with one’s party.
Knowing when a color feels out of place can affect how genuine and authentic a product or
brand appears. While some colors are thought to feel more reliable and honest compared to
others, if the color is appropriate to the nature of the product or brand, it will feel more
trustworthy. Natural shades of green are commonly used in products and companies that are
natural, organic, and eco-friendly. The association is obvious due to nature being composed
largely of green flora. By using this association, companies can reinforce their environmental
morals within their logos and packaging. The meaning that a color has influences the
consumer's perception of the company without the company making a direct claim (Sundar,
2017, p. 686). Color is often used to mislead consumers in their perceptions of the retail
practices that a company undertakes (Sundar, 2017, p. 686). The United States Patent and
Trademark Organization (USPTO 2013) made guidelines that prevent the word “green” from
being in the trademarks of companies that are not actually environmentally friendly to help
reduce consumer manipulation (Sundar, 2017, p. 685). These guidelines do not prevent
companies from using green in their marketing, however, still manipulating consumers who
want to support companies that are eco-friendly. When little information is known, color allows
for an individual to infer information on a company or brand to fill in this gap (Sundar, 2017, p.
686). It is this powerful influence that color has over people that I wanted to investigate in this
study. My hypothesis is that if people were told that a color has a specific meaning, the way
they look at something that uses that color could change to either reflect what they were told,
change to reflect the opposite to resist what they were told, or to not change from what they
thought before any influence.
Color is often looked at as the biggest deciding factor on if a good or service will be purchased.
Color not only indicates the nature of the item but also the nature of the company behind the
item. It can also become the identifier for a company such as a specific shade of red
3
representing Coca Cola. After a consumer becomes used to a brand, the traits of the brand,
whether good or bad, become associated with the specific color or color combinations they
use. When companies are rivals for the same market, they often take on a different color
palette so customers are more likely to be able to identify them over their competitors while
also showing the quality, morals, price range, and other associations with the product. The
company’s color becomes synonymous with their brand identity.
The social psychology theory, forewarned is forearmed, suggests that if people were aware that
they were experiencing an attempt at influencing them, they would be less likely to be
influenced (Wood, 2003, p. 129). It also suggests that under some situations that forewarning
could also result in temporary compliance with the influence (Wood, 2003, p. 129). For
designers of any kind who want to use color as a tool, knowing how color theory changes based
on how well informed the potential consumers are on how color in design works would be
imperative. Color theory and how it’s used in design is not a secret, yet if people were
conscious of the colors used when they shop, color in design would change.
To see the possible change in how people respond to color when being blatantly influenced, I
developed two surveys to establish a control group and a prompted variable group. Both
surveys have the same set of five pictures with one single colored object as the focus. For each
image the respondents were asked to state in one word the feeling they got from the image. To
avoid any prior preferences or biases that respondents might have to specific brands, I used
objects that were not branded in an obvious manner. This included a red umbrella, a pair of
blue sunglasses, a green notebook, a ball of orange yarn, and a purple jacket. The color and
objects were chosen to avoid obvious biases such as how making a water bottle blue would
give the idea of cold water. The difference between the two surveys was the variable survey
had prompts above each image. Based on known ideas for what a color can represent within
color theory, I wrote out an example of what each color could feel like for the prompt, none of
which match the image so that the respondents give their initial thoughts rather than a more
obvious association, such as a white dress giving off a wedding dress feeling. These prompts
4
also didn’t directly contradict the image they were associated with, such as bright green
vegetables and green representing rotten. I used passion for the red umbrella, responsibility for
the blue sunglasses, vile for the green notebook, alert for the orange ball of yarn, and
mysterious for the purple jacket as the prompts. The prompts were based off of the color of the
object and not the actual properties or nature of the object. The control survey would show a
person’s response to an item presented to them without influence in any direction. The
variable survey would demonstrate how responses change when influential information is
provided beforehand.
After collecting data, the responses for each image and categorized them based on how close
they were to the initial prompted words. If the words were the same or direct synonyms of the
prompt (according to a thesaurus), they were marked with blue. If they were similar to the
prompt but not a word that could be interchangeable with the prompt (according to a
thesaurus), they were marked with green. If the words were near opposites to the prompt or
antonyms, they were labeled with red, and if they were similar to the prompt’s antonyms then
they were labeled with orange. If the response’s word was neutral it was kept black and white.
After the words were color coded, the number of each color for both surveys were tallied.
Respondents consisted of college age students and up resulting in 109 participants, most of
which are current students attending the California University of Pennsylvania as of spring
2020.
When comparing the data between the two groups, there is a visible difference when
information is given. While the unprompted group shows how people respond to the images,
the prompted group shows that, though not a drastic amount, there is a distinct change in how
people responded for each image. Across all of the images, when given a feeling of what a color
could mean before an image, respondents were 7% more likely to react similarly to the prompt
then if there was no prompt (17.9% unprompted versus 25.1% prompted). The difference of 7%
is seemingly small yet over all there was also a shift in the percentage of respondents that
reacted in various degrees against the prompt. When prompted, responses directly against the
5
prompt dropped 17.8% while responses that differed, but wasn’t a complete opposite, from the
prompt increased by 8.8% when prompted. When looking at both of these negative against the
prompt responses, the overall percentage of responses against the prompt dropped by 9%
(80.2% unprompted versus 71.2% prompted). Overall, when given a prompt the responses start
to lean towards following the prompt and away from responding against it. Responses even
lean away from being completely against the prompt and more towards just differing and
neutral. (F1 & F2 show unprompted and prompted responses for all images respectively).
F1
6
F2
The trend in influence resulting in compliance from the respondents can be tracked across the
five images to differing degrees. Seeing that the trend continues across the images shows that,
while each image results in a different array of response ratios, when a person is given
influence to respond a certain way to a color that doesn’t match the object in question,
respondents are more likely to comply. (F3 is in reference to image one, F4 is in reference to
image two, and so on and so forth)
7
F3
F4
F5
8
F6
F7
This data shows that if color theory, the simplest aspect of what feelings certain colors can
produce, became widely known to consumers, people would still be influenced by it. This would
mean that if consumers are unaware of specific morals that a company has, the colors used for
the company’s products would act as the only information the consumer has to base their
decision making on. In practice, consumers could be manipulated to view products in a specific
light that might not be accurate. If one doesn’t do the proper research on the morals of a
company to see if they align with the consumer’s own morals, the colors used would result in
9
the wrongful interpretation of the product and company whether it be on the quality of the
product or the world impact that the company has. Going back to the use of green in company
logos that influence consumers to view their products as environmentally friendly, by knowing
that consumers will still be influenced by color even if they are aware of the implementation of
color theory during the design process, more companies may resort to purposeful manipulation
via color. Designs may no longer focus on using color to appeal to a specific audience’s desire
for a certain quality, price range, or morals but rather focus on mass appeal to the audience in a
way that makes the consumer feel good about their decision without the company having to
put in the effort to uphold these obligations. While this less honest manipulation is already
common, it could become a more common practice for businesses to gain more profit.
There are many flaws within my research that I can see right away. I wish I had a bigger pool of
respondents though I am happy that I got as many as I did. Testing subjective concepts are hard
to measure and having the survey be online reduces the likeliness for honesty on the
respondent’s part. Having repeated studies as well as comparison studies using brands that
have a heavily associated color could solidify the relevance or irrelevance of this study. With
brands, however, there could be legal issues of potential slandering of the products shown if
done the same way. In addition, having multiple versions of the prompted surveys where
different sorts of prompts, ones that align more closely and less closely with the image, could
help demonstrate how the different feelings a color can convey change how one responds to
the object in question. However, for all that happened while I was studying this, I am happy
with the outcome of my research.
10
References
Clary, R., Wandersee, J., & Elias, J. S. (2007). Does the Color-Coding of Examination Versions
Affect College Science Students’ Test Performance? Countering Claims of Bias. Journal of
College Science Teaching, 37(1), 40–47.
Elliot, A. J., & Maier, M. A., (2007). Color and Psychological Functioning. Current Directions in
Psychological Science 16(5), 250-254.doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00514.x.
Howard, W. G. (1984). Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 12(2), 203–212.
https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.1984.12.2.203
Sundar, A., & Kellaris, J. (2017). How Logo Colors Influence Shoppers’ Judgements of Retailer
Ethicality: The Mediating Role of Perceived Eco-Friendliness. Journal of Business Ethics
146 (3), 685-701. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2918-4.
Wilms, L., & Oberfeld, D. (2018). Color and Emotion: Effects of Hue, Saturation, and Brightness.
Psychological Research 82(5), 896–914. doi:10.1007/s00426-017-0880-8.
Wood, W., & Quinn, J. M. (2003). Forewarned and Forearmed? Two meta-analytic Syntheses of
Forewarnings of Influence Appeals. Psychological Bulletin, 1, 119-138.
The intentional use of color in design to persuade consumers to think and feel a certain way has
been heavily utilized by artists and designers to sway an individual’s preferences
subconsciously. It is accepted that color has an effect on emotion in a way that is reliably
predictable (Wilms, 2018, p. 896). The level of predictability that the emotional reaction to
color has allows for fields of communication to reinforce ideas that are presented onto the
individual without the individual being aware of the persuasive methods. If the knowledge of
color theory was known by the common consumer in that the use of color is chosen
purposefully to manipulate the consumer to feel a certain way, the actual effectiveness of color
in designs would change.
A basic premise of color theory is that the longest wavelengths of color cause high levels of
arousal while the shortest wavelengths cause an inverse effect on the emotions of an individual
(Wilms, 2018, p. 896). The longer wavelength colors, such as red and orange, give a
dramatically different feeling then the short wavelength colors, such as blue and green, where
their uses can be seen as obviously appropriate or inappropriate depending on the context they
are used in. We can feel when a color is out of place since the feelings we associate with
specific colors are either learned associations or instinctual responses from repetitive
tendencies through evolution (Elliot, 2007, p. 251). It’s learned that wearing black clothing
during a funeral in regions heavy with European descendants is appropriate yet wearing black
during a wedding is not. This would be learned associations of color. In nature, color often
serves as an indicator for what is safe and what is potentially hazardous such as bright reds,
oranges, and yellows often indicating poison or venom or the ripeness of fruit (Elliot, 2007, p.
251).
The effects of color on a subconscious level can be found in a wide array of things outside of
creative/communication fields. Red ink on paper is linked to harsh grading, resumes printed on
yellow paper are rated more negatively compared to equivalent ones printed on white, and
paper color has a subjective effect on a person’s reading performance fatigue (Clary, 2007, p.
42-43). Even one that aligns themselves with the Republican party will find political posters
2
more appealing if blue on white were the color choices in design when no political party is
established (Howard, 1984, p. 209). It can be concluded that the calmer, more reliable aspect of
the color blue outweighs the political ties that red has with one’s party.
Knowing when a color feels out of place can affect how genuine and authentic a product or
brand appears. While some colors are thought to feel more reliable and honest compared to
others, if the color is appropriate to the nature of the product or brand, it will feel more
trustworthy. Natural shades of green are commonly used in products and companies that are
natural, organic, and eco-friendly. The association is obvious due to nature being composed
largely of green flora. By using this association, companies can reinforce their environmental
morals within their logos and packaging. The meaning that a color has influences the
consumer's perception of the company without the company making a direct claim (Sundar,
2017, p. 686). Color is often used to mislead consumers in their perceptions of the retail
practices that a company undertakes (Sundar, 2017, p. 686). The United States Patent and
Trademark Organization (USPTO 2013) made guidelines that prevent the word “green” from
being in the trademarks of companies that are not actually environmentally friendly to help
reduce consumer manipulation (Sundar, 2017, p. 685). These guidelines do not prevent
companies from using green in their marketing, however, still manipulating consumers who
want to support companies that are eco-friendly. When little information is known, color allows
for an individual to infer information on a company or brand to fill in this gap (Sundar, 2017, p.
686). It is this powerful influence that color has over people that I wanted to investigate in this
study. My hypothesis is that if people were told that a color has a specific meaning, the way
they look at something that uses that color could change to either reflect what they were told,
change to reflect the opposite to resist what they were told, or to not change from what they
thought before any influence.
Color is often looked at as the biggest deciding factor on if a good or service will be purchased.
Color not only indicates the nature of the item but also the nature of the company behind the
item. It can also become the identifier for a company such as a specific shade of red
3
representing Coca Cola. After a consumer becomes used to a brand, the traits of the brand,
whether good or bad, become associated with the specific color or color combinations they
use. When companies are rivals for the same market, they often take on a different color
palette so customers are more likely to be able to identify them over their competitors while
also showing the quality, morals, price range, and other associations with the product. The
company’s color becomes synonymous with their brand identity.
The social psychology theory, forewarned is forearmed, suggests that if people were aware that
they were experiencing an attempt at influencing them, they would be less likely to be
influenced (Wood, 2003, p. 129). It also suggests that under some situations that forewarning
could also result in temporary compliance with the influence (Wood, 2003, p. 129). For
designers of any kind who want to use color as a tool, knowing how color theory changes based
on how well informed the potential consumers are on how color in design works would be
imperative. Color theory and how it’s used in design is not a secret, yet if people were
conscious of the colors used when they shop, color in design would change.
To see the possible change in how people respond to color when being blatantly influenced, I
developed two surveys to establish a control group and a prompted variable group. Both
surveys have the same set of five pictures with one single colored object as the focus. For each
image the respondents were asked to state in one word the feeling they got from the image. To
avoid any prior preferences or biases that respondents might have to specific brands, I used
objects that were not branded in an obvious manner. This included a red umbrella, a pair of
blue sunglasses, a green notebook, a ball of orange yarn, and a purple jacket. The color and
objects were chosen to avoid obvious biases such as how making a water bottle blue would
give the idea of cold water. The difference between the two surveys was the variable survey
had prompts above each image. Based on known ideas for what a color can represent within
color theory, I wrote out an example of what each color could feel like for the prompt, none of
which match the image so that the respondents give their initial thoughts rather than a more
obvious association, such as a white dress giving off a wedding dress feeling. These prompts
4
also didn’t directly contradict the image they were associated with, such as bright green
vegetables and green representing rotten. I used passion for the red umbrella, responsibility for
the blue sunglasses, vile for the green notebook, alert for the orange ball of yarn, and
mysterious for the purple jacket as the prompts. The prompts were based off of the color of the
object and not the actual properties or nature of the object. The control survey would show a
person’s response to an item presented to them without influence in any direction. The
variable survey would demonstrate how responses change when influential information is
provided beforehand.
After collecting data, the responses for each image and categorized them based on how close
they were to the initial prompted words. If the words were the same or direct synonyms of the
prompt (according to a thesaurus), they were marked with blue. If they were similar to the
prompt but not a word that could be interchangeable with the prompt (according to a
thesaurus), they were marked with green. If the words were near opposites to the prompt or
antonyms, they were labeled with red, and if they were similar to the prompt’s antonyms then
they were labeled with orange. If the response’s word was neutral it was kept black and white.
After the words were color coded, the number of each color for both surveys were tallied.
Respondents consisted of college age students and up resulting in 109 participants, most of
which are current students attending the California University of Pennsylvania as of spring
2020.
When comparing the data between the two groups, there is a visible difference when
information is given. While the unprompted group shows how people respond to the images,
the prompted group shows that, though not a drastic amount, there is a distinct change in how
people responded for each image. Across all of the images, when given a feeling of what a color
could mean before an image, respondents were 7% more likely to react similarly to the prompt
then if there was no prompt (17.9% unprompted versus 25.1% prompted). The difference of 7%
is seemingly small yet over all there was also a shift in the percentage of respondents that
reacted in various degrees against the prompt. When prompted, responses directly against the
5
prompt dropped 17.8% while responses that differed, but wasn’t a complete opposite, from the
prompt increased by 8.8% when prompted. When looking at both of these negative against the
prompt responses, the overall percentage of responses against the prompt dropped by 9%
(80.2% unprompted versus 71.2% prompted). Overall, when given a prompt the responses start
to lean towards following the prompt and away from responding against it. Responses even
lean away from being completely against the prompt and more towards just differing and
neutral. (F1 & F2 show unprompted and prompted responses for all images respectively).
F1
6
F2
The trend in influence resulting in compliance from the respondents can be tracked across the
five images to differing degrees. Seeing that the trend continues across the images shows that,
while each image results in a different array of response ratios, when a person is given
influence to respond a certain way to a color that doesn’t match the object in question,
respondents are more likely to comply. (F3 is in reference to image one, F4 is in reference to
image two, and so on and so forth)
7
F3
F4
F5
8
F6
F7
This data shows that if color theory, the simplest aspect of what feelings certain colors can
produce, became widely known to consumers, people would still be influenced by it. This would
mean that if consumers are unaware of specific morals that a company has, the colors used for
the company’s products would act as the only information the consumer has to base their
decision making on. In practice, consumers could be manipulated to view products in a specific
light that might not be accurate. If one doesn’t do the proper research on the morals of a
company to see if they align with the consumer’s own morals, the colors used would result in
9
the wrongful interpretation of the product and company whether it be on the quality of the
product or the world impact that the company has. Going back to the use of green in company
logos that influence consumers to view their products as environmentally friendly, by knowing
that consumers will still be influenced by color even if they are aware of the implementation of
color theory during the design process, more companies may resort to purposeful manipulation
via color. Designs may no longer focus on using color to appeal to a specific audience’s desire
for a certain quality, price range, or morals but rather focus on mass appeal to the audience in a
way that makes the consumer feel good about their decision without the company having to
put in the effort to uphold these obligations. While this less honest manipulation is already
common, it could become a more common practice for businesses to gain more profit.
There are many flaws within my research that I can see right away. I wish I had a bigger pool of
respondents though I am happy that I got as many as I did. Testing subjective concepts are hard
to measure and having the survey be online reduces the likeliness for honesty on the
respondent’s part. Having repeated studies as well as comparison studies using brands that
have a heavily associated color could solidify the relevance or irrelevance of this study. With
brands, however, there could be legal issues of potential slandering of the products shown if
done the same way. In addition, having multiple versions of the prompted surveys where
different sorts of prompts, ones that align more closely and less closely with the image, could
help demonstrate how the different feelings a color can convey change how one responds to
the object in question. However, for all that happened while I was studying this, I am happy
with the outcome of my research.
10
References
Clary, R., Wandersee, J., & Elias, J. S. (2007). Does the Color-Coding of Examination Versions
Affect College Science Students’ Test Performance? Countering Claims of Bias. Journal of
College Science Teaching, 37(1), 40–47.
Elliot, A. J., & Maier, M. A., (2007). Color and Psychological Functioning. Current Directions in
Psychological Science 16(5), 250-254.doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00514.x.
Howard, W. G. (1984). Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 12(2), 203–212.
https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.1984.12.2.203
Sundar, A., & Kellaris, J. (2017). How Logo Colors Influence Shoppers’ Judgements of Retailer
Ethicality: The Mediating Role of Perceived Eco-Friendliness. Journal of Business Ethics
146 (3), 685-701. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2918-4.
Wilms, L., & Oberfeld, D. (2018). Color and Emotion: Effects of Hue, Saturation, and Brightness.
Psychological Research 82(5), 896–914. doi:10.1007/s00426-017-0880-8.
Wood, W., & Quinn, J. M. (2003). Forewarned and Forearmed? Two meta-analytic Syntheses of
Forewarnings of Influence Appeals. Psychological Bulletin, 1, 119-138.