Your Customers Aren't Color Blind!

About a week ago a Twitter post caught my eye. @RyanVanasse "tweeted" the following:

"When it comes to food, I'm kind of a sucker for the color Red." Link

I thought this was a brilliant observation, because Ryan is dead on. When it comes to food, the vast majority of people ARE suckers for the color red. Knowing this fact, designers and marketers are trained on color theory; they [should] know how to take advantage of Ryan's simple observation.

As the color red affected Ryan's possible buying decision of a particular tasty food item, it may also cause problems if used in different scenarios. In the context of finance one is likely to respond negatively to the color red, after all being "in the red" is a scary thing for number-crunchers. Does this mean bankers will avoid the color red at all costs? Nah, it simply means in the context of specific scenarios, the color will trigger a negative reaction.

So, why does this phenomenon occur? The answer is quite simple, our brains learn and respond by association. Over time, the brain is trained to accept or reject certain color combinations depending on which association seems appropriate. The slightest variable can change our perspective on color. To make things worse, this puzzle is in a constant state of change, depending on culture, origin or experience.

In what way is your business or company taking advantage of color? Are you sending the right message with your marketing materials? Could the only difference between making more revenue or making less be a simple color change?