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The Use of Vibrant Colors is Meant To Catch Consumers Eye

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The Use of Vibrant Colors is Meant To Catch Consumers Eye

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Fast Food Companies Share A Commonality Through Colors

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Fast Food Companies Share A Commonality Through Colors

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Why So Many Fast Food Logos Are One Color

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Colors on Food Packaging Trigger Emotions 

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Colors on Food Packaging Trigger Emotions 

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Food processors can use consumer psychology to  design their packages by leveraging the subconscious trigger that directs consumers to their products.

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Ask consumers what they like about a food package they've never seen before, and chances are they won't be able to put it into words. They have an emotional reaction to the package, which, best case, makes them desire the product and leads them to purchase it.

To elicit those positive emotional responses, food processors can put consumer psychology to work as they design their packaging and leverage the unconscious triggers that predispose consumers toward products.

The rewards of this package-design strategy extend far beyond product trial. If the product and package are satisfying during use, the consumer's initial reaction to the package is reinforced. The natural follow-on is to buy the product again. And again.

Consumer research has shown that consumers transfer their perception of a package to the product it contains. Louis Cheskin, a mid-20th century marketing innovator, coined a phrase for this phenomenon: "sensation transference."

"Sensation transference is the theory that whatever people see on the package, they attribute to the product," says Katy Haberkern, director-account management with consumer insights-based consulting firm Cheskin ( www.cheskin.com), Redwood Shores, Calif. In other words, "The package is the product."

As an example, Cheskin conducted a taste test of 7-Up that had been filled into cans that were more yellow than the packaging consumers were used to. Although the drink was the same as in the original can, tasters thought the formulation had changed. The can looked different, and that created a perception of difference in the product's flavor.

Creating the desired perception of the product requires detailed attention to not only the package's looks, but also how it feels in the hand and even the sounds it makes. The package's sensory cues are an enormously important contributor to the consumer's experience of the product.

"Sensory cues today are very advanced," Haberkern says. "The challenge is determining which cues add value to the brand."

The color component

Some marketers contend that of all the visual cues a package incorporates, color is the single most important. Consumers have only seconds to make a purchasing decision in the supermarket, and color registers much faster than text or complex graphics.

Colors are associated with various emotional states and need to convey an appropriate mood for the product and/or brand. In some parts of the grocery store, like the cereal aisle, the colors on the packages "are screaming 'buy me,' but not all products want to do that," says Ed Cristman, design director at Axion Design ( www.axiondesign.com), San Anselmo, Calif.

Products such as wine and gourmet items, like dipping oils and tapenades, are designed for a sophisticated consumer; therefore, the packaging tends to feature "tasty, earthy colors" rather than bright, bold hues, Cristman explains. These items are "savored over time. You don't just shovel them down. It's more experience-based."

Dan Olson, creative director at Duffy and Partners ( www.duffy.com), Minneapolis, adds: "So much of food packaging is about appetite appeal. We don't want our potatoes green or our ketchup blue, and the package shouldn't miscue the experience of the product" by incorporating inappropriate colors.

Olson adds that "sweeter things are more forgiving" in terms of package color, because they are perceived as fun or pleasing rather than a source of nutrition. A walk down the candy aisle in any store demonstrates the abundance of color on packaging for sweets.

Package color is influenced by trends, as well. Green has emerged as a popular color for products positioned as healthy and/or environmentally friendly; historically, green was rarely used on food packaging. Blue is still used somewhat tentatively, except in two categories: milk and water.

Graphic subtleties

Additional visual cues include the package's typefaces, logo, illustrations, photos and other graphic design elements. These components individually communicate the brand's attributes and equities, and do so even more within the completed design.

Designing a package that elicits the desired emotional response to the product is becoming more scientific, thanks to a new method that combines consumer psychology with package design.

Called NeuroDesign, the proprietary technique is grounded in a combination of neuroscience, psychology and iconology. The method is in development at design and innovation firm laga.

"Emotion drives purchasing decisions," explains J. Duncan Berry, laga's director of applied iconology. "NeuroDesign is the application of consumer insight to enhance performance at shelf using emotional cues. This method brings the upstream conceptual thinking into a funnel to drive the development of actual designs."

The NeuroDesign deliverables include a visual encyclopedia, or Emotional Analog Map. This document includes images of facial expressions, gestures/postures and archetypes, all keyed to consumers' emotional engagement with the product.

Using the map, the designer can create a package that resonates with consumers in a way they feel deeply. Their subsequent behavior, not surprisingly, is to buy the product.

For example, package graphics for Tanimura and Antle Inc. ( www.taproduce.com), Salinas, Calif., position the brand as friendly and approachable while reinforcing its heritage as a family-owned produce company. The package graphics include an oval logo and a curved, flourishing typeface. They also incorporate an illustration of the company's founding partners talking in the field, which expresses the brand's down-to-earth and fresh attributes.

The graphics on wine labels for Stolpman Vineyards ( www.stolpmanvineyards.com), Solvang, Calif., communicate a different story -- that of a serious, premium wine maker.

"The squareness of the Stolpman typeface and label shape provide a foundation that's strong and confident," says Steve Glanzer, a designer at Axion, which created the package designs for both Stolpman Vineyards and Tanimura and Antle. The Stolpman label "is standing there saying, 'We are high-quality.'"

Uno Foods Inc. ( www.unofoods.com), Boston, used package graphics to convey the restaurant quality of its refrigerated retail pizzas. The new package looks like an upscale version of an Uno restaurant take-out box and incorporates typefaces from the Uno menu.

Repetitive text in the background subtly reinforces the message with information about the product's fresh ingredients, its restaurant quality and the fact that each pizza is made by hand.

"The package really invites the consumer to remember what it's like to eat in an Uno restaurant," says Robert Hill, design director with Acton, Mass.-based Wright Design Inc. ( www.wrightds.com), which designed the new Uno package.

The final touch on the Uno package is a large die cut, front and center, that reveals the delectable looking pizza. Although this cue is visual, it does double duty by opening a Pavlovian path straight to the taste buds.

Shape matters

Another important visual cue is the package's physical shape. Product attributes or benefits, portrayed in the package shape, serve as a gentle or even subliminal reminder of what the product promises to deliver.

For example, the Kellogg's Smart Start cereal box is as wide and tall as competitive products but not as thick. The box's shape resonates with the product's emphasis on healthiness, which consumers often conflate with being trim.

Similarly, the can for Tab Energy, a Coca-Cola low-calorie energy drink for women, is tall and slender compared with standard soda cans. And it is actually smaller, holding 10.5 oz. rather than 12 oz. Crosse and Blackwell Waistline diet products, from Premier Foods ( www.premierfoods.co.uk), St. Albans, England, are packaged in a distinctive hourglass-shaped can to reinforce the brand name and the product's weight-control benefits. Paris-based Crown Food Europe ( www.crowncork.com) supplies the shapely cans.

Package structures for liquids and wet foods are inherently "analogous to the human form," says J. Duncan Berry, director of applied iconology at Cincinnati-based laga ( www.laga.com), a design and innovation firm.

"Consciously, of course we don't think of these packages as surrogate people. But in the creative unconscious, they do speak to us that way," Berry adds. Thus, mapping human physical characteristics onto packages acknowledges consumers' unconscious projections.

Consider the distinctive bottle for Knob Creek Kentucky bourbon. "It's quite a large bottle, with masculine shoulders. We widened it and gave it some masculine girth," says Olson, from Duffy and Partners, the firm that designed the package. "It's a new interpretation of a glass bottle, and on the shelf it has presence."

A more literal example of anthropomorphism, one that's no longer available but lives on in the memories of the boomer generation, is the Aunt Jemima Syrup bottle. The package depicted the brand's namesake, right down to her facial features, in amber glass with a yellow screw top.

Tactile and sound cues

Novel shapes can act as both visual and tactile cues, silently encouraging consumers to touch the package. And "when consumers touch a product, the likelihood of purchase sky rockets," laga's Berry says.

"You can induce tactile response by including an unconscious trigger" in the package, such as shape or texture, he adds. "That's what designers and marketers are aiming to do."

Rough finishes on paperboard packaging, embossing or etching on glass bottles and jars and molded features on plastic containers are a few ways food packagers incorporate texture.

Printing techniques can be used for this purpose. For Bawls Guarana, a high-caffeine energy drink, brand owner Hobarama LLC ( www.bawls.com), Miami, uses 16-oz. cans that have been texturized using foaming ink. The ink is applied in a pattern of dots that amplifies the can's graphic design. The company also uses bumpy-textured glass bottles for the product.

Sound cues can be incorporated into packages, as well, to enhance consumers' experience of the package and product. Examples include the pop of an induction seal as it is broken and the audible click of a closure snapping shut.

These kinds of sounds provide feedback for the consumer, "and we're always looking for feedback. People can be quite attracted to something like that," says Belinda Winder, consumer psychologist and senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, England. "We're playful, curious creatures. We like to make sounds, and we like feedback, so if you can incorporate a sound" into a package, consumers will respond.

Package sounds can be powerful mood stimulators. A classic is the pop of a champagne cork. Another is the opening sound of a beverage-can pull ring. "There's a feeling that goes with that," Winder says. "Poof! I'm going to get my drink now. The moment of relaxation has started with that sound."

The significance of a sound sometimes becomes apparent only after a packaging change, as in the case of the peanut marketer that switched from a steel can to a composite can a few years ago.

The steel can made a whooshing sound when opened, and research by Cheskin revealed that consumers heard the whoosh as a freshness cue. But for cost reasons, the brand owner switched to the non-whooshing composite container.

After making the switch, the brand lost market share. "We can't prove it," says Cheskin's Haberkern, "but we suspect the loss of the whooshing sound was a driver in that."

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Kate Bertrand Connolly, Packaging Editor

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Food Marketers Use Food Packaging to Trigger Emotions

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Ask consumers what they like about a food package they've never seen before, and chances are they won't be able to put it into words. They have an emotional reaction to the package, which, best case, makes them desire the product and leads them to purchase it.

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Humans subconsciously associate certain colors with disfferent tastes and flavors. For most, red is associated with sweetness, yellow and green with sourness, and white with salty.

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It's often said that 'we eat with our eyes' and science shows this is true - colour plays an important role in how we perceive and experience foods. But how does this happen?

All of us subconsciously associate certain colours with distinct tastes and flavours. For most people, red is associated with sweetness, yellow and green with sourness, white with salt, and brown and black with bitterness. "The research shows that even infants only a few months old are already starting to pick up these associations between colour and taste" says Charles Spence, Professor of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University.

"I believe that we learn these associations from the statistics of our environment - we quickly learn that sweet foods are more often pink or red, for instance." Interestingly, in 2009, Professor Spence tested a clear blue drink on participants from the UK and from Taiwan. The Taiwanese thought that the drink would taste of mint, whilst the UK participants thought it would taste of raspberry - showing they had picked up different associations from their distinct food marketplaces.

Colour Can Override Flavour

These strong colour cues can even override the actual flavour of the food. Studies on social drinkers, wine students and wine experts have found that adding an odourless, tasteless red dye to a white wine causes it to be described as a red wine. And when our colour cues are completely mixed up or absent, this can throw us into confusion. For instance, limited edition (which retained the different flavours despite each being coloured white) had consumers baffled. Meanwhile, modernist chefs are starting to mix up colours to create unusual dining experiences, such as chef Heston Blumenthal's confusing orange and beetroot jellies .

Using completely unexpected food colours is also a frequent marketing ploy to gain attention and boost sales. These efforts include Burger King Japan's all-black burgers coloured with bamboo charcoal and squid ink, and a green tomato ketchup launched by Heinz to promote the first Shrek film. "Blue-coloured food and drinks are becoming increasingly popular amongst Instagrammers, bloggers, and food marketers. Because very few foods are naturally blue, these unusual products stand out on the shelf and hence capture our attention - we notice it" says Professor Spence.

Can Color Impact How Much We Eat?

But why are we drawn to unusual colours in food? One of the leading theories is sensory-specific satiety: if our senses constantly receive the same stimulus, we simply get bored. "Even if you love banana milk, for example, as you keep drinking it you will eventually no longer want any more, you have become satiated," says Professor Spence. "We can become satiated to flavours, but also to textures, and even colours. This is why candy-covered chocolates like Smarties come in an array of colours, to keep our interest." Numerous studies back this up - we generally help ourselves to more of a food product if it comes in a more varied array of colours. Curiously, one study found that participants consumed more yoghurt when three types were offered compared with one - even when the colour varied but not the flavour.

It appears we also tend to underestimate quantities when a variety of colours are present. In a study where participants were asked to try and pour out M&Ms until they reached a specified amount in a bowl, the participants poured 12% more into a bowl when the sweets were multicoloured, rather than a single colour. "We propose that a single colour makes the food appear like a single overall large mass whereas varied colours break up this large perceptual mass" says Professor Joe Redden from the University of Minnesota, who led the study. "This suggests that people should be more vigilant when serving themselves varied mixes; more is there than they think."

It Doesn't Even Have to Be the Food!

Various studies have shown that we even respond to colour cues in product packaging, plates and cutlery. In a study on popcorn, participants perceived a salty variety as tasting much sweeter when served out of a red bowl, and a sweet variety as being saltier when served from a white bowl. The colour of the surrounding environment can also have an effect: in one experiment, tourists were willing to pay more for a wine when they sampled it under blue or red light compared with green or white lighting.

Food and Colour Psychology - Eating With Color Can Help Dementia Patients

Food and colour psychology is fascinating - but once we know about it, we can also find ways to benefit from it practically. One study found that patients with dementia were encouraged to eat more when their food was served from coloured plates. "Many people with Alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions lose their sensitivity to contrast, so enhancing the contrast between the plate and their food and drink presumably meant they could see it better" says Professor Alice Cronin-Golomb from Boston University, who helped lead the study. Perhaps we can all experiment with using colour to make meals appear more appealing, particularly through emphasising the colours we associate with our favourite tastes.

Do you like to play with colour and food? Let us know in the comments below!

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How Does Colour Affect Taste and the Way We Eat?

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It's often said that 'we eat with our eyes' and science shows this is true - colour plays an important role in how we perceive and experience foods. But how does this happen? All of us subconsciously associate certain colours with distinct tastes and flavours.

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When hunger strikes, often you eat with your eyes, because the first thing that is visible to you becomes just what you want. It may not be the best item to satisfy hunger, but it is what you grab.

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How often have you eaten something, didn't want it, and ate it anyway? If this happens more than you realize, could you be eating because of an impulse to your eyes, or any one of your five senses? Could this be a reason you overeat?

When hunger strikes, often you eat with your eyes, because the first thing that is visible to you becomes just what you want. It may not be the best item to satisfy hunger, but it is what you grab.

There is a fine line between eating and overeating. Eating is enjoying food, overeating is when you no longer taste the food yet you continue eating. This could happen for many reasons. Overeating often happens when your focus is on other thoughts, emotions, or actions as you continue eating. Eating is then mindless. Eating enjoyment happens when you break from conversation and other distractions to eat. Eating is mindful, and the enjoyment of the sight, aroma, texture, sizzle, and taste of food is the focus.

As discussed in Body, Mind, & Mouth...Life's Eating Connection, it is the connection between the mind and the mouth that dictates your health and your weight. Your senses, sight-smell-taste-hearing-touch, will dictate how much you eat, and to a great extent, your choices and enjoyment of your food. When your senses are controlled by impulses, spur-of-the-moment unhealthy food choices are made. In order to ensure healthier food choices become aware of how often impulses influence your senses and decision making.

You eat with your eyes first. Maybe you are hungry or maybe you're not, but either way often you see something and immediately, consciously or unconsciously, think, "I'll eat that." It happens while choosing food from a menu in a restaurant. The server walks by with someone's meal, and you think, "That looks good." While shopping, impulse items such as candy are put at eye level so you think, "I'll get one of those." As soon as you enter a theatre, the snacks are immediately in front of you so you purchase them to mindlessly eat during the show.

You may be a guest in someone's home for dinner and as you walk through their front door you smell the food as it's simmering. Or you're cooking in your own home, and for a few hours you enjoy the aromas of the meal. Grocery stores now put their bakeries by the entrance so you are immediately met with the sweet smell of their baked items. Driving down the main street in your town, your local fast food hamburger chain store has the aroma of their grill wafting through the neighborhood. All these smells create impulses to entice you to experience unplanned or excess eating.

You start eating and the taste of the food is so enjoyable you just keep eating thinking, "This tastes great!" After a while you no longer taste the food but since it tasted so wonderful at the start you continue eating. You eat to the point of being uncomfortable and never realize that long-ago you stopped enjoying the taste.

You hear someone talk about a meal or a food item that they enjoyed and after hearing their comments you want some. The TV is on in the background and you hear an advertisement for a food item and all you can think about is purchasing that item.

You touch your food with your mouth, teeth, and tongue, and if it doesn't feel right, you'll find a way of spitting it out or experience a gagging response. But when the texture of food is pleasing you continue eating. While texture has little to do with taste, again, the pleasing sensation of texture can cause you to overeat.

Enjoy food with all your senses consciously, but impulses to your senses can lead to uncontrolled or excess eating.

To counteract these impulses, be aware of the connection between your mind and your mouth and be conscious of when and how much you eat. Pay close attention to which senses lead to uncontrolled eating, and which ones create eating satisfaction.

Food is meant to be enjoyed. When it's no longer enjoyable -- stop eating.

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How often have you eaten something, didn't want it, and ate it anyway? If this happens more than you realize, could you be eating because of an impulse to your eyes, or any one of your five senses? Could this be a reason you overeat?

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Some of today's most recognizable logos in the fast-food industry looked remarkably different when they were first introduced, which is important to note that marketers went for a much cleaner look and font, so that it became easier to recognize them.

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Some of today's most recognizable logos in the fast-food industry looked remarkably different when they were first introduced.

McDonald's first logo, for example, featured a winking cartoon chef called Speedee, a predecessor to the fast-food chain's current mascot, Ronald McDonald.

Meanwhile, Starbucks' original logo featured a siren, a two-tailed mythical creature similar to a mermaid, and competitor Dunkin' chose to shed the "Donuts" portion of its name and, with it, its old logo.

Below, see how the logos of 10 major fast-food companies have evolved over time.

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THEN AND NOW: How famous fast-food logos have changed over time

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Some of today's most recognizable logos in the fast-food industry looked remarkably different when they were first introduced. McDonald's first logo, for example, featured a winking cartoon chef called Speedee, a predecessor to the fast-food chain's current mascot, Ronald McDonald.

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McDonald’s consistent use of their colors, smiling icon, and positive language like “I’m Lovin’ It” in its marketing to further prove their reputation. McDonald’s is known for subtly using these tactics to make it seem like the “choice was natural”.

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Almost anyone can recognize the iconic golden arches of McDonald's, which is now consistently ranked as one of the best fast food chains in the world. The company started in 1940 and has expanded to establishments in over 119 countries, serving 68 million customers every single day.

McDonald's's use of rhetoric is a fantastic blend of ethos, pathos, and logos. With a charged presentation of its status as a fast food icon and focus on instilling positive emotions, McDonald's continues to enjoy some of the most effective marketing campaigns in the food industry.
Ethos (Authority)
The ethos of McDonald's stems primarily from its status. As the company grew, it utilized marketing techniques to try and attract new people to the product, but over the last few decades, McDonald's reputation has been unshakeable (even after attempts like the documentary Supersize Me). McDonald's frequently uses language in its advertising to convey its market dominance, but subtly enough to make the choice seem natural.
Pathos (Emotion)
McDonald's's primary means of establishing its brand comes from its attempt to associate itself with positive emotions. Emotional appeals take many forms, including fear or hatred of the competition or sympathizing with possible consumers. Instead, McDonald's focuses on rewarding new and repeat customers with an alluring sense of happiness and satisfaction. McDonald's frequently uses smiles and positive words on its wrappings and advertisings, but the most notable example of pathos is the company's effective use of slogans.

McDonald's has used a number of positive slogans over the years, many of which are still recognizable, in order to convey feelings of happiness and optimism to build the power of the brand. One of the most recent slogans, "I'm lovin' it," is a great example. In three words, the company is able to establish a positive emotion associated with engaging with the brand.
Logos (Logic)
McDonald's uses its status as a fast food powerhouse to lure consumers to its golden arches with a logical approach. Usually accompanied by phrasing like "Over 100 billion served" or references to locations in other countries, McDonald's restaurants attempt to logically convey themselves as a great eating option.

McDonald's is an excellent example of a company with great rhetorical balance. With positive emotion leading the strategy, people continue to enjoy the food under the golden arches.

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Almost anyone can recognize the iconic golden arches of McDonald's, which is now consistently ranked as one of the best fast food chains in the world. The company started in 1940 and has expanded to establishments in over 119 countries, serving 68 million customers every single day.

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Subway’s brand logo is yellow and green, where yellow represents happiness and green represents nature and health. With careful consideration of brand colors, and their reputation, they have used the ethos approach to have consumers think they are maintaining good rapport and ownership of their name.

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Ethos Pathos & Logos <br />In advertising

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Audience: All ages, anyone who is tired of premade decision

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The psychological factors, biological predisposition, and cultural evolution all contribute to color meanings and values. Color meanings are strongly ingrained in people’s minds, because they’re always visible to the person through their environments.

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Home >> Global >> The Meaning of Red and Other Colors Around the World

The Meaning of Red and Other Colors Around the World
Chinese weddings prominently feature the color red.
Around the world, different colors can have very different meanings. Knowing what colors mean in different countries can help you decide what colors to use on websites targeted to particular countries or cultures. It can also help you understand what colors to avoid, as well as avoiding misunderstandings or insults that may come about as various colors are used.

In China, red symbolizes luck and celebration. Rituals from baby-naming to weddings to new year celebrations all involve the color red, which also symbolizes long life. Brides in India wear red as a sign of purity, beauty and love. Married women also wear red. In South Africa, red is a color of mourning, whereas in Russia it denotes communism and power.

Korea, Iran and Mexico use blue as their color of mourning, whereas in Egypt it is used to ward off evil. In cultures like China and Belgium, blue is considered a feminine color, the opposite of American culture, which considers it a masculine one. China also associates blue with immortality. In politics, blue is associated with liberals/Democrats in the United States but with conservatives in the UK and Europe.

In European and Western cultures, purple is associated with royalty, a tradition that goes back to Roman culture and possibly even further. In India, Brazil, and Thailand, purple is a color associated with death and mourning, where as in Japan it denotes privilege and wealth.

Yellow is the color of Buddhism, which gives it special meaning in India and Thailand as a sacred or royal color. Japan considers yellow a color of courage and cheerfulness, and many western cultures in Europe and America associate it with joy and happiness. Greece associates yellow with sadness, however, and in France it symbolizes jealousy.

The national color of Ireland, green is also the color for Catholicism there. In many other countries including Japan, India, and China, green symbolizes life and new birth. In Saudi Arabia and the United States, green means wealth or money, where in South America it means death. Green is a forbidden color in Indonesia, and means hope and spring in Egypt.
Green is the national color of Ireland.
In India, widows must wear white to their husband's funeral, and in China white is also a color of death and mourning. In Korea, the United States, and some Middle Eastern cultures, white is a symbol of purity and innocence. American brides often wear it for weddings, babies are often baptized in white outfits, and angels are usually depicted as wearing white. White is the color for purity in Buddhism as well.

In India as well as in Western cultures, black symbolizes evil, rebellion and death. Japan associates black with mystery and feminine energy which could be threatening or alluring. In China, black is a color for young boys, and in Africa it stands for age and wisdom.

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The Meaning of Red and Other Colors Around the World | Dynamic Language

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Chinese weddings prominently feature the color red. Around the world, different colors can have very different meanings. Knowing what colors mean in different countries can help you decide what colors to use on websites targeted to particular countries or cultures. It can also help you understand what colors to avoid, as well as avoiding misunderstandings [...]

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Red & Yellow— Primary Food Colors Used in Food Logos

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Red & Yellow— Primary Food Colors Used in Food Logos

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It is no coincidence that almost all fast food logos include colors like red, white and yellow. According to the wheel of color psychology, red represents power, love and desire. Yellow links to happiness, comfort, and contentment. An example of a logo that controls the sense of nostalgia and happiness is McDonalds, with its red and yellow arches every time a person drives past their restaurant.

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There’s a sneaky reason why you always see red and yellow on fast food logos

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Color psychology plays a role in some of your favorite brand’s logos, including fast food chains. From McDonald’s to Taco Bell, here’s how fast food chains utilize certain colors to make you more hungry and impulsive.

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To understand the complexity of color psychology in food choice, one must first acknowledge the history and theories of color itself. Color psychology is the study of hues as the determinant of human behavior.

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A good rule of thumb for many Westerners is this: wear black to a funeral. Black, in this context, signifies solemnity; it's how we show that we're grieving and respecting that of those around us. Weddings, on the other hand, are known for white - but only for the bride! While the bride wears white to symbolize purity and uphold tradition, wearing white as a guest is often seen as an attempt at pulling attention away from the ceremony, which can be considered gravely insulting depending on one's company.

Wardrobe, of course, is far from the only place in our lives where color comes into play. But the point still stands: color is vital to the human experience. Through color, we feel; we communicate; we heal. Those in advertising use it to sell products; those in schools and offices use it to increase productivity.

When it comes to communication, color is unbeatable. Unconscious or otherwise, color can evoke emotions, inspire reactions, and change modes of thinking. It can excite or soothe your mood, raise or lower your blood pressure, and even whet your appetite! Whether it's innate or learned, it's undeniable that color has a vital impact on how we go about our lives.

With the basics of the color theory under your belt, you can approach the psychology of individual colors with a bit more nuance. As we've established, color is far from just a visual experience; it can affect your mood, your wants, your reactions, so on and so forth. However, such a powerful tool is wasted if you don't know how to use it effectively.

As such, knowing the personality and psychological effects of different colors - including various shades and tints popular with producers and consumers alike - is vital!

Consider the following list a table of contents of sorts. This will be your point of reference from which to navigate the depths of color psychology.

From the start of the rainbow to the ubiquitous advertising for Valentine's Day, red remains one of the most evocative colors on the visible spectrum. As a primary color, red is a color entirely its own - that is to say, no other colors can come together to form a perfect red. In RGB, red is comprised of 100% red, 0% green, and 0% blue.

Associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure.

It attracts attention more than any other color, at times signifying danger.

Popular shades of red: Magenta, Burgundy, Maroon.

Read more about the color red >>

Green is the primary color that hints at our primitive relationship with the first creation of the world - nature. Considered the key color that represents purity, health, and freshness, green has been traditionally associated with brands that encourage growth, vitality, and productivity (think Starbucks and EverNote!).

Gentle, invigorating, and relaxing, green also represents connection. Connection to ourselves, to the quiet moments in our lives, to nature itself. It is not a mere coincidence that people evade the concrete jungle of big cities to disconnect from the mundane and connect to the wilderness of nature. Green means the return to the primal roots, to the pristine kingdom of inner peace and tranquillity.

Popular shades of green: Chartreuse

Read more about the color green >>

In contrast to its sister primary color, red, blue is associated with a calm serenity over intensity or passion. When asked to visualize a tranquil scene, chances are people will immediately imagine a great deal of blue - usually in the form of a still body of water. Thoughtful and still, blue represents a sense of inner reflection. A great deal of research has indicated that this impact on the body is indeed inverse to red's, resulting in lower heart rates and even slower metabolisms.

Popular shades of blue: Teal, Turquoise

Read more about the color blue >>

Moving on to a more serious and imposing color, we arrive at brown, which no longer sends us thinking of youthfulness and excitement. Traditionally associated with seriousness, stability, and wisdom, brown is mostly worn by people who impose respect and appreciation through their status. When you think of this color, you might envision a paternal figure or a grandfather in the middle of the family.

Because families are centered on the stability and resourcefulness of the main male figure, most people feel secure and stable when thinking about brown. Paternal figures who passed a certain age also exude a sense of stability, but in the material sense - they have accumulated life experience which is manifested in possessions and financial gain. Most people feel safe around people wearing brown because they represent seriousness, reliance, and support.

Associated with the traits of dependability, reliability, and resilience.

Brown-lovers are most often reserved and not looking to attract attention to oneself

While light brown represents honesty and stability, dark brown is considered mature, predictable, and dull

Read more about the color brown >>

Bright and persuasive, orange results from the combination of yellow and red. As we have seen in the previous section, yellow denotes optimism and cheerfulness, while red can suggest intense feelings of love and even dominance. Orange sits in the middle of those extremities: it promotes rejuvenation, communication, and positivism. This color also enhances extraversion, allowing people to let go of their inhibitions and express themselves more freely.

Combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow.

Associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics.

Represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

Read more about the color orange >>

"He is so bright" - Have you ever wondered where the association of increased mental capacity and this particular visual adjective comes from? Yellow, the brightest color of the spectrum, is commonly used in images depicting fresh ideas, creative projects, or new business initiatives. You probably already know the prototypical image of someone brainstorming ideas that are linked with a bright yellow bulb! This is not a random association: yellow has been scientifically proven by studies to enhance mental activity and heighten awareness and energy levels.

The brightness of this color unclogs mental blocks and encourages people to seek new perspectives by abandoning the dull ways of looking at the world. You can think of yellow as the main color of the morning time, when you are the most alert, insightful and analytical, and when you have the chance to create a brand new day in your life. And do not just take my word for it - studies have linked yellow with increased activity of the left side of the brain, which is considered the powerhouse of rational thinking!

Associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates
muscle energy.

Bright, pure yellow is an attention-getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color.

When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect.

It is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms.

Yellow indicates honor and loyalty. Later the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice.

Popular shades of yellow: Amber, Beige

Read more about the color yellow >>

One of the gentlest and yet most contradictory colors out there, pink is a color that varies greatly depending on its context. Making it, however, remains simple. Though it has a great number of shades and undertones, pink is most commonly known to be a pale red mixed with white.

Popular shades of Pink: Salmon

Read more about the color pink >>

And so we arrive at our first secondary color. A beautiful mixture of red and purple, purple sits exactly halfway between the two on the color wheel, though varying each amount can result in new shades.

True to its red parent color, purple is often associated with luxury and power. However, as opposed to red's tendency to reflect the material facets of power and ambition, purple errs towards royalty and nobility. The blue tones bring in a sense of relaxation and stability, which alongside the energy of red synthesizes to create a feeling of wisdom and good sense.

Combines the stability of blue and the energy of red.

Associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition.

Conveys wealth and extravagance.

Associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.

Popular shades of purple: Indigo, Violet, Lavender, Mauve

Read more about the color purple >>

Making a radical shift right to the opposite end of the color spectrum, we finally arrive at white. In contrast to its darker precursors who exuded mystery, white is the universal symbolic color for purity, wholeness, and innocence. It makes us think of new beginnings, perfection, but also of elegance and serenity. When you have a blank canvas free of any imperfections, you have the freedom to start something new, to let your ideas take contour, and to move in any direction you want.

White is highly creative, and it invites reflection, openness, and awakening. It is a great color for those who want to declutter their minds and spaces, hence why it is often associated with cleanliness and order. The bridal dress and the doctor's uniforms are also white because they represent purity, order, and offer comfort and hope. Similarly, white is also largely found in doctor's offices because it gives a sense of efficiency and perfect cleanliness, which helps patients build trust in the services offered by doctors.

Associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity.

Considered to be the color of perfection.

Signifies safety, purity, and cleanliness.

Usually has a positive connotation.

Can represent a successful beginning.

Depicts faith and purity.

Read more about the color white >>

Moving on to black, one of the most complex in meaning colors of the spectrum, we realize that there is no set-in-stone interpretation when it comes to this color. Black is highly versatile and, depending on which angle you approach it from, you can see it as elegant, mysterious, or downright depressing. For this reason, we will dedicate some time to explore the abundance of meanings that have been historically bestowed upon this color.

Read more about the color black >>

More about color psychology and symbolism

Color is, simply stated, broken down white light. This is a dissection of light at different wavelengths and each wavelength is perceived as a separate color. Objects tend to absorb or reflect these wavelengths, so when we see a yellow lemon, it is the yellow wavelength that is being reflected while all others are being absorbed. Now that we have understood what color means, let's explore some of the ways it influences our mood.

We feel color. How or what we feel about it varies from person to person. Some colors give us a sense of serenity and calm; these usually lie within the blue side of the spectrum-that consists of purple and green too, known as the cool side. Others induce rage and make us uncomfortable, or signify passion; these lie within the red spectrum-which includes orange and yellow, known as the warm side.

Color perception is subjective, and certain colors have a very universal significance. This is coded into our reptilian brain, giving us that instinctive feeling of fire being dangerous and the beach being relaxing.

Color psychology is a very important tool used by artists, interior decorators, and as a marketing mechanism in many industries. It is the palette used by Dali that makes his artwork bizarre and amplifies the hyperrealism he intends to create.

When we visit a museum to appreciate a work of art, we take it in through the colors we see because they invoke within us certain emotions, making the claim that everyone sees it differently a reality. Interior decorators survey the effect of colors when deciding what color (Or rather color associations) the walls of a certain area in a building will be painted.

The reason that many offices have a lot of greys, blues, and browns incorporated in their décor is that these colors tend to increase productivity. Yet, this is not a rule of thumb. This does hold true for a corporate environment, but if one were to work say for example in the fashion industry, or the media, the use of brighter and more "colorful" paints would help encourage creativity.

Many car commercials show black as their model because this certain color is associated with affluence and seriousness. This leads the consumer to believe that the product is worth buying. Even the food and drink industry uses color to attract more people to certain brands. The purple and gold packaging of a certain brand of candy bar is a technique to lure the consumer into believing that this is chocolate royalty, and why would one not want to buy the best of best. Culturally speaking, colors have different values attached to them too. A bride in the western world wears white, whereas it is what a widow wears in South Asia.

Color stimulates our brain, and from ancient times has proven to be useful alternative psychotherapy. The Egyptians and Chinese used colors to heal, a process that is known as chromotherapy. Colors were used in order to help the body function better.

However, there is a lot of doubt that prevails today as far as the effectiveness of color therapy is concerned. Since every human being has different emotions attached to different colors, the universal significance of colors may or may not work in these cases.

The bottom line being, color psychology, and associations are an interesting part of the complex working system of our brain, yet with so many scientific questions about it still left unanswered, and differences in cultural attachments to colors, it can only be utilized through observation and experience of how color has influenced brains over the years.

Frequently Asked Questions about The Psychology of Colors
Additional Read: Fun Additional Read: Color Knowledge Additional Read: Mixing Colors Extras:
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Color Psychology: A Guide for Designers, Marketers & Students

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The guide to color psychology: Understand how colors affect psychology, behavior, and emotions. Learn the meanings and symbolism of different colors.

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"Phone Eats First", a term referred to how consumers will generally eat with their eyes first.

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The blogger and food diarist Nora Sherman. Credit... Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times (center); photographs by Nora Sherman

JAVIER GARCIA, a 28-year-old neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, was in the campus pub recently having a grilled cheese sandwich. But before he took a bite, he snapped a digital picture of it, cheese artistically oozing between toasted white bread, just as he has photographed everything he has eaten in the last five years.

Every other week he posts the photos on his Web site, ejavi.com/javiDiet, providing a strangely intimate and unedited view of his life and attracting fans from as far away as Ecuador. The nearly 9,000 photos leave nothing out, not even snacks as small as a single square of shredded wheat.

When he lost his iPhone while visiting New York last month, he pleaded with exasperated friends to take pictures of his food and to e-mail them to him, lest his record be incomplete. "It was a nightmare," Mr. Garcia said, particularly because the unfocused pictures "were not the quality I'm used to."

In 1825, the French philosopher and gourmand Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." Today, people are showing the world what they eat by photographing every meal, revealing themselves perhaps more vividly than they might by merely reciting the names of appetizers and entrees.

Keeping a photographic food diary is a growing phenomenon with everything from truffle-stuffed suckling pig to humble bowls of Cheerios being captured and offered for public consumption. Indeed, the number of pictures tagged "food" on the photo-sharing Web site Flickr has increased tenfold to more than six million in the last two years, according to Tara Kirchner, the company's marketing director. One of the largest and most active Flickr groups, called "I Ate This," includes more than 300,000 photos that have been contributed by more than 19,000 members. There would be more, but members are limited to 50 photos a month. The same phenomena can be found on other sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Foodspotting, Shutterfly, Chowhound and FoodCandy.

Nora Sherman, 28, the deputy director of the City University of New York's Building Performance Lab, which promotes sustainable construction, finds that the pictures she takes of her food are her most popular posts on Facebook, Twitter and on her blog, Thought for Food, ( noraleah.com). The immediate and enthusiastic commentary on, say, an arugula and feta salad or a plate of fried okra have given her a sense of connection and community since moving to Manhattan from New Orleans in 2006.

"People I have never met follow my blog and know me through the food I eat," Ms. Sherman said. She was even introduced to her boyfriend through someone she came to know through his comments on the food pictures on her blog, and who thought the two might be a match.

She said she takes pictures of at least half the meals she eats, omitting, for example, multicourse meals when it might "interrupt the flow." But she has noticed lately that it's becoming harder to suppress the urge to shoot. "I get this 'must take picture' feeling before I eat, and what's worse is that I hate bad pictures so I have to capture it in just the right light and at just the right angle," Ms. Sherman said.

She uses a Canon PowerShot S90 and uploads pictures to her Web site daily, sometimes several times a day, which takes at most 30 minutes a day. The camera, she said, is small but works well in low light. She doesn't style her photos, saying, "I like to take shots that no pro would ever take — holding an oyster in my hand about to slurp it down, or a bagel with a bite out of it."

Her impulse to photograph her food and do so artistically has made her a more adventurous eater. "It's driven me to seek out interesting, photogenic foods," she said. She is now more likely to eat foods she would have once avoided, like beef tendon, heart and tripe at an Asian shopping mall in Flushing, Queens. And, she said, photographing the food has kept her honest when she has started diets: "When I decided to have salad for dinner during a juice fast, I snapped and posted that."

Photos are also a means of self-motivation for Mr. Garcia, who began photographing his food after he lost 80 pounds. "It's definitely part of my neuroticism about trying to keep thin," he said. "It keeps you accountable because you don't want to have to see that you ate an entire jar of peanut butter."

And, ever the scientist, he hopes to one day use the photographs to calculate how much money he spends to consume a calorie versus how much he spends in gym memberships and sports gear to burn a calorie. "People I have dated haven't been that into it," he said of his food photo-journaling. "But it's never been a deal breaker."

EVERY MORSEL Javier Garcia photographing his food. Every other week, he posts the pictures on his Web site. Credit... Amy Dickerson for The New York Times

Pamela Hollinger, 36, an independent radio programmer and announcer in Stephenville, Tex., said her husband of eight years is resigned to her taking pictures of her food. "When we were dating, it was like, 'What are you doing?' " she said. "Now it's a quirk he's come to accept."

Her habit began in 1997 as a way to show her mother what she ate on vacations, but she now photographs almost everything she eats, leaving out only insignificant snacks and anything unappealing looking, like a bowl of oatmeal. "I think getting an iPhone had a lot to do with it," Ms. Hollinger said. "It's so easy to just take a quick picture of what I'm eating and no one really notices." Or maybe they think she is just texting at the table.

She e-mails the pictures directly from her phone to a few friends and posts some of them on her Facebook page as well as on Chowhound. "I like to show off what I'm eating or something I've made that I'm proud of, like a pork rib-eye roast that became pulled pork sandwiches and then pork tacos and then pork salad," she said. "I get more comments on my food pictures than anything else. Within seconds, I get, 'Oh, I'm jealous,' or 'Hey, can I come over?' "

That some people are keeping photographic food diaries and posting them online does not surprise psychotherapists. "In the unconscious mind, food equals love because food is our deepest and earliest connection with our caretaker," said Kathryn Zerbe, a psychiatrist who specializes in eating disorders and food fixations at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. "So it makes sense that people would want to capture, collect, catalog, brag about and show off their food."

Photographing meals becomes pathological, however, if it interferes with careers or relationships or there's anxiety associated with not doing it. "I'd have to ask if they would feel O.K. if they didn't do it," said Tracy Foose, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, who treats patients with obsessive-compulsive disorders. "Could they resist the urge to do it?"

Joe Catterson, the general manager of Alinea restaurant in Chicago, said that, increasingly, people can't. "One guy arrived with the wrong lens or something on his camera and left his wife sitting at the table for an hour while he went home to get it," he said.

Such compulsion is apparent even at restaurants where the plating is less elaborate. "They've got to take a picture of their pancakes and send it to their friend," said John Vasilopoulos, the manager at the Cup & Saucer, a diner on the Lower East Side. "I don't get it because their food gets cold, but I take it as a compliment."

Evidently aware of the trend, manufacturers like Nikon, Olympus, Sony and Fuji have within the last two years released cameras with special "food" or "cuisine" modes, costing around $200 to $600. "These functions enable close-up shots with enhanced sharpness and saturation so the food colors and textures really pop," said Terry Sullivan, associate editor of digital imaging technologies at Consumer Reports.

This bemuses Tucker Shaw, the food critic for The Denver Post, who made do with a basic point-and-shoot digital camera to take pictures of everything he ate in 2004; he published the photos in his book, "Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth."

"It used to turn heads if you took a picture of your food, and I even got in trouble at a few restaurants," he said. "Now it's ubiquitous and just shows that we are in a spastic food era — we couldn't get more obsessive."

Nonetheless, Mr. Shaw said the year he spent photographing his food (and a year was enough for him) resulted in an achingly honest account of his life that revealed far more than the fact that he ate too few leafy green vegetables: "The pictures, I realize now, are incredibly personal, and by looking at them you can probably deduce the type of person I am." Moreover, the pictures set off memories and emotions in a way a written journal could not. "I remember every single day, who I was with, what I was feeling," he said.

Unlike a picture of a flower or friend, a picture of a meal recalls something smelled, touched, tasted and ultimately ingested. Carl Rosenberg, 52, a Web site developer who divides his time among San Francisco; Austin, Tex.; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, photographs his food along the way with a Nikon D3.

"You have more of a direct connection with your food, so it forms a more essential memory of an occasion," he said. He often places a small stuffed animal, a sheep, which he calls the Crazy Sheep, next to his food before taking a picture; reminiscent of the globe-trotting garden gnome in the French film "Amélie."

"I think photographing food is a more accurate way to document life," said Mr. Rosenberg, who shares photos with family and friends but does not post them. "Food isn't going to put on a special face when you take a picture of it."

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First Camera, Then Fork (Published 2010)

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JAVIER GARCIA, a 28-year-old neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, was in the campus pub recently having a grilled cheese sandwich. But before he took a bite, he snapped a digital picture of it, cheese artistically oozing between toasted white bread, just as he has photographed everything he has eaten in the last five years.