Easy Color Symbolism for Everyday Document Design

By Jill Morton, color psychologist and branding expert

The great artist Paul Klee said, “Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet.” Color is a powerful, yet confusing tool. For example, consider the color red. What mood or emotion first comes to mind: stop or love?

Choosing the best color for your business requires an understanding of color symbolism. My color symbolism guidelines help create business documents with emotional impact that incite action.

Symbolism Basics

• Start with a basic formula for all colors, regardless of hue:

Dark = professional, trustworthy, reliable

Bright = energizing, youthful

Light = delicate, peaceful

Muted = sophisticated, calming

• Take a cue from visual science:

Bright colors like yellow reflect more light, pack more energy and are attention getting. However, if used in excess, it can be irritating to the eyes. A bright yellow background would be a good choice for a flier promoting an upcoming sale and a bad choice for an informational brochure for a new sleeping pill.

Muted colors such as grey/blue or mauve are visually soothing and should be used in business documents designed to comfort customers, such as a report on philanthropic giving.

• Evaluate universal psychological associations that are applicable to everyone:

Color can communicate the same thing to all people, but there are other meanings that may apply to specific age groups. A business document must take into consideration the age of the reader.

Purple is a great example of a color with complex color meanings. This may explain why it’s also a color that people either love or hate. Purple rarely occurs in nature. Aside from purple grapes and exotic flowers it’s very uncommon. Therefore, this color is linked to the spiritual world. It can be regal, creative, magical, spiritual and at the same time foreboding, mysterious and apocalyptical.

New associations of the color purple have evolved – today, the younger generation considers purple a happy color.  For example, there’s Barney, the purple pill, purple ketchup, Prince and “Purple Rain.”

Traditional meanings are more prevalent with mature adults. Purple would be a risky color for a golf course brochure for middle-aged adults, but a great color for packaging of electronic games.

• Remember the sensory connections of color:

Some colors evoke taste and odor sensations. Yellow-green generates a sour taste, pink is sweet, grey is smoky and blue has no taste sensation.

A bakery menu design that incorporates pink is a good example of enhancing a business document with sweet sensory symbolism; a funeral home brochure printed in vivid yellow green is a bad example.

• Analyze the influence of quantity, shape, imagery and combinations:

Color symbolism in document design is also influenced by other factors. The most powerful color association arises from the color that is used in the largest amounts. Small quantities of a color may simply function as an accent.  The shape that a color occupies is also important, for example:

• Circles are associated with softness, connection, wholeness, warmth, comfort and love
• Rectangles with solidity, containment, order, logic, certainty and hardness
• Triangles with power, excitement, aggression, force and mystery

When a color is combined with a specific object, different meanings may arise. For example, a red heart is symbolic of love, a black heart of treachery, and a purple heart is the American military award for bravery. Remember that colors never exist in isolation and color combination adds meaning.

Color Selection Checklist

When selecting colors use this easy checklist to make sure you’re applying color strategically – so you can meet your business objectives and communications goals:

√     What is the intended effect of the color that I want to use in a business communication? For example, does my color choice communicate dynamic energy or dependability?
√     What is the timeless symbolism of this color? Does this color create logical associations for what I want to communicate?
√    How much color will I use?

√   How will I use this color? Will the color be part of a shape? What does the color combination symbolize?

This article was originally posted on Xerox.