Challenge B: Videos
Color Psychology
Authors: Kushank, Nihal and Khushi
Understand (Discover, Interpret, Specify)
DESCRIBE THE CHALLENGE:
We are surrounded by brands every day whether it’s through apps, online shopping, billboards on the way to work or grabbing food at a restaurant. What many don’t realize is how much simple design choices like color can affect how we feel, who we trust and what we buy. Because this is often invisible we are more open to subtle persuasion from advertisers and marketers. The challenge is to create content that helps a broad audience from teens and young adults to professionals and everyday shoppers understand how color psychology works in branding so they can make more aware and informed decisions.
CONTEXT AND AUDIENCE:
Audience
The target population is broad and consists of regular consumers of all ages, with an emphasis on those who frequently interact with brands through media consumption, digital platforms, and shopping. Teenagers using social media apps, young professionals making decisions about what to buy, and adults engaging with banking, retail, and lifestyle brands are all examples of this.
Needs
The audience requires straightforward, relatable explanations that link common brand experiences to fundamental psychological concepts. Even those without a background in psychology or marketing should be able to quickly grasp how colors in branding affect feelings and actions.
This need will be met by conversational narration, identifiable logos, and visual examples.
Goals
The goal is for audiences to recognize that brand colors are not chosen at random but are strategically designed to evoke specific feelings and influence choices. After watching the videos, they should be able to identify emotional associations with key colors, understand industry-specific uses of color (e.g., red in food, blue in tech, green in eco-brands), and reflect on their own consumer responses.
Motivations
This is something that people experience everyday which makes the content instantly relatable. Also Audiences will be motivated because it is short, fun, and engaging. Humor, familiar brand examples, and everyday encounters with color make the topic interesting, while animated storytelling keeps it appealing.
POV STATEMENT:
A consumer of any age needs to learn how brand colors subconsciously influence emotions and decisions so they can critically interpret marketing strategies, become more mindful shoppers, and understand how psychology shapes everyday brand interactions.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Primary Objectives
Consumer Awareness: Viewers will learn how specific colors are linked to psychological effects (e.g., red for urgency/appetite, blue for trust/calmness).
Brand Strategy Recognition: Viewers can identify how different industries and organizations strategically apply color psychology to influence behavior.
Psychological Connection: Viewers will understand how emotional associations with color guide brand perception and consumer’s decision making thought process.
Sub-Objectives
- Audiences can reflect on their own brand preferences and recognize when their decisions are influenced by color cues.
- Viewers can apply critical thinking when interacting with advertising and design across platforms.
PLAN (Ideate, Sketch, Elaborate)
Ideation
During our brainstorming sessions, our team — Sai (me), Khushi, and Kushank (Kvirdi) — wanted to choose a topic that connects psychology, creativity, and everyday experiences. We started by listing ideas that influence human behavior, such as advertising tricks, consumer decisions, and emotional triggers in marketing. After some discussion, we realized color psychology fits perfectly because it’s something everyone experiences daily without realizing it.
To build our concept, we looked at color charts from branding case studies, short marketing clips on YouTube, and brand logo collections from sites like Behance and Pinterest. We observed patterns — for instance, how red dominates food chains, blue covers banking and tech, and green appears in eco-friendly brands. This helped us decide to design three short, story-driven videos, each focusing on a specific emotional theme:
- Video 1 – “Why You Crave Fries When You See Red?” explores how warm colors like red, yellow, and orange trigger appetite and energy.
- Video 2 – “Why You Trust Blue Without Realizing It?” explains how cool colors such as blue and green evoke calmness, trust, and stability.
- Video 3 – “What Your Favorite Brand Color Says About You?” connects personal emotions with colors like pink, purple, black, white, and brown.
We decided to use a dialogue-based format because it feels conversational and relatable, especially for a young audience. Each member contributed ideas for tone and examples — Khushi focused on engagement and humor, I handled educational flow and facts, and Kushank helped shape brand examples and transitions.
Our most promising prototype idea was to create short animated videos combining real-brand colors and conversational storytelling. This format keeps the learning light, visual, and easy to follow, while still grounded in psychological concepts.
Video 1: “Why You Crave Fries When You See Red?”
Khushi:
Ever wondered why your stomach growls every time you see a red logo? Don’t lie — I know that McDonald’s drive-thru look gets you too.
That’s not hunger. That’s color psychology tricking your brain.
Kushank:
Red triggers urgency and impulsiveness — it literally makes your heart beat faster. Your brain thinks, “Act now!” That’s why food brands love it. You don’t think — you just order.
Nihal:
Add yellow into the mix — the color of joy, warmth, and childhood memories — and suddenly you’re 10 again, holding fries and a soda.
Then comes orange — excitement and appetite in one. It’s the secret ingredient in how Fanta keeps you coming back.
Khushi:
Here’s the wild part — 90% of food brands use red. Not because it’s pretty, but because it works.
So next time you open Zomato or pass a KFC, stop for a second and ask yourself — am I hungry, or hypnotized?
All (laughing tone):
Spoiler: It’s hypnosis.
Video 2: “Why You Trust Blue Without Realizing It?”
Nihal:
What if I told you the reason you trust Facebook, PayPal, and even Twitter has nothing to do with logic — and everything to do with color?
Yep, blue is the world’s calmest con artist.
Khushi:
Blue reminds us of the sky and the sea — it makes us feel calm, safe, and loyal. Tech brands use it to whisper, “Relax, you can trust us.”
And you do. You scroll, you swipe, you buy — peacefully.
Kushank:
Then comes green — the color of balance, growth, and health. That’s why brands like Spotify, Starbucks, and WhatsApp use it to feel natural and trustworthy.
It’s not just color — it’s emotional engineering.
Nihal:
Together, blue and green make you feel productive, protected, and at peace — exactly what tech wants.
So next time you open a blue app, just remember… it’s not your choice. It’s psychology.
Khushi (playful):
And it’s working perfectly.
Video 3: “What Your Favorite Brand Color Says About You?”
Kushank:
Let’s play a game — what do Barbie, Cadbury, and Mercedes all have in common?
They’re all using color to control how you feel about them.
Khushi:
Pink means sweet, playful, and nostalgic — that’s why it’s the go-to for donut shops and beauty brands.
Purple screams royalty, dreams, and wealth — expensive color, expensive feeling.
Nihal:
Black is power. Control. Luxury. That’s why every high-end brand wears black proudly — Audi, LV, Mercedes.
White, on the other hand, is purity and simplicity. Apple and Nike use it to say, “We’re clean. We’re elite.”
Kushank:
And brown — the color of reliability, warmth, and comfort. That’s why you crave chocolate when you’re sad.
Color psychology isn’t just about logos — it’s about emotion. Theirs, and yours.
Khushi (smiling):
Now that you know — which color controls you the most?
PRINCIPLES APPLIED
Our design closely follows Mayer’s Educational Multimedia Design Principles to make sure the content is not only interesting but also effective for learning:
- Multimedia Principle – We combine narration, dialogue, and visuals (brand logos, colors, animations) instead of using text alone. This helps learners process both words and visuals together.
- Contiguity Principle – When a color or brand is mentioned in the narration, it appears on screen at the same time. This avoids split attention and keeps the learner focused.
- Coherence Principle – We removed unnecessary sounds, transitions, or text that could distract from the main message. The visuals and narration stay directly tied to the concept being explained.
- Signaling Principle – Important points, like color names or emotional keywords, are highlighted visually with bold color emphasis or screen focus cues to guide attention.
- Modality Principle – We use spoken narration and dialogue instead of large text blocks. This allows the viewer to focus on the visuals while listening, reducing cognitive load.
- Personalization Principle – The friendly conversational style between the three of us makes the information feel more engaging and human, encouraging connection and curiosity.
By applying these principles, our videos aim to balance creativity with clarity — helping viewers understand that colors in branding are not random but carefully designed to influence emotions and choices
PEER FEEDBACK:
Peer Feedback Received by Nihal
Julia