{"id":1126,"date":"2019-11-06T22:35:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T22:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.printivity.com\/insights\/?p=1126"},"modified":"2025-07-30T18:43:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T18:43:02","slug":"how-design-influences-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insights.printivity.com\/how-design-influences-decision","title":{"rendered":"Psychology of Design: How Design Influences Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Use Design Psychology For Your Brand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At first glance, buying a product seems like a purely rational process. We look at similar products, compare the quality versus the cost, and then buy the one that appears to offer the best value. This is true to a certain extent. However, psychology in design plays a more significant role in the buying-decision process than most people realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is widely known that branding directly affects the buying decisions people make. What isn\u2019t as well known is the many ways psychological principles affect those decisions. Design psychology has a direct influence<\/a> on preference-based judgments by affecting certain areas of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, midbrain, and hippocampus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building trust is one of the primary objectives of a brand, and consumers correlate familiarity with trust. Visuals boost brand familiarity by giving people something they instantly recognize. They see your logo or other visuals used to market your business<\/a> (brochures<\/a>, flyers<\/a>, etc.), and they immediately correlate them with what they know about your brand. Including design psychology in the design process helps ensure they make the correct associations between the visual and what your brand represents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three design elements, in particular, have a powerful influence on buying decisions: color, fonts, and shapes. Learning how to start appropriately using these principles of psychology for designers will greatly improve the effectiveness of your brand, your logo, and your marketing materials<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Psychology of Color<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Color affects people in many ways, one of which is being a strong correlation between color and feeling. In fact, studies have shown that color triggers a very specific response <\/a>in our brains. Knowing this, designers use color, fonts, and images to tap into deep human behavior and emotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Color also affects how we understand the world to the point where people recognize colors before letters or shapes. At the same time, color perception can be very subjective and can vary according to age, gender, and culture. For example, some cultures associate white with purity and happiness, while others associate it with sadness and grief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, colors such as red, yellow, and orange are associated with excited emotions. Colors such as blue, violet, and green are associated with calmness, coolness, and tranquility. Colors can play a huge part in user experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixing different colors in a design will affect humans psychologically. For example, using many bright colors creates a youthful, energetic feeling. At the other end of the spectrum, black and white is a simple but elegant combination that conveys maturity and sophistication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the colors you choose don\u2019t fit your business and industry, they probably won\u2019t resonate with your target audience. Before selecting colors to represent your business, consider the message you want to communicate and the feelings you want to evoke. Select a primary quality that defines your business, then use colors that are associated with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Psychology of Fonts <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As with color, fonts have a psychological impact on people. They generate different emotions based on the shape of the letters and our responses to those shapes. When selecting a font for your marketing materials<\/a>, it\u2019s important to choose one with the right personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Software Usability Research Laboratory (SURL) atWichita State University<\/a> looked\nat the traits people associate with different fonts. People who participated in\nthe study characterized traditional fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman as\nstable and mature. They also saw them as being unimaginative and\nconformist. Less traditional fonts like Comic Sans were characterized as\ncasual, youthful, and happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are more than a\nhundred fonts to choose from, but they can all be grouped into one of four\nprimary categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n