Some Color Psychology

What would you say if I asked you to pick a color to use as a headline in an ad—a color that could not be ignored, that literally forced people to take notice of it? The chances are you would say “bright red.” But why? What is so special about red? Why are all our stop lights, danger signals, fire equipment, and so on painted red? Even though we probably cannot explain quite why that should be the case, we still somehow recognize that a light green, for example, just would not work the same way.

Here is a possible, and plausible, reason.

Our eyes contain two different kinds of light-sensing cells: rod and cone cells. Rod cells pick up only light intensity and do not transmit any color information. Cone cells pick up only color—but they are selective. Some pick up red, some pick up green, and some pick up blue. And they are not all present in the same ratio.

Imagine how things might have been 50,000 years ago, when we were physically just about the same as we are now but had not made any technological advances beyond the use of basic tools. Then consider what the natural environment would have been like. There would not have been many things that looked blue other than the sky and the ocean. The people who lived back then did not—could not—make use of either. There were no boats or planes. So blue was there, but it was not very important in terms of day-to-day survival.

Green, on the other hand, was important. If there was lots of green around, it meant that things were growing, which in turn meant that there was a source of food available, either from the green stuff itself or from other animals that were eating it. So it was very important, but it was not a problem.

How about red? Strangely enough, there are very few things in the natural environment that are red. Sunsets and sunrises, and some flowers and berries—and since many red berries are poisonous, the ability to recognize red was important. But generally, if a lot of red was visible, it usually meant that somebody was wounded or that something was on fire. So red was not only important, it could trigger immediate action in a way no other color ever did. So it came to mean “pay attention, right now” and has become particularly associated with urgency and danger.

The ratio between the cone cells, red to green to blue, is 40:20:1. So we have evolved to able to see, recognize, and respond to red better than any other color.

However, if you want to create a headline that is not particularly noticeable at all, try a nice pale blue.