Colours and Fonts Matter

Humans are constantly communicating even when we don't open our mouths. We will furrow our brows and tighten our lips to say, "I don't like what's going on right now." or we can open our eyes wider and smile to say, "I really like what's going on here."

The numbers vary depending on the study, but generally, only 7% of human communication is verbal, with another 38% being vocal through the pitch, tone, and speed of our voice and the remaining 55% made up of our body language and facial expressions.

So much of what we do as marketing and branding professionals is communication. Setting aside this author's biases, advertising copy plays only a bit in eliciting an emotional response in our audience.

Even when we're not saying anything, we're still communicating, and it's time to ask yourself what your brand’s colours and fonts are saying.

The psychology of colour is a complex subject, and there are some variations in their associations for people depending on the context and culture. With that caveat out of the way, let's explore colours and fonts and the emotions they can conjure in your audience.

Violet/Purple: Violet in the light spectrum, but purple, in layperson's terms, has long been a signifier of luxury, wealth, and sophistication. Tyrian purple dye, created from the excretions of a rare predatory sea snail, became a status colour in 1st century Rome. Its rarity meant only royalty could afford it.

Cadbury's chocolate uses purple to signify its luxurious taste. Taco Bell also uses it, so it's not an exact science.

Blue: Blue elicits trust, calmness, and security because of its association with water. It also means your brand is likeable, which makes it a top choice for social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Blue is also seen as the colour of business, as seen in the logos of Intel, Salesforce, and American Express.

Green: Green elicits feelings of growth, harmony, and nature. In branding, green can create a sense of growth and balance. It's the obvious choice for farm machines like John Deer and companies that aren't connected to nature but want to present such an image, like BP.

Yellow: Yellow is more contextually dependent than the others; it can say happiness, optimism, and warmth, like McDonald's golden arches, but it can mean caution and safety, like Stanley Tools.

Orange: Orange is often associated with warmth, enthusiasm, and friendliness. Unlike Blue, Orange isn't as universally likeable. In branding, orange creates a sense of enthusiasm and affordability.

Red: Red means excitement, energy, and passion but also danger, anger, and aggression. Red runs the gamut from brands as diverse as Tesla and Coca-Cola. They use red logos to indicate a connection to power and energy to the American Red Cross, and Band-Aid uses red to highlight their connection to our blood.

Pink: Pink is romance, love, femininity and sometimes immaturity and weakness. In branding, pink creates a sense of romance and femininity.

Black: Black is strongly associated with power, elegance, and sophistication. It can also be associated with mystery, evil and mourning. If you're a luxury brand or a heavy metal band, black could be the right choice.

IF COLOURS ARE OUR BODY LANGUAGE AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, THEN FONTS ARE OUR VOCAL INTONATION AND TELL YOUR AUDIENCE SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR BRAND.

If you asked, "Why are they yelling," then you understand.

Like colours, the emotional elicitation from fonts is subjective and other caveats, but let's look at some of the more popular ideas behind font psychology.

Serif fonts: Serif fonts have small lines or embellishments at the end of the strokes of letters. They are common in formal or classic branding with their association with tradition, elegance, and sophistication. Examples of serif fonts include Times New Roman, Garamond, and Baskerville.

Sans-serif fonts: Sans, from the French meaning "without." Sans-serif fonts do not have small lines or embellishments, giving them a look of simplicity, modernity, and cleanliness. Their modern look makes them popular with technology companies, websites, and apps. Examples of sans-serif fonts include Arial, Helvetica, and Open Sans.

Script fonts: Script fonts mimic handwriting or calligraphy, creating an appearance of elegance, femininity, and creativity. Fashion or beauty products will use script fonts, including Lucida Handwriting, Autography, and Cream Cake.

Display fonts: Display fonts such as Hornbill, Rockwell and Futura are more extravagant or unique designs associated with creativity, artistry, and attention-grabbing needed in titles, headlines or displays.

Monospace fonts: Monospace fonts have a uniform width for every character as though typed with a typewriter to create a sense of stability, technicality, and functionality. Monospace fonts such as Courier New, Courier Regular and Courier Prime are popular with coders and retro enthusiasts.

Before our audience reads our copy, they see our logos, colours, and fonts. They judge us before we say a word.

What is your brand saying about you?

Merchant North will help your brand speak clearly, and with intention. To learn how we can, let's talk.