Thursday, May 16, 2013

Color's Controlling our Minds!

Why is Facebook blue?


It might seem like a silly question but the root answer to why different web pages have different color schemes stems deeper than, oh it just seemed cute or appealing.  Buffer's Leo Widrich published an article on Fast Company analyzing the science behind colors in marketing. 
Photo Credit: Facebook.com

For Facebook the answer actually IS that simple.  The reasoning behind the blue color scheme is due to the fact that creator, Mark Zuckerberg is red-green color blind, and blue is the color he can perceive the strongest.  Unlike Facebook, the rest of the world wide web, is designing their pages based on what sort of mood and message they want to convey to their viewers.  

Photo Credit: Fast Company

According to Widrich black conveys power, strength, direct, credibility, accuracy and definiteness.  Sites that use a good amount of black as the basis to their color scheme are usually more serious organizations like construction, corporate, oil, fashion, cosmetics, mining and marketing.  Sites with a green color scheme are more on the environmentally friendly mindset, as well as education and adventure.  Medicine, science, government, ecological-business, tourism and human resources all predominately have green color schemes.  Finally, sites with a blue color pallet convey characteristics like credibility, calming, clean, focused, medical, professional, judicial, power and business and encompass business like medical, scientific, utilities, government, health care, high-tech, legal, information technology, dental and corporate.


According to Widrich, women and men are surprisingly similar when it comes to color preferences, both gravitating towards blue and green and preferred colors and disliking brown and orange.  This general color preference makes it easier to appeal to a wide range of users, and stay away from colors that would deter internet traffic.  Red has also been proven to be a very demanding and urgent color, and when used on a web page to try and persuade users to subscribe to something, versus a green button, 21% of more users subscribed when exposed to the red button.  This simple change in button color generated a significant difference in whether users performed a specific action or not, which proves that color has a definite impact on our choices and perceptions. 

Photo Credit: Fast Company
After reading this article I took a closer look at some of my favorite websites I visit daily and analyzed the color scheme and how it effected my mood.  Pandora was the first site I looked at and with a generally blue color scheme, the site made me feel relaxed, which is what I look for in a music website whether it be studying for finals or when I want to listen to some tunes and unwind from the day.  The next site I looked at was BuzzFeed with a generally red and yellow color scheme, the colors made me feel happy and lighthearted, as the humorous stories on the site are intended to do.  Lastly, I looked at LinkedIn, which had a blue and black color scheme, giving off the sense of professionalism, credibility and business. 

Although colors of a web page might seem like a characteristic most overlook, web designers spend a lot of time designing and coming up with these color schemes in order to send a message to users.  The color of a website may have more of an impact on your senses and perception then you might think, and something as simple as the color of a button may be the reason you subscribe to a web site or not.  The moral of the story, do not underestimate the color wheel, it may be controlling your choices, mood and online credit card activity!


5 comments:

  1. Alex,
    I found this so compelling -- thank you for the post -- great information for designers and marketers -- and it made me also click to my favorite sites for a color inspection and retrospection. Good stuff.
    I enjoyed your blog body of work. More than not, you offered a variety of topic discussions and a found a unique voice with which to express them. I hope you'll continue to blot!
    Best to you as you face your senior year. I enjoyed having you in class!
    Prof. Mac

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    Replies
    1. Ahh, this just made my day, thanks so much for the positive feedback! I will miss you a great deal, but I know whatever endeavor you take on next you will surely thrive. You motivated me to be a better student and marketer and I am planning on taking what I learned in your class up to my summer internship in NY. Keep in touch!

      -Alex

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  2. As a Designer & Marketer I was so helpful after reading this blog. Thank you so much. You can also try my website https://onlineadszone.com/services/baltimore-seo/

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