Did it ever occur to you that restaurant logos are often red?  Like, way too often for it to be a coincidence.

You’re probably thinking of KFC’s logo right now since it’s in the title of the post, but keep running through the big boys in your mind.  McDonald’s?  Check.  Burger King? Not completely red, but red’s definitely involved – Check.  Wendy’s?  Pizza Hut?  Arby’s?  Dairy Queen?  Boston Market?  Five checks.  Even local faves like Ted’s Fish Fry are on the red bandwagon.

So…what’s the deal?

Well, people are actually surprisingly influenced by colors they see.  Red, the favorite choice of restaurants everywhere, is a color that inspires excitement, and, believe it or not, hunger.  By incorporating a red logo onto the sign for a restaurant, a restaurant owner is basically putting up a billboard that says, “You are getting hunnnnngry…”

So the KFC crew is using a little color psychology to get you to order more popcorn chicken.  We just went to their website, which is complete with a red background, and now our stomachs are getting a bit grumbly.

Color psychology can make your print products more effective, too.  If your business involves food, then carefully placed red accents in your menus and other printed materials might be just the ticket.  If your business caters to upscale clients, you might want to incorporate colors like silver, gold, and black – colors that indicate sophistication and luxury.  If your company has a casual, friendly personality, pale yellows might bring that warm, happy vibe to your clients.

There are a lot of colors out there that have a lot of different things to say, so we could go on all day.  If you’re wondering what your current color scheme is secretly telling your clients, we’d be happy interpret for you.

Now that we’ve spent so much time thinking about fast food, we’re ravenous enough to season, baste, and devour our computers.  Unfortunately, though we were able to crack the code on KFC’s color choices, that darn secret recipe of theirs is still a secret.