Tag Archives: Psychology in business

Psychology in Business – Shapes

PPH Logo 2021

A while back I posted about the psychology behind FONTS and COLOURS, then I discovered SHAPES had various meanings as well. Pulling all three together to make a LOGO or ADVERTISING MEDIA when you’re starting your business would be a bit of a nightmare. The more I think about what I missed over the years while education myself as I went is horrifying. This is something I don’t remember covering in any business course I did in 2015/2016 and I did three, the last being a Diploma in Business Enterprise. It goes to show these courses don’t cover everything.

PSYCHOLOGY OF SHAPES

What do you know about SHAPES? Which one’s appeal to you? What draws you in?
Great questions and it makes me wonder what you notice when you watch adverts on TV or see adverts on billboards, in newspapers or social media. What shape do you see most often? Does it appeal to you? If you’re on social media, what makes you stop scrolling? The SHAPE, COLOUR or FONT! Perhaps all three, because someone got the right combination for their business.

How do you choose a SHAPE for a Logo? Good question. My logo is based on Family History of my partners line going back to the 1820s in London two hundred years ago. The Lamp still stands on Woolwich High Street, outside the building which was a pub. The last I heard, the building is now a hairdressing salon. This shows how much thought I put into my business when I first started in 2014. Not much at all. I was learning as I progressed. However, I will keep my logo. I like it as does my husband.

What do you need to do? Research the psychology of SHAPES. Watch Adverts and understand what you’re seeing, what they mean to the business who created it. Make a list of the ones you like along with the colours and hunt down fonts you can use. Bring them together by starting with a black and white design, edit the graphic until you’re happy with what you’ve drawn or had your graphic artist draw. Choose a font which matches your business and then you have millions of colours and shades to play with.

Last week, we travelled to Sanson and visited Viv’s Kitchen for a lovely morning tea of cream horns and iced chocolate drinks. It was sublime. What catches the eye though are the colours. They used various shades of a  gorgeous mint/pale green along with a retro style. It draws customers in and we had time there. Below are a set of photos from their website. The link you can find above.

This is just one example on how to get things right. The café has been busy everything we’ve visited. This lovely café has also been on TV and is famous for their cream horns. A lush pastry horn coated with sugar. In the centre is jam and cream. Most delicious.

Starting a business, then get your thinking caps on and research what you need to make you stand out from everyone else. 

Good Luck.

 

Psychology and Business

 

I decided it was time for some training and to learn to be more business savvy and find out how things work. Here in New Zealand, we’re lucky to have some FREE Training for Businesses in the Digital Market. I joined up and started watching the videos. The first one was on BRANDING.
 
BRANDING
 
It’s about who you are, what you wish to portray to others, what you do, how you do it and the story behind everything. With saying this… It’s time to introduce myself.
 
I’m a small business owner who went the wrong way into business. I started a company with little knowledge or thought about what I was doing. I made mistakes, which I’ll call my ‘learning curve’ and gained me some knowledge I needed to move forward. Though I have a legal company, I treated it more like a hobby business. I’d no idea how to grow my clientele list because marketing wasn’t a top priority. Not that I knew how to market my business.

Six years on…
 
It’s time to learn and grow. As mentioned above, the first step is BRANDING. The video I watched mentioned psychology of colour and typography. It mentioned how LOGOs are developed to grab attention of customers. Below is my original LOGO, which was designed by Lauren Waters. The design is based on an old family street light, which is still standing outside the building in Woolwich, London, over 200 years later. To me, it showed strength and character.
 
I used black and white (certainly no psychology here). The idea was to use this LOGO on colour background, however, BRANDING is about using the same LOGO consistently. Something I did to a degree, though it also had changes over the years. 
 
Yesterday, I looked up the Psychology of Colour and Typography suggested by the video. Lots of information, and the reading started. I enjoyed reading what Richard Larson had written. It showed you what the different types of FONTs meant, along with the different meanings of COLOURS many of these used by big business. Below is a list of both along with the website so you can read and understand the concepts of this type of psychology.
 
Read this blog post by Richard Larson to understand the concepts behind what graphic designers do to create your LOGO. It’s an eyeopener.
 

Psychology of Colour in Fonts and Content Branding

 
FONTS AND THEIR MEANINGS
  • Serif fonts are associated with authority, tradition, respect, and grandeur.
    • Popular Serif Fonts: Times New Roman, Bodini, Georgia, Garamond, and Baskerville.
  • Sans Serif fonts are associated with being clean, modern, objective, stable, and universal.
    • Popular Sans Serif Fonts: Helvetica, Verdana, Arial, Century Gothic, and Calibri.
  • Slab Serif fonts are associated with bold, strong, modern, solid, and funky.
    • Popular Slab Serif Fonts: Rockwell, Courier, Museo, Clarendon, and Bevan.
  • Script fonts are associated with being feminine, elegant, friendly, intriguing, and creative.
    • Popular Script Fonts: Lobster, Zapfino, Pacifico, Lucida, and Brush Script.
  • Modern fonts are associated with exclusivity, fashionable, stylish, sharp, and intelligent.
    • Popular Modern Fonts: Infinity, Eurostyle, Majoram, Matchbook, and Politica.
 
COLOURS AND THEIR MEANINGS
 
  • Blue: Trust and Security, Calmness, Peace & Honesty, often used by banks
  • Green: Associated with wealth, Easiest color for the eyes to process, often used to represent health and wellbeing
  • Yellow: Optimistic & Youthful, Fun, Humour, Lightness, Intellect, Logic and Creativity
  • Orange: Stimulates Creativity & Productivity, Creates a Call for Attention
  • Red: Creates urgency, vitality & stamina, energy
  • Pink: Romantic & Feminine, Often Aimed at Girls or Women
  • Purple: Soothe & Calm, Intuition & Imagination

What is your business? What is your story? How can psychology help you grow your business?

Discussion is open, and comments are welcome.