Colors impact us physically, emotionally and guide our behavior.

1. Color Matters
Color affects you physically
Color impacts marketing
Color increases brand recognition
Color boosts memory
Color engages participation
Color attracts attention

2. The Power of Colors
One of the most interesting examples of color effects is Baker Miller
pink- a color that's close to the bubble gum pink background color of
this web page ( R:255, G:145, B:175) . Also known as: drunk tank
pink," this color is used to calm violent prisoners in jails. Dr. Alexander Schauss, Ph.D.,
director of the American Institute for Biosocial Research in Tacoma Washington, was the first to report the suppression of angry,
antagonistic, and anxiety ridden behavior among prisoners: "Even if
a person tries to be angry or aggressive in the presence of pink, he
can't. The heart muscles can’t race fast enough. It’s a tranquilizing
color that saps your energy. Even the color-blind are tranquilized by
pink rooms." (1) In spite of these powerful effects, there is
substantial evidence that these reactions are short term. Once the
body returns to a state of equilibrium, a prisoner may regress to an
even more agitated state.
1. Morton Walker, The Power of Color, (New York, Avery Publishing Group, 1991), pp. 50-52

3. This room at the US Naval Correctional Facility in Seattle, Washington, was
the first to be painted Baker-Miller pink (a.k.a. Schauss pink). Full spectrum
fluorescent lights ensured that the color was not distorted.
Courtesy Alexander Schauss.

4. Pink for peace? For one juvenile detention facility in Florida, it's worth a
shot. According to a research paper published in 1981, Baker-Miller pink, a
shade which is "kind of like Pepto-Bismol, only deeper," was found to lower
heart rate, pulse, and respiration.

5. The status of pink football locker rooms today:
University of Hawaii associate head coach saw
visitor locker rooms at Iowa and Colorado State
painted pink in the belief that the color made
players passive. Now the WAC has a rule that a
visiting team's locker room can not be painted
a different color than the home team's. In other
words, it can be pink, black or any color of the
rainbow, as long as both locker rooms are the same
color.
Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin 10/24/99

6. Color and Marketing
Research conducted by the secretariat of the Seoul International Color Expo 2004 :
92.6 percent said that they put most importance on
visual factors when purchasing products. Only 5.6
percent said that the physical feel via the sense of touch was most important.
Hearing and smell each drew 0.9 percent.
Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person,
environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between
62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color
alone.
Source: CCICOLOR - Institute for Color Research
Research by the Henley Centre suggests 73% of purchasing decisions are now made in-
store. Consequently, catching the shopper's eye and conveying
information effectively are critical to successful sales.

7. Color and Marketing
Research conducted by the secretariat of the Seoul International Color Expo 2004 :
92.6 percent said that they put most importance on
visual factors when purchasing products. Only 5.6
percent said that the physical feel via the sense of touch was most important.
Hearing and smell each drew 0.9 percent.
Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment,
or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and
90% of that assessment is based on color alone.
Source: CCICOLOR - Institute for Color Research
Research by the Henley Centre suggests 73% of purchasing decisions are now made in-
store. Consequently, catching the shopper's eye and
conveying information effectively are critical to
successful sales.

8. Color and Brand Identity
1. Color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent
University of Loyola, Maryland study
2. Heinz
Color influences brand identity in a variety of ways. Consider
Heinz Blastin' Green ketchup. More than 10 million bottles were sold in the first
seven months following its introduction. The result: $23 million in sales
attributable to Heinz green ketchup [the highest sales increase in the brand's
history]. All because of a simple color change.
3. Apple Computer
Apple brought color into a marketplace where color had
not been seen before. By introducing the colorful iMacs, Apple was the
first to say, "It doesn't have to be beige". The iMacs reinvigorated a brand that
had suffered $1.8 billion of losses in two years. (And now we have the colorful
iPods.)

9. Color Increases Memory
Psychologists have documented that "living color" does
more than appeal to the senses. It also boosts memory
for scenes in the natural world.
By hanging an extra "tag" of data on visual scenes,
color helps us to process and store images
more efficiently than colorless (black and white)
scenes, and to remember them better, too.
Source: The findings were reported in the May 2002 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning,
Memory and Cognition, published by the American Psychological Association (APA)
"The Contributions of Color to Recognition Memory for Natural Scenes," Felix A. Wichmann, Max-Planck Institut für
Biologische Kybernetik and Oxford University; Lindsay T. Sharpe, Universität Tübingen and University of Newcastle; and
Karl R. Gegenfurtner, Max-Plank Institut für Biologische Kybernetik and Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen; Journal of
Experimental Psychology – Learning, Memory and Cognition, Vol 28. No.3., 5-May-2002

10. Color Engages and Increases
Participation
Ads in color are read up to 42% more
often than the same ads in black and
white (as shown in study on phone
directory ads).
Source: White, Jan V., Color for Impact, Strathmoor Press, April, 1997

11. Color Attracts Attention
A colored image holds the attention for more than
twice as long as a black and white image.
People cannot process every object within view at
one time. Therefore, color can be used as a tool to
emphasize or de-emphasize areas.
A Midwestern insurance company used color to
highlight key information on their invoices. As a
result, they began receiving customer payments an
average of 14 days earlier.

12. Additional Research
92% Believe color presents an image of impressive quality
90% Feel color can assist in attracting new customers
90% Believe customers remember presentations and
documents better when color is used
83% Believe color makes them appear more successful
81% Think color gives them a competitive edge
Source: Conducted by Xerox Corporation and International Communications Research from February 19,
2003 to March 7, 2003, margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

13. Consider the color choices for:
• Breakfast cereals
• Cars
• Clothing
• Restaurants
• Buildings’ exteriors and interiors
• What else conveys status/feeling/concept
with color?