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Writer's pictureLaeticia El Chemaly
Nov 30, 20232 min read

Unmasking the secrets of subliminal hues in design









 


Introduction



Any designer worth their salt would know how to use colors to convey the right message and feeling depending on the brand's image and the target consumers. However, these colors can be used in subliminal ways to trick the consumers into doing things they might regret later.




Creating Urgency through Red:

Being a bright and eye-catching color, red is usually associated with a sense of urgency. This can be used in checkout buttons to create a false sense of urgency in the user, and prompt him to checkout faster and without thinking if he's really buying something he needs.






The Deceptive Calm of Green:

On the other end of the spectrum, green is usually associated with a feeling of calm and serenity. Nature is the first example of this, and most brands related to relaxation and calmness will use green frequently. However, this feeling might be abused by some website when they trick the user to feel a sense of calmness while going through some potentially misleading pages without noticing it.






Hidden Costs in Blue:

There is a reason why most companies go for blue as their primary color: it conveys trust and safely, two of the most important qualities a brand should have. However, this false sense of trust might be in play when you are being tricked into hidden costs (added subscriptions or guarantees for exemple). The trust established by the color blue might overshadow the hidden tricks being played on you as you feel you're browsing the website of a trusted company that would not do such a thing… but always, beware!






False Security in Gray:

Gray tones convey a sense of neutrality, a sort of middle that neither good nor bad. This is usually a good thing for websites when they stumble upon the unknowing user, who will try to make the “neutral” or “safe” choice while actually not really doing so. A good example of that would be the gray boxes you input your email into, it looks so harmless and yet you might be in for a big spam newsletter… who knows what is really safe on the web?




 


Conclusion


To wrap it up, colors plays a huge part about brand identity, but it is also a key player in being more subtle and more subliminal when it needs to satisfy the needs of dark patterns to trick a customer into a false sense of safety





 



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