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Yellow in Business

In using yellow in business, you need to understand the traits, qualities and mood of the color to decide if it will create the message you wish to send to your target market.

To begin with, yellow is a warm and happy color which creates a sense of cheerfulness and playfulness. Psychologically, it is optimistic, uplifting and illuminating, brightening people's spirits.

Yellow stimulates the logical side of the brain and mental clarity. It promotes wisdom and academic proficiency. It inspires original thinking and creative ideas.

Physiologically, yellow stimulates the mind and mental activity. It increases the analytical processes and our logical reasoning, helping with decision-making.





Too much yellow can cause anxiety, nervousness, apprehension, agitation and confrontation particularly in people who are already stressed. It can motivate people to become overly critical and judgmental, as well as deceitful.


For more on the psychology of the color yellow…….


Keywords for Yellow

Positive Meanings in Business:

  • cheerful, happy, playful, fun
  • optimistic, uplifting, illuminating
  • logical, mental clarity, aids decision-making
  • confidence, originality, creativity
  • challenging, academic and analytical
  • wisdom and logic
  • communication of new ideas


Negative Meanings in Business:

  • critical and judgmental, overly analytical
  • impatient and impulsive
  • egotistical, pessimistic, an inferiority complex
  • spiteful, cowardly, deceitful
  • non-emotional and lacking compassion



Using Yellow in Business

Yellow is a great color for children's products, particularly combined with other bright primary or secondary colors. It is stimulating to their mind and their creativity.

For many leisure products, particularly those that promote playful and fun activities, yellow is a beneficial color. It will enhance the promotion of any fun and entertainment businesses.

Apart from the above types of businesses, in general it is best to use yellow as a highlight color - too much can cause agitation and anxiety, particularly with older people. Avoid its use where you are trying to impart a message of stability.

Use yellow where you want to keep people moving. Most people cannot stay for long where there is a lot of yellow. Fast food outlets use it combined with red to encourage people to eat lots quickly then move on.

It is a good to incorporate yellow in the promotion of point of sale purchases - the eyes see yellow first and with so many other distractions in retail stores, you need to capture your customer's attention quickly.

Don't use yellow to sell expensive items to men who see it as cheap and unsophisticated.

Don't use dirty versions of yellow such as mustard - they have negative connotations.

Yellow with black provides a warning and is often used in safety signs for this reason.


For more on using color in your business


For more on using these colors in your business:  red, orange, green, turquoise, blue, indigo, purple, magenta, pink, gold, silver, black, white, gray, or brown.



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