Purple – the colour of luxury and mystery. It’s the colour that invokes artistic expression and deep spirituality. Purple colour psychology can be either cooling or warming, making it a subtle colour with many potential uses.
This article is part of a series exploring colour psychology in branding and how it affects brand perception and moulds its image. Purple colour psychology presents many options for brands to promote feelings that resonate with their audience and create interest.
Colour psychology is incredibly significant in branding. Where shapes prompt recognition, colour elicits an emotional response. Colour is how you create a connection with your audience, so getting it right is important for your brand identity.
One of the things people remember first about a brand is its colour choices. In this series of articles, I’ll show what each colour says about a brand, how it makes people react and what messages it sends. This article looks at the colour purple and the brand messages it promotes.
Understanding Colour Psychology
You’ve probably come across the concept of colour psychology. Very simply, people attribute meanings and feelings to colour based on several evolutionary, social, psychological and even physiological factors. These are commonly agreed upon (thanks in part to semiotics) but may have regional or cultural variations.
Colours evoke different emotions and perceptions thanks to the above factors. Purple, for example, is fairly rare in nature, making its dye fairly expensive to produce. This led to it being associated with royalty or wealth. It’s rarity also created an association with the mysterious or spiritual.
In branding and marketing, colour psychology has a massive impact. The colours used for a brand’s visual identity or marketing collateral directly link to how a potential client feels about the brand. People tend to remember how things made them feel, rather than facts and figures, so creating the right set of emotions is vital to branding.
That’s why your colour choice is so important – and colour psychology plays a huge role.
Focus on Purple Colour Psychology
Purple colour psychology focuses on several areas that can benefit your branding efforts. First, it’s important to break down what Purple is usually associated with, before looking in more detail at how to use it.
Purple is a secondary colour – the product of mixing red and blue. It is a ‘cool’ colour, sitting on the spectrum with blue and green. Cool colours are often seen as reserved and relaxing, often being associated with water and nature. Although it is usually seen as a cool colour, some redder purples can have a warming influence.
Purple is the colour of mystery, magic and spirituality. It doesn’t demand the same attention as warmer colours like red or orange but has a subtle strength that is hard to miss. Due to its depth and complexity, it can be an irresistible luxurious draw. As its dyes used to be so difficult to produce, only the very wealthy could afford it. This, coupled with its rarity in nature, created feelings of wealth, luxury and mystery around it.
While not as attention-grabbing as red, purple is still a striking colour. As it is associated with mystery, it attracts the eyes of the curious and encourages them to find out more. This mysterious, magical association can be used to build expectation and intrigue in an audience. Check out the infographic below for some more facts about the colour purple.
Emotions and associations in purple colour psychology
People generally associate purple with mystery, royalty and creativity. These associations translate into feelings of intrigue, spirituality and even power.
It’s also important to note that, like any colour, different hues create different emotional responses. Here are some examples of different purples and their uses:
- Lilac is created by adding white to purple. It is far less saturated than other purples, creating feelings of peace and acceptance. This lighter tone appears friendly and welcoming.
- Lavender is another desaturated purple with a classically feminine appeal. Due to this association, it has a graceful and elegant appeal. It is also seen as calming – thanks in part to its association with the plant of the same name.
- Amethyst is another elegant purple with a fairly even mix of red and blue. This hue has a regal yet spiritual association. It is also another cool, calming purple.
- Violet has a much richer, more vibrant tone. This creates a bolder, more eye-catching effect that has creative and innovative associations. The vibrant hue also creates a magical appeal, evoking feelings of the mystic arts.
- Indigo is a much cooler, bluer hue. This gives it a commanding, powerful effect, much like navy blue. It has a heavy, luxurious feel that is associated with nobility.
Examples of successful brands using Purple in their branding
As mentioned previously, purple has historically been a difficult colour to produce. This means that it is less common in branding than other colours – though it is gaining popularity, especially online. Thanks to its association with royalty, it is used by many luxury brands – though not exclusively.
Here are a few famous examples of logos that use purple:
Twitch
Twitch is a live streaming service, predominantly for gamers. As the brand is associated with user-created content, the logo uses a bright purple to show creativity and innovation. This positions the brand as a youthful, intriguing choice when compared to other content platforms. It has a certain energy to it that reflects the spirit of the community. Twitch themselves say there is no better colour to represent their community’s collective creativity, mischievousness and energy.
Cadbury
Cadbury purple is so famous that it’s trademarked – Pantone 2685C has seen a number of legal challenges over the years. The use of this particular tone makes it obvious which brand you’re looking at in the confectionary aisle. In fact, this purple is so synonymous with the Cadbury brand that they were able to remove all the words from their Dairy Milk packaging without damaging recognition for a campaign in 2019. The purple they use has luxurious, regal associations.
Hallmark
The Hallmark logo uses a powerful and luxurious purple. It is based on the family surname, with deliberate reference to the practice of ‘hallmarking’ precious metals for a feeling of quality with a personal touch. This association with prestige creates a naturally luxurious appeal but also has a sentimental appeal. This aligns with Hallmark’s push towards high-quality, heartfelt products.
Purple in Branding
Purple’s appeal for brands is in its three key components – luxury, creativity and spirituality. Though each of these is attractive for different reasons, they all speak to the soul. It is not a colour covering basic needs how red or blue do, but instead calls out to the higher callings of the human spirit. It attracts based on the need to realise more than the physiological – instead, it focuses on esteem and self-actualisation.
Perhaps because of this, the brands that use purple are rarely based on need – but are more focused on desire. Cadbury, Asprey and Hallmark all use purple to show luxury. Twitch, Wonka and SyFy have a more creative, magical appeal. In both instances, the attraction is a desire rather than a basic need. Generally, purple can be associated with nobility, innovation, imagination, creativity, spirituality and magic. All of these feelings are based on more than mere survival.
For all its positives, it’s important to remember that purple can invoke some negative feelings. It can be seen as materialistic and decadent, or even wasteful. It is also an introverted, moody colour that can appear to be hiding its true nature. Its mysterious qualities can backfire if used poorly – causing annoyance and frustration. As a result, this can confuse your key message. At its best, however, it is a colour that builds intrigue and a feeling of luxury – it can be highly effective at gathering interest.
Purple also has different meanings across the world. Western countries associate it with royalty. In China, it represents immortality and ascension to the divine and is highly spiritual. In Brazil it is worn with black by Catholic priests to show grief, so is associated with mourning. These associations are worth noting if you aim to have a worldwide brand.
Conclusion
Colour psychology is an important part of showing your brand’s character. When it comes to branding, simply picking a colour because you like it is not enough. Instead, think about the feelings and experiences you want to reflect to your audience.
For purple colour psychology, understanding how to use it subtly is vital. Purple has the shortest wavelength of any colour, so we perceive it last. As such, it’s not great for brands who want to draw attention to themselves quickly. It’s a more subtle colour that creates an almost mystical feeling. Brands that want to show a more spiritual side can use it to great effect.
Like any other colour, it is important to understand what it is saying to people and that this is the message you are trying to convey. Purple is a rich, deep colour – and its meanings are equally so. The conflicting nature of its component colours can make it tricky to use.
Overall, purple is a great colour choice for bands that want to create an irresistible and desirable identity! If your brand wants to appear mystical, creative and based on a desire, purple might be the right match – when used right!
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