Before Using Blue Shades in Your Visual Identity … Think Twice

Blue, the default choice for creating a professional visual identity, and the chosen color for major platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. But has blue become overused to the point that it no longer stands out or captivates attention? Let’s examine this in more detail.

Facebook is blue, WhatsApp is green, but YouTube is red

Although blue and green colors are commonly used among giant successful platforms, there are other successful platforms that use totally different colors, such as YouTube (red), Snapchat (yellow), X (black), and Pinterest (red). It’s only that Facebook and WhatsApp grab our attention the most, yet this is not the way to measure success.

It’s also a good reminder to notice the reason behind the color; for example, you might know that most platforms opt for white backgrounds to reduce strain on users’ eyes and encourage longer scrolling sessions. It’s important to remember that a compelling visual identity requires a more dynamic use of color to truly stand out and leave a lasting impression.

Did you know that changing the CTA button color can drive more sales by 20%?

In an exciting experiment, Performable team (HubSpot now) decided to test whether changing the color of the CTA button might increase conversion rates. They considered only two colors, green and red, and attempted to guess what would happen.

According to their forecast, green would be as follows:

Green means growth, nature, and environment; it’s widely used in traffic lights and usually refers to: move now or go.

And their forecast for the red would be as follows:

Red suggests emotion, blood, warning, and enthusiasm. It is an interesting color and is used at traffic lights too, but it refers to stop.

Everyone expected winning for green buttons in this test, because it’s a more friendly color than red, but the results surprised them all. The red CTA button drove a 21% higher conversion rate than the green one. The navigators clicked the red button 21% more than the green one. Mentioning that all other items on the page were exactly the same, nothing else changed, neither the button location nor the offer design, so this increase was only due to changing the CTA button color.

the science of colors in marketing performable

Changing the CTA button color increased conversion rate by 21%

Before this experiment, if you read every research paper you could access and asked every expert you knew, the answer would be the green color, but the test and experience can always prove it wrong.

Blue is too overused to stop you from scrolling down; the eyes skip it. But why?!

Make a small experiment yourself: upload a number of images in different colors to your phone gallery, including images in blue or green, and see how long it takes you to find them out of all the photos. Watch which image your eyes caught first, where you got lost and restarted searching for the blue image, and finally, the image with which color was easier for you to collect information. Why do your eyes tend to skip blue and green colors?

a) Due to frequent use in visual identities

In or out of social media platforms, on Google and other search engines, blue and green colors have become overused. However, it does not seem to be a problem for these platforms, since they require users to navigate longer sessions without becoming fatigued or having their eyes disturbed.

You’re likely spending at least two hours a day browsing Facebook and LinkedIn, whether it’s for ad campaigns, your personal newsfeed, or business and economic updates. As a result, blue—the dominant color of these platforms—has become so familiar that it fails to capture attention. Your eyes subconsciously perceive blue images as part of the platform’s standard palette, making them easy to overlook.

Does that mean to avoid blue and green if we need a successful visual identity?

Not precisely. First and foremost, blue and green are still the best colors for some business areas, such as technical fields and networking. Blue is also a preferred color for men if you target business owners, and it is color-blindness friendly, which is an issue that can reach 8% of your audience, a percentage you can’t neglect.

Eventually, we call them “cold colors” that should be used in a wiser way, especially on pages and sites where we need to motivate visitors to make a certain action, such as subscribing or placing orders.

Here are some applicable solutions for your blue visual identity

1. Choose an eye-catching side color

Besides blue or green, choose an eye-catching color for your visual identity palette. Fiery red, orange shades, yellow shades, fuchsia, and dark red shades; all are successful eye-catching colors to use on the Internet; they have proven to be unskippable, attractive, stop navigators from scrolling down, and, best of all, they motivate your audience on making buying decisions.

2. Choose a brighter shade

Avoid using pale shades of blue or green in your business’s visual identity; instead, opt for striking and brighter tones. A notable example is Facebook’s logo evolution, where the company transitioned from a darker, muted blue to a brighter and lighter shade. While some speculate that Mark Zuckerberg originally chose blue due to his color blindness, Meta later selected a more vibrant shade of blue for the Facebook icon to ensure it stands out prominently among other apps on mobile devices.

Changes made to the Facebook blue shades

So, if the main color of your visual identity is blue or green, and you don’t tend to change it, you can only choose a better shade.

3. Test more colors and analyzing your audience’s response

Try new colors in promotions or seasonal offers. Why seasonal offers specifically? To make a balance between keeping the identity you’re known with and the refreshing you’re trying to do.

Analyze the impact of new colors on your audience’s engagement, responsiveness, and sharing. If some new colors increased your clicks or engagement, you should consider them in your visual identity palette.

Pro tip: Maintain flexibility and openness when developing your visual identity, ensuring it evolves alongside your company’s growth, market expansion, and increasing audience scale. At the same time, strike a balance between refreshing your visual identity and preserving the core elements of your brand that your audience recognizes. Avoid unnecessary or excessive changes that could lead to confusion or distract from your established identity.

4. Use Eye Tracking techniques

Eye tracking is a technology that records eye movements to determine where and how we look, using sensors and cameras to track the point of visual fixation, movements, and pupil dilation. Thanks to this technology, marketing professionals can conduct analyses that provide precise data on which elements of a screen or ad capture the viewers’ attention and how they visually interact with them.

To leverage this technology, you can hire a UX developer to optimize your website or collaborate with a professional digital marketing agency like Rosella Digital UG. Their experts can help you identify the most effective colors for your website and also for the platforms you launch ad campaigns on. Get in touch with Rosella’s team today and take the first step toward enhancing your digital presence. Click here.

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