Color Theories In Advertising Design #2 Green Color

Last time we talked about the red color and how it influences the advertising field through consumers. Today we are going to talk about the green color and how it reflects on consumers, what are the feelings and moods that green color produces, and how can we use that in design. What are the main groups of products that mostly utilize green color packaging, what are the trends, and what are the expectations. Think positive, think green. In a good way.

It is a known fact that green color occupies more space in visible spectrum than most of the other colors. On top of that, we can say that green is also a dominant color in the natural world, or in other words, our environment. Right after the blue color. So, if we say that we are so used to it that we don’t even notice it anymore, would that be right? Well, yes and no. Green is actually a very complex color, with different shades having different meanings and messages, which is more connected to human history than we think. But, before we proceed, we are going to stop here for a second, and name a couple of first associations for green color that come into our minds. You can do that on your own. Okay, trees? Grass? Vegetables? Seems logical so far. Green light, meaning go, proceed? Healthy? Recycling? From advertising world, or should we say money world? Soda? Groceries?

Green Color Example - Shades And Color Wheel

Lets move onto the symbolic meanings. Green color is considered to be refreshing, and in general positive color, which is no wonder, considering previous associations which again, are mostly connected to natural environment. A natural environment which renews, grows, and in general takes care of our basic needs for food and shelter. On more fact to confirm that is that word green comes from Old English verb growan, which means to grow. So, what else? Green is also considered as calm, and relaxing color, which has a positive effect on our mental and physical condition which, in return, helps us fight depression, anxiety, or nervousness. We’ve all heard such advices that in order to preserve our vision, after hours of working with computer, it is really good to spend some time just looking over landscapes. Which is really impossible in crowded cities, but that’s where parks and golf courses come into play. Or at least they should.

Green Color Example - "Saint Wolfgang and the Devil" by Michael Pacher, the Devil is green

Well, so far we’ve been talking about green color as generally a good and very positive one. But, it isn’t and it wasn’t always like that. If we take a peek in human history, we’ll see that there were times when green color was everything but good. For example, green gemstone in pope’s robes, is also considered to be a Lucifer stone, according to some stories. There are even some cases where Lucifer was painted completely in green color. Also, a lot of antic and middle age mystics thought of green as occult color, because of its universality. Even today, in many countries, green represents sickness, envy, and death. Even Van Gogh once said I have attempted to express terrible human passions in reds and greens.

Green Color Example - Air Fresheners, Deodorants, Cleaning Products

Why we are mentioning red color again here? Because, green color is a complementary color for red color. It is positioned directly across red color in a traditional color wheel as you can see in the first example above. Green color is also considered as a cool color, and as such it tends to recede and visually take less space on the page when compared to warm colors in equal amounts. If we take a look at color models, we’ll see that green is one of three primary colors in additive color model, but it is not around in subtractive one, which is mostly used in printing process. That’s because green, in subtractive model, is made out of yellow and cyan mixed together. Also, wavelength for green color is roughly between 520 and 570 nm. Here we come to one more connection from the beginning of the text. Dark adapted human eye has biggest sensitivity around 507 nm, which is blue-green color, while light adapted eye is most sensitive for wavelengths around 555 nm, which is yellowish-green color.

Green Color Example - Mints, Buble Gums, Mouth Fresheners

With all this theory behind us, lets talk about advertising, and what green means in the world of advertising design. The fact that green actually means money in western cultures, like in United States, is not really about the advertising design, but we can’t avoid it. The green means money, from where we also have such terms like greenbacks. And where is money, there is advertising, and that’s where designer come into play. When we think about green in such terms like fresh, growth, regeneration, we can also think about household items that keep our homes clean, like detergents, cleaning items, and fresheners. Or even those items that keep us clean like shampoos, mouth washers, toothpaste, etc. What else? The same connotation, absolutely different branch. Hospitals, alternative medicine, cures, and even such disciplines like yoga. Healthy life anyone? Anybody though about vegetarians?  Yes, that too.

Green Color Example - Refreshing, Energy, And Even Alcohol Drinks

Lets move on. Lighter yellowish greens can be very successful in advertising healthy and refreshing drinks, despite the fact that most of the time they actually are not healthy. But, lets keep the focus here. Energy drinks, vitamins, supplements, tonics, sodas, you name it. The global growing trend, which is saying go green, is affecting all pores of the society. Have you heard, that even McDonalds is changing their red to green in Europe, to satisfy European customers desire to go green? That is pure example of advertising adapting and adjusting itself to the environment, despite the fact that it is totally miss leading. What else? Are you close to your retirement? What insurance did you choose? Because of its calming effect, green is very suitable for advertising in insurance domain, health plans, insurance plans, and almost every other area which involves savings.

Green Color Example - Fits Well In Savings, Insurances, Pension Plans

One more example, and we will be done for now, although we could talk for hours, and many more lines. What do you do when you see green on the traffic light? You step up and cross that street, or you press your gas pedal. Well, the same principle might be applied to some areas of advertising design. Think in terms of desired action, because modern man has been trained already, which we can use in our advantage. There is a better chance the someone will press the green button than black one. Right? Apply that when you are designing next successful interface.

For the end, lets summarize green color, just like we did with red. So, in a nutshell we can say that green color symbolizes youth, nature, hope, that it is mostly positive color, but it can be negative where it symbolizes sickness, envy, and even death. Different shades also mean different things very often, so be careful. Thanks for reading, and if you have something to add, please do.