Color is a powerful communication tool that can be misused if not properly understood. It is influenced by religious, cultural, political, and social factors and understanding color meanings in business provides an invaluable way to improve marketing efforts. The document discusses the positive and negative meanings associated with the color yellow in business contexts and provides tips on appropriate and inappropriate uses of yellow in marketing, promotions, and product design.

1. BY JUSTIN P. HOPKINS
Senior Designer at Milk Made Design
HOW COLOR
AFFECTS
COMMUNICATION

2. Color is a powerful and an important
communication tool; unless it's
misused or overused.
1COLOR
It is tied to religious, cultural, political
and social influences.
2
An understanding of color meanings
in business gives us an invaluable
tool to get the best response to our
marketing and promotional efforts
and ultimately to create a successful
business.
3

3. JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
Theory of Colours
“Color itself is a degree
of darkness.”

4. COLOR
MEANINGS
IN BUSINESS

5. YELLOW
POSITIVE MEANING
Optimism, confidence, self-esteem,
extraversion, emotional strength,
friendliness, creativity
Yellow is an illuminating and uplifting color which stimulates our analytical processes and
assists with mental clarity.
NEGATIVE MEANING
Irrationality, fear, emotional fragility,
depression, anxiety, suicide
EMOTIONAL

6. USING
YELLOW IN
BUSINESS
Yellow is a great color for children's products, it is
stimulating to their mind and their creativity.
For leisure products that promote playful and fun
activities, yellow is a beneficial color.
Use it where you want to keep people moving.
Capture your customer's attention quickly with
yellow on POS purchases.
THE DOS
Don't use dirty versions of yellow such as mustard.
Avoid its use where you are trying to impart a
message of stability.
Yellow with black provides a warning and is often
used in safety signs for this reason.
THE DON'TS

7. COLOR &
MARKETING

8. 2%
When marketing new products, it is
crucial to consider that consumers place
visual appearance and color above other
factors when shopping.
2% SOUND/SMELL
6% TEXTURE
92% VISUAL APPEARANCE
6%
92%

9. 85% of shoppers place color as a primary
reason for why they buy a particular product.
According to Wikipedia, color is the visual
perceptual property corresponding in humans
to the categories called red, blue, yellow, etc.
Color derives from the spectrum of light
(distribution of light power versus wavelength)
interacting in the eye with the spectral
sensitivities of the light receptors.
85%COLOR
15%OTHER