Earlier this week, I wrote a post about an infographic that visually displays a great deal of information about how color affects purchase decisions. Today, I want to share another infographic, which was created by the same company, KissMetrics. This infographic visually displays color preferences by gender and how the color and gender relationship affects marketing and branding.
Following are some of the highlights from the infographic related to gender and color preferences:
- Blue, red and green are universally liked by men and women with blue taking the top spot.
- Orange and brown are universally disliked by men and women.
- While women love purple, men absolutely do not like purple.
- Orange and yellow are perceived as cheap colors.
- Men are more accepting of black, gray and white than women.
- Women are drawn a bit more to pale colors while men are drawn a bit more to bright colors.
- Women are more specific when it comes to colors with an eye for the slightest color changes and names to match. For example, green could be called moss, pea, citrus, and so on, but to men, they’re all just green.
You can click on the image below to view the infographic at a larger size.
I actually laughed as I read through this infographic, because it brought to mind some real world situations. For example, I remember one time when I had a male boss who absolutely abhorred the color purple. Nothing we created for the brand could have any purple on it at all! I also remember several times debating the specifics of a color with my husband (we’ll use blue for the purposes of this example) and his response to me was always, “they’re all blue to me.”
Color can create a distinct and subconscious response in people and that reaction can vary by gender. Make sure you consider how color affects your target audience before you choose colors for your brand identity, packaging, and so on. It’s a decision that can have a huge impact on your results.
What do you think? Leave a comment and share your opinion.
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
Interesting infographic no doubt – but IMHO it lacks one more vital ingredient – i.e. age of the respondents. Age is very vital in order to target consumers and all branding/marketing campaigns are effected by this factor.
Susan,
This is simply marvelous! I have put into my rental car profile to NEVER have a white car [can’t stand them; too boring]. I despise grey cars [although I drive one, sadly. I much preferred my previous berry red car] and find it absurd that grey is what many car manufacturers say is most popular. I find black frustrating [what better way to lose something than when it’s black].
Thank you!
Best,
CB
PS: my office is painted purple, green and white [for the ceilings].
This is very interesting. We sell promotional products and our number one selling color in almost all categories is Blue.
The graphic about men and women on color naming it very true.