The Horn Effect

We wrote an article recently on the halo effect and touched briefly on its ugly sibling, the horn effect. But, we didn’t’ dive too deep into the topic so we wanted to circle back here today and chat about it a little. The human brain is such an amazing organ. It categorizes through the lenses of our experiences, creating cognitive bias. The horn effect occurs when we have a negative first impression of something and let it affect how we see every everything about that thing. We tend to see this bias come up a lot in the hiring process, unfortunately. We’ve all heard how important it is to make a good first impression. This is one reason why. When the horn effect takes hold of our judgement, we tend to underplay good traits and a negative impression is much stronger than a positive one. Understanding the halo and horn effects can help prevent strong cognitive biases in the workplace. If we begin to understand how they work we can see them and begin to break them down.

The Importance of Colors in Advertising

Color psychology is the study of how certain colors impact human behavior. Otherwise known as color theory, colors impact each individual differently based on preference and cultural background. Today, color psychology is used mostly in advertising. Some brands have even gone as far as trademarking a specific color that is associated with their business. Colors are chosen very carefully in advertising because of the associations that our brains make with them. Let’s look at the basic colors and see how they invoke certain associations.

1.     Red: this color is associated with energy, confidence, passion and love. It’s vibrant and grabs the attention of the viewer. It can also invoke anger and danger. You will often see them blended with softer colors to pop. Red has been known to actually increase the viewers heart rate and blood pressure.

2.     Orange. This color is a ‘friendly” one. It has been shown to invoke a cheerful, playful atmosphere and it carries with it a sense of youthfulness and vitality. We painted our home gym a peach color to elicit feelings of energy for example. Positive emotions and enthusiasm are charged in the presence of this color.

3.     Green. This is my personal favorite color. Give me all the shades! I love it. It’s associated with health, serenity, money and eco-friendly brands nowadays. It’s a soothing and welcoming color.

4.     Blue. This color can be easily associated with water and thus, signify tranquility and relaxation. One must be careful as certain shades of blue resemble sadness but light blue is typically known as one to show dependability, trustworthiness and security.

5.     Purple. Think about something in nature that is purple. How long did it take you? Purple is typically a color not as common as the others that occurs naturally in the world. Flowers are about the only thing that came to my mind first when I asked myself that same question when writing this. It has strong overtones of mystery, luxury, creativity, and imagination.

6.     Yellow. This bright color is attention grabbing. It carries with it, optimistic feelings but one must be wary of overuse as it can become abrasive. It a cheery color and has been known to increase metabolism. 

Colors can impact how your audience sees your brand. That’s why many companies go to great lengths to test their advertising campaigns. It is most important when choosing your brand’s overall logo. This is what people will associate with your brand. Choose your colors wisely so that it invokes positive feelings from your audience.

Psychology of Advertising

An average person can be exposed to over 6,000 advertisements per day! This number is staggering but not surprising it today’s digital world. There are psychological principles that advertisers can use to improve sales.

1.     Reciprocity. This psychological phenomenon is held fast in the fact that we are instinctively hard-wired to automatically feel indebted to someone when we receive a gift from them. in business, this can be giving your audience something for free and in return they may sign up or purchase more. For example, maybe you get a first-class trial for free. You love the class so you end up buying the membership.

2.     Consensus. This is where others put their trust in a brand because others have demonstrated proof of trust in them already. This is where customer reviews come in handy.

3.     Liking. This can be ingrained with physical traits, similarity, association or contact with the brand in a positive experience. You will need to know your audience. What are their wants and their likes? Once you know this you can reflect it back to them in advertising messages. 

4.     Scarcity. This is an effective tool that makes something seem like it won’t be around for long at all. Say a promotion with a deadline, such as, “for limited time only.” This creates a sense of urgency and leads to irrational, emotional decision making.

5.     FOMO. Or fear of missing out. This is a two-part process. First, the user feels like they’re missing out. Two, they follow up with compulsive behavior to maintain the connection.

6.     Authority. Establish authority as an expert in your field. People tend to trust those in charge, such as credible source, thought leaders and experts.

This list is far from extensive and the psychological principles that can be utilized in advertising are vast. The two fields go together like peanut butter and jelly. To read more on what types of techniques your brand can use to benefit from psychology in your advertising and marketing campaigns visit:

·      Crobox (techniques)

·      Relevance (examples)

·      USC (overall information)

Gestalt Principle for Advertising Design

We know, we know. This already sounds like a very fancy, difficult to read article. Well, let us tell you that it’s not. We’re going to explain this design principle in laymen’s terms for those who may not be familiar with it. We don’t have degrees in psychology, so our understanding of it is at the surface level to be used for the ad industry. So, what is the Gestalt Principle? It deals with psychology that is a philosophy dictating that the human mind perceives a whole composition as something different than its individual elements. Basically, it means that the human brain will attempt to simplify and organize complex images/designs that consist of many elements. The brain subconsciously arranges the parts into an organized system that creates a whole rather than a series of elements. It is used in design to improve the aesthetics, functionality and user-friendliness. These are the principles associated with Gestalt: simplicity, similarity, closure, proximity, figure/ground, symmetry and order, synchrony and lastly, continuity. Let’s dive a little deeper into each principle.

1.     Simplicity. The mind will interpret ambiguous and complex images in their simplest form. When we see an object, we first seek to identify the outline to compare it to known shapes and patterns. A simple design that is well-defined will communicate the message more effectively.

2.     Similarity. Objects with similar characteristics will be grouped together as related or similar. This happens regardless of their proximity. This can be used to make certain elements of a design stand out from the rest.

3.     Closure. This one is the idea that your brain fills in the gaps for missing pieces of an illustration or image. The design need not include the entire image in order for the viewer to see the whole. Our brains are amazing!

4.     Proximity. Objects placed closely together are usually perceived as more related. They don’t even have to share the same characteristics. This can help you design by adding groups of items without definite borders.

5.     Figure/ground. Elements of a design will be seen as a focal point or in the background/foreground. This a way to use negative space in design. Our brains can distinguish the difference between objects in the foreground, background and focal point. Larger areas of the design will be seen as the focal point and smaller are the figure. Light and dark colors can also be used to influence what is viewed for each.

6.     Symmetry and order. People see objects as symmetrical shapes when possible. This can be done through harmonic color schemes or similar shapes.

7.     Synchrony. Parts of a design that move in the same direction are perceived as related objects. Therefore, objects that look to be moving in the same direction on a design will be grouped together.

8.     Continuity.  Lines are perceived as a continuous movement along the path. This can be used to guide the viewers eyes to particular parts of the design. It will follow the simplest path on the page.

The psychology behind advertising is quite fascinating. While this article just touches the surface of how it’s applied in the field, one can see how important it is. following these steps in advertising design will help your brand create successful print ads.