When you close your eyes and think about a brand, its colors are probably the first thing you see. Try it: if we say McDonald’s, you think yellow and red. Facebook? Blue. UPS? Brown and yellow.

Does this matter? Every company has to land on colors eventually, and surely most just pick ones that look good together, right? Sometimes. But a brand’s color choices can be just as intentional as its logo, its packaging, its website, and its merchandise itself.

That’s because brands want you to feel something specific before you ever step into a store, shop a website, or look up their socials. The tool for that is the psychology of color. Before we get into which colors evoke which emotions, here’s why color matters so much on branded merchandise in particular.

Command attention

Color can improve memory performance (opens in a new tab). Research finds people recall details from a color image better than the same image in black and white. The right colors in your branding don’t just command more attention in the moment; they help you stick in memory afterward.

Emotional appeal

Research popularized by a Harvard Business School professor suggests most purchasing decisions are emotional (opens in a new tab) rather than strictly logical. Every color drives some kind of emotional response, so brands engage your emotions long before you compare specs or prices.

Stay consistent

Once you’ve nailed down the colors that represent your brand, keep them consistent everywhere: your website, your social channels, and the swag you create for employees and customers. The effect multiplies when a color becomes a signature: some are so recognizable they’ve been trademarked (opens in a new tab), like Mattel’s Barbie Pink, Tiffany Blue, and T-Mobile Magenta. The more recognizable your colors, the more ground you hold against competitors.

The psychology of color

Here’s a look at the emotions certain colors evoke:

Yellow: Optimism, clarity, warmth
Orange: Friendliness, cheerfulness, confidence
Red: Excitement, youthfulness, boldness
Purple: Creativity, imaginativeness, luxury
Blue: Trust, dependability, strength
Green: Peacefulness, growth, healthfulness
Gray: Balance, calm
Brown: Safety, reliability, dependability

Looking at that list, you can guess why some of your favorite brands chose what they did. McDonald’s wants to invite you into a warm, happy place. Facebook wants you to feel safe on its platform. UPS wants to be the most reliable, dependable delivery service. Cadbury wants to read as luxurious and whimsical. And when you think about it, you probably do feel those emotions about each of them.

That’s the power of color, and putting it to work on merchandise is design work, which is why our in-house design team starts every project with your brand’s colors and how they’ll actually decorate (thread, ink, and garment color all behave differently). Browse Prodigy Edition to see how our designers use color, or get in touch to create swag in your colors that helps you stand out.