Hue would have imagined? (Walter D. Joseph)

How much do the colors used in your designs effect the response from your audience? Do the colors used have any effect at all on your audience? Are you a new designer who is having a difficult time attracting a client base? Are your potential clients eyeballing your artwork and then simply walking away, or visiting your website only to briefly check it out and then off to the next? If this sounds like you odds are it is not the type of art you are producing, but the colors you are using. Having done some rather interesting research, I came across several very interesting articles that discuss the roll of color in our everyday lives, but more importantly the roll of color in the successfulness of our artwork/design. Included in this blog post are some interesting data surrounding color and its effectiveness on design, purchasing power and trademark.

Color-scheme and Advertisement

The Seoul International Color Expo 2004 secretariat reported these very interesting relationships found between advertisement and color:
1. Approximately 93% of people said that visual factors are of most importance when buying a product. Compared to 6% that feel that the physical feel (or touch) was of most importance; leaving only 1% for both hearing and smell.

2. 85% of people; when asked to approximate the importance of color when purchasing a product agreed that color accounts for more than half among the various factors important for choosing products.

3. Research has shown that people often make a subconscious judgment about environment, products, or a person within the first minute and a half of initial viewing. What’s more, approximately between 62% and 90% of that judgment is solely based on color alone.

4. Henley Centre research suggests that 73% of purchasing decisions are actually made in the store. Therefore, getting the clients/potential clients attention and conveying information efficiently are essential to successful sales.

Color and Trademark Character

1. A University of Loyola, Maryland study concluded that color increases brand recognition by up to 80%.

2. Lets use Heinz Ketchup as an example. The astonishing success of Heinz EZ Squirt Blasin’ “Green” ketchup is completely a result of color. Roughly 10 million bottles of “green” ketchup were sold in the first two quarters following its introduction, with Heinz factories producing ketchup 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep up with its popularity and demand. As a result, 23 million in sales is a direct result of simply changing the color from red to green. By the way the $23 million is the highest sales increase in the Heinz’s history. All because they changed the color of their ketchup!

3. Now let’s take a look at Apple Computer. The computer marketplace has never truly been a place of color. Until now! Apple brought the computer to life by introducing the colorful iMacs. Apple took a stance and was the first company to say that “Computers do not have to be beige”! Until the introduction of color, Apple had suffered $1.8 billion of losses in only 2 years; but now we have colorful laptops and iPods!

Color is a Magnet for Interest

1. When was the last time you read a black and white advertisement? It is likely you do not remember and there is a good reason why. Research suggests that a black and white image may sustain interest for less than two-thirds a second, whereas a color image can hold ones attention for two seconds more-a product only has about 1/20 of a second to halt the customer’s attention on a self or display!

2. People cannot process every object within view at one time. Therefore, color can be used as a tool to emphasize or de-emphasize areas.

Staggering Statistics

92% Believe color presents an image of impressive quality
90% Feel color can assist in attracting new customers
90% Believe customers remember presentations and documents better when color is used
83% Believe color makes them appear more successful
81% Think color gives them a competitive edge
76% Believe that the use of color makes their business appear larger to clients
Source: Conducted by Xerox Corporation and International Communications Research from February 19, 2003 to March 7, 2003, margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

What are some of your personal experiences using color? How has it positively or negatively affected your work as a designer?