Colour and Purpose

Colour is a design choice that creates meanings, associations and feelings, and it should support the product's purpose. A product made to advertise or promote something often needs to attract attention and create the right mood quickly; a product made to educate or inform usually needs colours that help the audience read and concentrate; a product made to entertain can use colour to feel fun or dramatic, and a product made to influence might use colour to make its message feel urgent or trustworthy.

Warm and cool colours

Warm colours, such as reds, oranges and yellows, often feel lively, friendly or urgent. Cool colours, such as blues, teals and soft purples, often feel calm, steady or professional. Designers choose a colour temperature to suit the message and audience: a poster for a school fun run might use warm orange and yellow to feel energetic and welcoming, while a revision planner app might use cool blues to help students feel calm and focused.

Context and audience

Colour meanings are not fixed. A colour that feels exciting in one product can feel wrong in another: orange might make a music festival poster feel fun, but the same orange on a fire-safety poster could signal danger and urgency. Colour associations also depend on the audience. White can feel clean and simple on a health clinic leaflet, but in some cultures it is linked to mourning; a neon palette may feel fun to a teenage gaming audience but childish to older viewers. Check the meaning with the intended audience and the message, because one colour does not mean the same thing to everyone.