The Psychology of Yellow Branding [infographic] (2024)

How we perceive and interact with our world is largely impacted by the colors that surround us. While going largely unnoticed as we go about our daily lives, the psychology of color and social media branding is continually affecting consumers on a deep level, especially when it comes to a daily content marketing strategy. The colors that a company chooses to represent their brand can affect the mood, feelings, and behavior of their target consumer and influence whether or not a brand will become part of their selection set. What comes to mind when you think of the color yellow? Maybe a smiley face, the yellow brick road, or that red, ahem, I mean yellow light that makes you put the pedal to the medal? The color yellow is associated with just as many warm and playful attributes as it is with stressful and depressive ones. The shade and tone of the yellow used greatly impacts whether it’s communicating the fun and fast or unstable and lonely. The following infographic takes a glance at the bipolar nature of yellow branding, from its positive and negative meanings and use around the globe to its effect on brand storytelling.

Within this infographic on yellow branding, the following topics were covered:

Positive Meanings for Yellow Branding in Business

Cheerful, happy, playful, fun, optimistic, uplifting, confident, creative, illuminating, mental clarity, aid decision-making, originality, challenging, academic and analytical, wise and logical

Negative Meanings Yellow Branding in Business

Critical and judgmental, overly analytical, impatient and impulsive, egotistical, pessimistic, spiteful, cowardly, deceitful, non-emotional and lacking compassion, conducive to feelings of inferiority.

Variations of the Color Yellow

Light Clear Yellow: Clarity, Alert, Mindful
Lemon Yellow: Self-reliance, Normalcy, Hyper-sensitivity
Citrine Yellow: Superficial, Deceitful, Unstable
Golden Yellow: Curious, Sensitive, Lonely
Cream: Encouraging, Needy, Insecure
Dark Yellow: Depressing, Cynical, Melancholy
Bright Yellow: Flashy, Fun, Fast

Global Use of the Color Yellow

Latin America: Associated with death and mourning.
Egypt: The color of mourning.
Europe: Joy and happiness.
Middle East: Happiness and prosperity.
China: Sacred, imperial, royal, honorable, masculine.
Thailand: Yellow is considered a royal color and represents Buddhism and Mondays. Considered auspicious as the bright yellow flower “cassia fistula” which is a national symbol.
India: Sacred and auspicious. The symbol of a merchant.
Japan: Courageous, beautiful and refined, cheerful, aristocratic.

Yellow Branding Used to Express Fast

The color yellow inspires people to keep moving. When combined with the color red, it is a popular choice for fast food restaurants to stimulate the appetite but to get their patrons to quickly move on. Due to its associations with movement, the color is also widely used by brands wanting to reflect the speed at which their products operate. Fast companies using yellow branding: Sprint, McDonald’s, Ferrari.

Yellow Branding Used to Convey Fun and Happy

Bright yellows are beneficial for promoting fun and playful products which make them a great fit for lifestyle and entertainment brands. Yellow’s eye-catching nature captures people’s attention amongst a crowd of other distractions, making it ideal for retail establishments. Companies using yellow branding for fun and happy: Best Buy, IKEA, Spike.

Yellow Branding Used to Communicate Logical Brands

Stimulating the logical side of the brain, yellow promotes mental clarity and facilitates the decision-making process. Promoting wisdom and educational competence, the color yellow is well-suited for academic-related products and informational companies. Companies using yellow brandingto communicate logic: Post-it, Yellow Pages, Bic.

Opposite of the Color Yellow

The opposite of yellow is the color violet. They are exact opposites on the color wheel, and when combined together, they become a dark, brownish-reddish black. This festive complementary color combination is popular around Spring and Easter celebrations.

Why Didn’t ImagiBrand Choose The Color Yellow?

Yellow has many positive business associations such as being fun, cheerful, and creative, which we like, but the color is, unfortunately, prone to induce anxiety and apprehension, which we wanted to avoid.

Why We Love Our Colors

We chose to use the colors magenta, black and white as our corporate colors to reflect our fun and imaginative approach to branding while remaining professional and sophisticated.

The ImagiBrand Psychology of Branding with Color Series

ImagiBrand has created a full series of infographics on the impact various colors can have on consumer perception of a brand. The entire series includes the following:

• The Psychology of Red Branding
• The Psychology of Blue Branding
• The Psychology of Yellow Branding
• The Psychology of Orange Branding
• The Psychology of Green Branding
• The Psychology of Violet Branding
• The Psychology of Brown Branding
• The Psychology of Pink Branding
• The Psychology of Black and White Branding