Radius Design Studio

11/19/2025

COLOR PSYCHOLOGY:
Marketing OVERKILL 💥 or Hard SCIENCE? 🧪

» Does RED really raise your heart rate?
» Does BLUE really calm your mind?
» Does color TRULY influence behavior, or are we giving it too much credit?

The idea of color psychology is everywhere in branding, but how much of it is backed up by hard science?

1️⃣ First impressions MATTER. ⚡️

Studies have shown that we form initial judgments about a new product within 90 seconds (or much less). A significant part of this assessment is based on color ALONE.

https://lnkd.in/g4iPyH2W

2️⃣ Color influences consumer PERCEPTION ... and BEHAVIOR. 🛒

Studies also indicate that color seriously impacts our perceptions of a brand's quality, value and attributes. For example:

> The most successful financial institutions (e.g., Chase, Venmo, American Express) all use blue as their primary brand color, because of its common association with reliability, security and trust.

> The most successful fast-food chains (e.g., McDonald's, Chick-fil-A Restaurants, The Wendy's Company) use red in their branding, aiming to stimulate appetite and convey a sense of urgency.

3️⃣ But ... isn't color perception inherently SUBJECTIVE? 🤔

Our individual reactions to colors can vary WIDELY based on personal experiences, cultural backgrounds, age/gender demographics and personal preferences.

This viral test demonstrated again how subjective color interpretation can be:

https://lnkd.in/gu-4Qm_5

All of this can make it challenging to GENERALIZE the impact of specific colors on your audience.

4️⃣ And if it's science, then why can't people agree?

Despite ALL the research and discussion about color psychology, there is still NO UNIVERSAL agreement on if it's effective or how to use it. People from different cultures, generations and other groups simply CANNOT AGREE on which colors trigger specific emotions or behaviors.

CONCLUSION:
Color psychology CAN offer valuable insights and CAN influence consumer perceptions and behaviors. But it's ultimately FLUID and subjective.

Color trends are constantly shifting, changing and adapting.

Designers and marketers alike need to consider individual differences, cultural nuances, and the complex nature of consumer patterns and decision-making when using color.

Effective branding encompasses a comprehensive strategy where color plays a role BUT does not attempt to be the only way to influence consumer perception or behavior.

03/05/2025

Design Hot Take: 🥵

You should always use a SANS SERIF font for smaller body copy for digital designs. (think websites, social media graphics, anything on screen)

It's cleaner and easier to read in large blocks of text.

When working on a print project, body copy can use EITHER serif or sans serif, if the font is still clearly legible at the printed size. Just be sure to choose a font that fits the branding and character of the project.

HINT: If you find yourself saying "I think that's legible".. it's not. 😉

Send a message to learn more

02/16/2025

DO YOU feel stuck when it comes to PICKING COLORS?

If you're not a designer ... picking colors can feel like a coin flip, right?

There's a LOT of color tools out there to help you. Here's a few favorites:

1. Coolors 🥇
https://coolors.co

This is a great tool to help you browse through options when you already have one color as a starting point. (like your key brand color) From the Generator page, click the first color stripe and enter your color values or use the sliders. Then lock the stripe, and hit the space bar to generate a color palette.

Don't like it? Hit the space bar again. And again. (It's mildly addictive. You've been warned.) If you get a color you like, lock it in, and keep going. Each stripe will list the RGB HEX code for it's color for reference.

There are a ton of other features to help you worth exploring. This is a great tool for exploring color combinations and building color sets.

2. Adobe Colors 🥈
https://color.adobe.com

If you know a bit more about color theory and how the color wheel works, this free set of tools and pages from Adobe is another great resource.

Pick your starting color, then use color models to start exploring other options. You can click and drag on the color wheel to move individual colors, and the others will shift based on your color model. Monochromatic, Shades and Split Complimentary are my favorites.

There's also an explore page, where you can browse other users color sets for ideas.

3. ColorSpace 🥉
https://mycolor.space

If the first two picks are overwhelming, with too many options, check out ColorSpace. Start with a single color, and the site will generate 25 new color palettes using different color matching strategies. I've found there's always at least 10 or more strong sets to give me more ideas.

»

There are MANY other color tools out there, so drop your favorite in the comments! Choosing colors for your marketing materials, your email newsletter or your website shouldn't be random or half hazard. 🚨 Use a tool that's rooted in color theory, and make smarter design decisions!

02/13/2025

Want to know one of the EASIEST, CHEAPEST ways to make your brand stand out from the crowd? (I'm talking less than $100.) 🤔😏🤨

READY?

Buy custom fonts for your branding package. 📦

95% of brands are built using fonts that are easily found in libraries and resources like Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts or default fonts that come installed on your system. (Looking at you Helvetica)

There's NOTHING wrong with these fonts. But if you don't want to LOOK like everyone else, you need to avoid ACTING like everyone else.

You need to think differently.

Most people think custom font packages are expensive. But there are a LOT of great custom fonts out there just waiting for you. And most of them are less than $100.

Here's some great sites to start looking for that perfect typeface for your brand:

1. Creative Market 🥇
creativemarket.com/fonts

2. MyFonts 🥈
myfonts.com

3. Envato Market 🥉
elements.envato.com/fonts

BUT ... before you buy a new font package, there's a few caveats you should know, and details you should look for ... before hitting that shiny Pay Now button.

And I'll post about this tomorrow. 😉

02/11/2025

Design Hot Take: 🔥
Your layouts should have AT LEAST 50% negative space.

If you look at the most successful brands, they are RUTHLESS about negative space.

It's NOT about fitting as much content, and as many messages as possible into the space. It's about asking yourself: "What's the MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE I'm trying to communicate here?"

Focus on that. Everything else is just noise.

02/07/2025

Do you or your business struggle to connect with your audience?

We solve that with creative strategy, brand development, and graphic design that makes you outstanding for the right reasons.

We can help you elevate your brand, your business, and expand your radius of impact.

Send us a DM if you're interested in learning more!