Colour theory: how do you use colour?
You do not think about it every day, but every colour has a meaning. Unconsciously we associate a colour with a feeling, with an emotion. On this website you will find yellow as a supporting colour alongside the predominant black and white. Yellow is a colour associated with something positive (as well as with Easter, of course, but that is another story entirely).
Positive and negative associations with colours
Naturally, what works that way on a website works the same way in photography. Colours matter and can make or break a photo. Even in black and white photography colour plays a part. It is not for nothing that in black and white we still talk about red, yellow, green and blue. They are tones we can adjust individually. Back to the colours.
Let me be clear that a colour can have both positive and negative associations. I mentioned positivity as an association with yellow, but perhaps you also recognise overstimulation (nervousness). Both Zwitsal and I have chosen to bet on the positive association.
An overview of colour meanings
Blue
Positive: Trust, loyalty
Negative: Conservative, corporate
Where do we see blue?
Visa, Dell, Facebook, the Dutch government
Light blue
Positive: Young, cool
Negative: Cold, unemotional
Where do we see light blue?
Skype, Twitter, Albert Heijn, the United Nations
Brown
Positive: Safety, warmth
Negative: Dull, stubborn
Where do we see brown?
M&M’s, UPS, Nespresso, Louis Vuitton
Yellow
Positive: Positivity, renewal
Negative: Fear, overstimulation
Where do we see yellow?
McDonalds, Lay’s, Snapchat, Ferrari
Grey
Positive: Neutral, timeless
Negative: Non-committal, dull
Where do we see grey?
Apple, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, WordPress
Green
Positive: Balance, growth
Negative: Boredom, envy
Where do we see green?
Land Rover, Staatsbosbeheer, Spotify, BP
Orange
Positive: Optimistic, warm
Negative: Immature, cheap
Where do we see orange?
Fanta, PostNL, Nickelodeon, Amazon
Purple
Positive: Quality and luxury, creativity
Negative: Decadent, introverted
Where do we see purple?
Milka, Monster.com, Lucardi, Hallmark
Red
Positive: Passion, active
Negative: Aggression, provocation
Where do we see red?
Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Texaco, Netflix
Pink
Positive: Calming, caring
Negative: Helpless, inhibited
Where do we see pink?
Dunkin’ Donuts, Lyft, LG, T-Mobile
White
Positive: Perfection, clarity
Negative: Indifferent, sterile
Where do we see white?
Apple, Swarovski, Uber, Mini
Black
Positive: Solidity and efficiency, glamour
Negative: Distant, threatening
Where do we see black?
New York Times, WWF, Audi, Nike
In many cases it is of course a combination of two or three colours, but usually one dominates. Do you see why the companies above chose those specific colours for their logos?
Sometimes you have to think in reverse. You can deliberately choose cheap (orange) or the overstimulation of yellow. That Jumbo advert with Snollebollekes? Exactly. Rabobank uses blue and orange. Wibra has a yellow and red logo, just like Lay’s. Sometimes particular combinations are chosen precisely for the mix of positive and negative qualities.
Complementary colours
Colour psychology can go a long way. You choose your brand colours on the basis of what you want to convey. You go for recognition. That sometimes makes you dependent on it too. You can read here how companies changed their logos and sometimes their colours (and sometimes changed them back). In most cases the colours still provide the recognition, even when the logo changed completely (see BP, Converse).
On a website I always look at the use of colour. One of the most common mistakes is taking the brand style too far. It is nice that green is your brand colour, but if you make everything green, nothing stands out. Your call to action in particular, the action on the page you hope people will take (clicking a button, for example), has to jump out.
One way of doing that is to use a complementary colour for that button. Then you can be sure the button stands out.
You find complementary colours on the colour wheel. The colours opposite each other are complementary. So if you have a predominantly blue website, an orange button will stand out most. Yellow sits opposite purple.
A brief aside: it does not have to be that black and white, of course. Your own opinion and preference count too.
I absolutely wanted dark yellow, and absolutely no purple. On the colour wheel, blue sits opposite those transitional colours from yellow to orange, and I chose to use blue for the first button on my homepage. They are guidelines, not laws.
A very important note here is that complementary colours are not necessarily a good combination together. If you use one as a background and the other as text colour, you can end up with unreadable text.
Do this now: take a look at your website
The most important lesson is that it is worth looking critically at:
The impression your logo and brand style give. Do the colours fit the image you hope to have or achieve?
The various calls to action on your website. Do they stand out enough? Could a complementary colour make the most important elements on your site stand out better still?
I would just do it.
Photography
I could make a whole story of it, but in my colour photos the colours always have the leading role. The most important thing in a colour photo is the colour, to me. Wrong use of that colour distracts. Too much colour distracts.
Have a good look at photos by Martin Parr, or Alex Webb, to name a couple of heroes. Without colour, what makes those photos unique disappears.
How do you see those colours and that colour theory come back in your own photos? I am curious.
Sources:
linku.nl/kleurenpsychologie
colourharmony.nl/kleur-en-betekenis
colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours
Handy:
Colour picker
Colour generator