Colors and Their Effect on Our Brain

Why Colors Are So Important: More Than Just Pretty to Look At

Colors are extraordinarily important. But why exactly?

Colors trigger emotions. They have the ability to evoke immediate emotional reactions. For example, red is often associated with passion or danger, while blue can convey calm and trust.

Furthermore, colors direct our attention. Bright or high-contrast colors draw the eye and can be used to highlight important elements.

In information design, colors can structure information. They help categorize data, clarify hierarchies, or group related elements.

Finally, colors reinforce messages. The right color choice can intensify the impact of a message and improve understanding and memory retention.

In short: With a well-thought-out color concept, your presentation becomes an instrument that makes your audience’s emotions resonate.

The Basics: What Each Color Does to Us

Red – The Adrenaline Rush

  • Effect: Energy, passion, urgency
  • Use: Perfect for calls-to-action or highlighting important points

Blue – The Trust Builder

  • Effect: Professionalism, competence, calm
  • Use: Ideal for business presentations or when you want to show expertise

Green – The Nature Lover

  • Effect: Growth, harmony, freshness
  • Use: Great for topics around sustainability, health, or finances

Yellow – The Sunshine

  • Effect: Optimism, creativity, attention
  • Use: Perfect for brainstorming sessions or emphasizing positive aspects

Purple – The Creativity Booster

  • Effect: Luxury, wisdom, creativity
  • Use: Great for presentations in art, education, or premium products

The Right Choice of Colors

Color Combinations: When One Plus One Equals Three

The Classic: Complementary Colors

  • Blue and Orange
  • Red and Green (Caution, can appear Christmas-like!)
  • Purple and Yellow

The Harmonious Option: Analogous Colors

  • Blue, Blue-green, and Green
  • Red, Orange, and Yellow

The Pro Move: Triadic Color Schemes

  • Red, Yellow, and Blue
  • Purple, Green, and Orange

The 60-30-10 Rule: How to Dose Colors Correctly

  • 60% of your presentation should be in the main color.
  • 30% go to your contrast color(s).
  • 10% is reserved for your accent color.

Psychological Tricks: How to Manipulate with Colors (But Please Only for Good!)

  • Red for urgency
  • Blue for trust
  • Green for positive developments
  • Yellow for warnings (use sparingly)
  • Orange for call-to-actions

Colors and Branding: How to Stay Consistent and Recognizable

Stay Consistent

Continuity is the key to brand recognition. Use your brand colors consistently throughout every presentation. This strengthens visual identity and helps leave a lasting impression.

Play with Shades

To avoid monotony and create visual interest, use different tones of your brand color. This allows for variety without leaving the basic color palette.

Pay Attention to Contrasts

Readability is crucial for effective communication. Ensure your brand colors contrast well and are easy to read, especially for text and important information.

Consider the Meaning

The chosen colors should reflect your brand identity. Consider whether the color matches your brand’s values, personality, and message. A thoughtful color choice can support and strengthen your brand story.

Colors for Everyone

Cultural Differences: Why Colors Don’t Mean the Same Thing Everywhere

  • White: In our culture, the color of purity. In some Asian countries? The color of mourning.
  • Red: A lucky charm in China, often associated with danger in the Middle East.
  • Green: Associated with nature in the West. A sacred color in some Islamic countries.

Accessibility: How to Design with Colors in an Accessible Way

Don’t Rely on Colors Alone

When conveying information, it’s advisable to use additional visual elements. Use shapes, patterns, or text to reinforce your message. This ensures that the information remains understandable even without color distinction. For example, a warning shouldn’t just be written in red; you should also add a bold exclamation mark or warning sign.

High Contrast is Your Friend

Particularly important is a strong contrast between text and background. This greatly improves readability and is especially helpful for people with visual impairments or in situations with poor lighting conditions.

Test Your Presentation

There are special tools that can simulate color blindness. Use these to ensure your presentation is well-perceivable for people with various types of color vision deficiencies.

Avoid Problematic Color Combinations

Certain color combinations can be difficult to distinguish for people with color vision deficiencies. A classic example is the combination of red and green next to each other. Try to avoid such combinations or supplement them with additional visual cues.

Helpful Tools for Color Combinations

  • Adobe Color (formerly Kuler): Offers various color harmonies and a community library. Allows extracting colors from images (Adobe Color website ).
  • Coolors: Generates random color palettes with the option to lock colors (Coolors website ).
  • Colormind: AI-powered color palette generator and can extract colors from images (ColorMind website ).
  • Paletton: Enables creation of complex color schemes based on color theory (Paletton website ).
  • ColorSpace:: Generates various color palettes based on a starting color (ColorSpace website ).
  • Canva Color Palette Generator: Extracts colors from uploaded images (Canva website ).
  • ColorHunt: Offers daily new, community-created color palettes (ColorHunt website ).

The Final Touch: Test, Adjust, Perfect

When developing and applying color schemes in presentations or designs, it’s important to experiment with different color combinations. Be creative and open to unexpected but potentially effective solutions.

Getting feedback from colleagues or friends can provide valuable external perspectives and reveal blind spots in your design.

Don’t forget to test your design in the real environment, not just on your laptop. Color effects can vary depending on lighting and presentation medium, so it’s important to check under actual presentation conditions.

Finally: Have fun with the creative process! Enjoy experimenting and designing.

Conclusion: Colors Are Your New Superpowers!

Wow, what a colorful journey, right? You’re now officially a color psychologist for presentations! But remember: Like with all superpowers, the trick lies in using them wisely. Colors can catapult your presentation from “meh” to “wow,” but they don’t replace good content. So, combine your new color knowledge with snappy info, and you’re unbeatable!

And hey, if you liked this article, why not check out our other exciting posts? From the effective usage of fonts to body language tips – we have much more in store to make you presentation rock stars. So, stay tuned and color the world of your presentations bright!