The human brain reacts to color in many ways. Whether consciously or unconsciously, colors influence how we think and make decisions. They affect the choices we make every day, from the clothes we wear to the cars we drive and even how we view digital signage advertisements. According to reports, around 85 percent of consumers buy products because of color. Research has also shown that utilizing color effectively can shoot up your brand recognition rate by 80 percent and raise visual appearance by 93 percent. This explains why some consumers are emotionally attached to certain products and why some brands seem to be converting more leads than their competitors.
Is your digital signage campaign not delivering the required results? Perhaps you’re using or combining the wrong colors so how do you pick the best color schema for digital signage? We reckon you’ll eventually arrive at the question but don’t worry; we’ve got you covered – as always. This article is packed with the best color selection tips for digital signage. All you need to do is read through carefully, apply the digital signage tips as advised, and watch your brand’s visibility and recognition skyrocket.
Color psychology
Color psychology is the study of colors and how they affect our human decisions. It may not seem obvious, but colors influence our sense of judgment and ultimately contribute (no matter how big or small) to the decisions we make every day. Think about it for a second. Do you ever go shopping and say to yourself, “I am buying a white Air Force 1 sneakers” or have you ever turned down the chance to buy a product because it’s not painted in your favorite color? Well, you’re not alone. I wouldn’t buy sneakers if it’s not white, and I wouldn’t use a phone if it’s not black. Call me a nerd, but that’s my preference. I am sure you have yours too (perhaps even weirder than mine), and it’s absolutely fine.
Many businesses and brands have come to realize this and they’ve been using it as a tool to drive sales. From the example we explained earlier, Nike probably knows there are more people (like myself) who would prefer white wear sneakers. So all they need to do is to ensure there’s enough supply of white sneakers to meet that demand, and they will sell out even with very little marketing efforts.
Same thing applies in digital signage, branding, and product design. As an entrepreneur or business owner, you can use color psychology to get more from your digital signage content. It’s no secret that colors have different meanings, or at least that’s what our minds have been programmed to believe. But in any case, your choice of color should fit the product(s) or service(s) you’re selling.
Let’s discuss the psychology around some of the more popular colors.
Black color psychology
Black is synonymous with power, mystery, elegance, sophistication, and boldness. That explains why most fashion and lifestyle brands use it in their logo and across their websites. For instance, Chanel and Nike use black for their logo. Black remains the dominant color on their websites but a bit of white is also added to complement it.
White color psychology
In North America and most parts of the world, it signifies purity, humility, innocence and every feeling or attribute that promotes positive vibes. Adidas apply white a lot in their marketing, and it is often used as the background color for e-commerce websites like Amazon and AliExpress. But more often than not, white is usually combined with other bold colors like black, blue, or red.
Red color psychology
Red captures attention easily because it represents energy, passion, action, and excitement. But you need to be careful because it is also associated with danger. So you want to make sure that you don’t use it too excessively or, better still, combine it with other subtle colors like white.
Blue color psychology
The sky tells you everything you need to know about the psychology of the blue color. It breeds calm, harmony, stability, and trust. So it shouldn’t surprise you that some of the most trustworthy companies in the world seem to be obsessed with the color. Brands like Walmart, Oral B, Meta, Twitter, and Skype use different shades of blue in their logo and marketing content.
We’ve covered the four most popular colors in this segment, but information about the psychology of other colors isn’t hard to find.
Importance of color in digital signage
As we highlighted earlier, color is important in marketing. Even more so in digital signage, where everything happens quickly, and you only have a couple of seconds or minutes to sell your brand/business to potential customers. These are some of the importance of color in digital signage.
Increased visibility
Color can help attract attention to your digital signage content, which in turn promotes the visibility of your brand. So when designing your next ad campaign, ensure to play around with colors to ensure it is lively and easy to read even from a distance.
Builds reliability
Finding a good combination of colors and sticking to it will do your brand or business a whole world of good. It would make your customers feel more confident buying your product and services.
For instance, we all know blue is the dominant color in Twitter’s logo. So imagine opening your Twitter account one day and find a yellow bird stuck somewhere at the top of the page. You definitely won’t feel confident using the service.
Influences customer buying decision
Generally, humans are biased towards products that are available in their favorite colors. It’s been like that since the beginning of time, and it’s not about to change anytime soon. Take this into consideration when you’re preparing your digital signage campaign. Advertise your products in multiple colors, so each customer has the luxury of selecting the one with their favorite color. Sometimes it’s difficult to cover all the available colors, but be sure to offer your products in at least four popular colors or combinations.
Promotes value
Every business has its core values, which sometimes can be represented with colors. So, as much as you can, sprinkle colors that depict the values of your organization in your digital signage content.
Tips for color scheme selection in digital signage
A good color scheme selection for digital signage is often underrated. Yes you’ve done all the hard work by investing in digital signage software and hardware. But if you don’t get your color scheme right, all of the effort you’ve put in might be wasted. And it’s not even as hard as you might think. All you need to do is find the right balance.
1.Set your target emotion/mood first
First, you need to decide what you want your brand to make people feel like. Which emotions are you breeding? Once you have the answers to these questions, go back to the color psychology section and select the colors that fit the bill.
2. Take your branding into consideration
Now that you’ve got a couple of colors to work with, the next step is to factor in the overall branding process of your business. Try out a few combinations and see which colors will work well, then maintain consistency across the board, from your logo to your website to uniforms, merchandise, and, of course, your digital signage content.
3. Consider color context
Sometimes, the way we perceive colors might differ depending on our background and cultural belief, and that’s another thing to consider when selecting color schemes in digital signage. If you’re expanding your digital signage network into a new area, do a quick research and be sure that you’re not using a color that offends their belief.
4. The 60-30-10 rule
Still not sure of how to go about it? Then you should try out the 60-30-10 rule. Using this classic and timeless decorating rule will make your decision much easier. The 60-30-10 rule basically specifies the percentage of color, texture and pattern you need to achieve the perfect décor. Following this rule, one color will be used for about 60 percent of the overall design. The would be the dominant color, which would blend in the remaining colors. The next color should take up 30 percent and act as support to the main color. Then finally, the 10 percent is the accent color. It affords you the luxury to influence the design with a bit of your personal taste.