Color Speaks

Color provides information, brings immediate comprehension, creates an identity, evokes emotions and explains products --- often with little help from text or other components of the materials.

Messages sent internationally may become "lost in translation," but this can be avoided through carefully chosen colors. Colors communicate in ways that transcend verbal boundaries, sending messages to audiences previously unreachable. This is especially true for internet-based endeavors and products, where anyone in the world can access your materials.

Even when people can understand what you say to them, people often doubt the truth of the words you say. There is a natural tendency, however, to trust what a color says to you. On a subconscious level, colors speak volumes and never lie, making them a communicator's very dear friend. This trust, in turn, can be used to move people in one direction or another, sparking emotions, actions and purchases.

Color should serve as a main method of message transmission, not as a feature to embellish text and logos. Color choice should be a part of an integrated design process. We do not interpret the world as black and white, which is why color ads seem more realistic and inviting to target audiences.

Black and white are obviously useful, and have their own time and place, but all colors come down to context and content. People advertise to sell a product or service, and each message is unique. The color combinations chosen to sell these messages should be equally original and meaningful. Finding the right fit between what people want to say, and how they should say it is an invaluable skill.