Orange, Red Green and Blue! What am I to do? — Nonverbal Communication Explained
Of the many forms of non verbal communication — color is one of the most powerful! Color stimulates your senses. It symbolizes abstract ideas, concepts and thoughts. It can calm you, energize you and every emotion in between.
Color can sell your product or service. It can convey your brand values and drive your marketing message home. Much of peoples’ reaction is subliminal and most of us are unaware of the effect that color has on our decision-making.
Color adds tremendous meaning to communication as it vitalizes the visual message, delivering an instantaneous message that is often universally understood. For this reason it is often times — important to get the color right!
For starters you may come across terms like saturation and value. What does that mean when talking about colors. Saturation is the intensity of the color — referring to its richness and purity. Less saturated colors are grayer and more muted. Value refers to the brightness or darkness of the color. Lighter colors are often called tints, darkened values are called shades and those in the middle are called mid-tones.
Colors are often classified as warm or cool. Warm colors are in the reds, oranges and yellows. They are associated with warmth, such as fire or the sun. Cool colors are blues, greens and violets and are associated with coolness like the sky, water or foliage. They relate directly to nature and the world around us.
Warm colors evoke energy. They are outgoing, aggressive, active and demand attention. On the other hand — cool colors are more restrained, reserved and calm. Keeping this in mind you may be starting to get a good idea of how to use colors. More on colors next time!
