Study of the relevance of color psychology in digital era & its usage by leading brands

Abstract

Problem Statement: In the recent digital marketing era, the importance of color psychology has grown ever more. Still, some scholars believe that color is too dependent on personal experiences to be universally translated to specific feelings. We wanted to explore the importance of color psychology in creating/communicating emotion and brand perception. Methods Used: A questionnaire survey was initiated to assess the color-emotion-brand perception chemistry. A total of 58 participants responded. The survey was limited to 11 basic colors used by top brands nowadays, and samples were collected for people with no color disorder. Findings and Conclusions: From the color-emotion study, we observed some colors associated clearly with only one of the emotions like that of Anger-Red. In contrast, others associated with more than one color like Fear Black/Red, Love- Pink/Red, Respect- Green/White, etc. And there were emotions like Confused which did not have any clear association with any color. From the brand perception-color study, we observed some colors associated clearly with only one of the perceptions like that of Peace/Simplicity/Purity White. In contrast, others are associated with more than one color like Earthiness-Brown/Green, Soft Pink/White, Friendly-Green/Yellow, etc. And there were also perceptions like competence which did not have any clear association with any color. To investigate each category further, one pair was picked from the three types mentioned above. And from the regression analysis, we observed, • Angeris a universal emotion expressed by Red and has a low influence on personal bias. • Respect is one of the emotions which is based on personal bias and is not a universal indicator. • Confused can be expressed by the colors Brown, Purple, and Yellow. But it has a partial component of universality and a partial component of personal bias. • Peace can be expressed by the colors White, Orange, and Green. But White comes as a predominant response. • Royal can be expressed by Black, Blue, Purple, and Yellow. But it has a partial component of universality and a partial component of personal bias. • Competence is one of the attributes which varies the color, which insights the same based on personal bias and is not a universal indicator. The study results indicate that for some colors like White, Red, Green, Black, etc., the color psychology is very clear but not so in other cases. So, top brands can use said colors to communicate their values better.