What Colors Should You Use in Your Digital Signage Content?

Your branding colors are an obvious choice for your digital signage content, but beyond that, how do choose the best hues?

Did you know there’s such a thing as color psychology? It’s the study of how different hues and shades influence human emotion, mood, and behavior. Color is one of the fastest ways to set a tone before anyone even reads your text.

Let’s explore how color can influence your audience and messaging!

Red

Red is connected with excitement, urgency, and passion, which is why it’s so common in “sale” or “limited time” messaging. Be cautious when using red, however, as too much can cause visual strain for the viewer.

Blue

Blues are associated with calm, trustworthy, and powerful messaging. As a result, it’s a color that’s heavily favored in marketing. If you’re in an industry where consumer confidence is key, such as banking or healthcare, consider using more blue.

Yellow

Yellow portrays warmth, energy, and optimism. Since it’s the most visible color to the human eye, it excels at grabbing attention. However, excessive use can cause eye strain or convey anxiety, so use this color sparingly.

Green

Green is a soothing color that evokes health, growth, and balance. It is also frequently used for “go” prompts or buttons like “confirm.” As the easiest color for humans to process, it also can promote a calming, trusting feeling.

Orange

Orange is associated with energy, youthfulness, and friendliness. It also stimulates hunger, which makes it a popular choice for the food & beverage industry.

Purple

Purple is linked to creativity, luxury, and mystery. It’s a color great for evoking premium experiences and products. It is also infrequently used and can help your brand or messaging stand out.

White

White is a shade connected with cleanliness, simplicity, and clarity. It is a great color to use to create space, contrast, and readability. Read more about contrast in our post on content design.

Black

Black is a bold and sophisticated color that implies power, luxury, exclusivity, and authority. It also provides good contrast, but be careful of using too much black as it can connote heavier feelings, like grief.

Gray

Gray is known for neutrality, balance, and reliability. This cool neutral is perfect for brands wanting to project logical thinking, minimalism, and understated confidence.

Color psychology and meanings can differ across locations and demographics (for example, white means mourning in East & South Asia).

Consider creating a system that keeps track of which colors you use for certain categories. For example, red/orange can be associated with urgent or promotional messaging, blue with informational content, and green or yellow with lighthearted, community-focused messages. Creating a system and sticking to it helps your audience learn to read your signage at a glance, even before they process the text.

Still stumped on color? Leave the content design to Optec! Contact Optec Displays today for a quote on content creation at 800-876-1668.