How to Choose the Right Banner Color for Your Industry
Written By: Nelson James | Article Date: June 16, 2023
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Banners play a major role in getting people to notice your business, event, organization, or whatever message you want to broadcast to a large audience. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the design you’re putting out to ensure that the public will fully understand what you are trying to communicate.
This brings us to the importance of colors – pick the wrong shade and you might end up driving your target market to the opposite direction. Here’s a helpful guide on choosing the right banner color for your industry.
Colors: An Essential Component of Your Banner Design
There are several reasons why you need to take your banner’s colors seriously. Here are three of them:
- Color is a tool to communicate. It can evoke specific moods and emotions even without the use of words. For example, colors such as red and yellow can bring out our excitement while others such as blue and green can make us feel calm and at peace.
- Several factors can influence people’s perception of color. Although red is commonly associated with passion, some countries such as Ghana and South Africa have adopted it as a color of mourning. Meanwhile, several studies have proven that age and gender also affect how people perceive color.
- Your color choices can make or break your custom banner’s readability. When it comes to banners and other forms of signage, the best combinations are usually the contrasting ones. This means that the colors you choose for the different elements of your design should be easy to tell apart even from afar.
Tips on Choosing the Right Colors for Your Banner
Here are four simple but essential tips you need to keep in mind:
- Learn the basics of color psychology.
- Know your audience.
- Be consistent with your branding.
- Explore color combinations!
Common Colors and What They Symbolize
Here are the most popular banner colors and their universal meanings. Make sure to do further research especially if you’re putting up your banner in a location where the colors might mean something else.
White denotes cleanliness, peace, hygiene, and sincerity.
Silver is perceived as sleek and sophisticated.
Gray symbolizes professionalism, dignity, and modesty.
Black denotes efficiency, prestige, elegance, control, and seduction. While it effectively communicates strength and authority, it can also be construed as cold, heavy, and pessimistic.
Yellow and Gold evokes optimism, confidence, happiness, and sometimes wealth and money.
Orange communicates freshness and excitement. Because it’s a very striking color, it can seem quite harsh if used incorrectly.
Red is used to convey strong emotions and a sense of urgency. It symbolizes romance, passion, power, and energy. On the flip side, it can also suggest conflict, anger, and stress.
Pink communicates hope, reassurance, and comfort.
Green is universally recognized as the color of relaxation, nature, and peace.
Blue is another popular banner color because it denotes calm, freedom, purity, and confidence.
Purple is known as the color of royalty, so it’s used to communicate luxury, high quality, and fantasy.
Brown denotes stability and reliability. It also symbolizes strength and safety; however, it can also communicate dullness and rigidity.
Most Used Colors Per Industry
And finally, what you’ve been waiting for – feel free to use this as reference!
Use the following code to publish on your website.
Healthcare businesses use blue and green the most.
Banking and finance businesses go for navy blue, green, and gold.
Automotive businesses prefer red, blue, and yellow.
Technology companies go for bright and bold colors such as red, orange, and yellow to convey innovation and excitement.
The education sector (schools, universities, daycare centers) prefers yellow and different shades of blue.
Businesses that provide energy lean towards navy blue, white, and orange.
Fashion and retail brands favor black, grey, silver, and gold.
Food and beverage businesses use red, yellow, and orange the most.
Real estate brands usually go with earthy colors such as brown, green, and beige.
Conclusion
Your choice of colors can greatly influence how people perceive your brand, so it’s best to be familiar with the industry classics. Don’t be afraid to take risks but make sure you know your audience to a tee before you do so.
Once your banner design is up and ready, get it printed here at Signs.com.
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