The psychology of green: Explore the color and how it’s used in branding

For most people, green is synonymous with life and the natural world on which our existence depends. As concern for the degradation of the world grows and more and more people opt out of supporting companies that participate in this degradation, it makes sense that brands would gravitate to green and position themselves as champions of eco-friendly living.

Today, we’re exploring this vibrant color, its history, the psychology of green, green branding, and color combinations.

In simple terms, green is the hue created from mixing the primary colors blue and yellow, but green is anything but simple. Just look at nature, and you’ll see an endless array of greens in our world, from the deepest darkest to the palest lightest green. Some are more influenced by blue, while others are more influenced by yellow.

The most popular shades of green are:

Here are the color codes for green that you will need to know to select the correct hue for your projects.

Green has been around humans in the form of grass, plants, and forests since the beginning. Though plants created this pigment effortlessly because of chlorophyll, the photosynthetic pigment that gives them their wonderfully abundant green color, humans had a hard time recreating this hue for paintings or dyes.

In ancient Egypt, where green was revered as the symbol of regeneration and rebirth, malachite was used to paint tomb walls, but it turned black over time.

The ancient Romans soaked copper plates in wine to create a green pigment called verdigris, which they used for mosaics, frescos, and stained glass.

In the Middle Ages, green pigments were developed from natural materials like plants, but the colors always faded. In 1775, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele invented a bright green hue called Scheele’s green, replacing the earlier mineral and vegetable dyes used in clothing and domestic items. Unfortunately, as it was made with arsenic, it caused serious illness for anyone who wore fabrics dyed with the pigment or who inhaled the toxic fumes from green furniture or wallpaper.

In 1814, German chemists Russ and Sattler created a beautiful emerald green by mixing and heating copper verdigris with vinegar and white arsenic. The brilliant green pigment quickly replaced Scheele’s green, but it was equally toxic. Despite this, it was greatly admired and extensively used during the Victorian era for various household goods, wallpaper, artists’ paints, and clothing dyes. Unfortunately, its use also led to some pretty gruesome illnesses and even death.

Happily, the pigment was banned in the early 1900s. Nevertheless, it became popular among artists like Renoir, Gauguin, Cézanne, and Van Gogh.

Because of its associations with the natural world of grass, shrubs, trees, and forests, green is a symbol of growth, renewal, and life. It’s an easy color for the eye to absorb in all shades. As a combination of yellow’s optimism and blue’s calmness, it is considered a positive color which calms, refreshes, and promotes health, harmony, growth, and balance.

Of course, green also inherited a negative connotation from ancient superstition, as indicated by the phrase “green with envy.” Green is often associated with money and greed in a more modern context.

Today, green is associated with being environmentally conscious. As shoppers have become more aware of environmental devastation and the growing threat to life on earth, they’ve been opting for more ecologically sound products that are natural, healthier, chemical-free, recyclable, and less wasteful of natural resources.

Needless to say, products that are actually eco-friendly have an edge with the public over products that are not. These brands can benefit enormously from green marketing, highlighting the product’s environmental benefits and the company that makes it.

However, some companies capitalize on the green movement by simply renaming, rebranding, or repackaging products. They use slick public relations campaigns to tout their clean energy or pollution reduction efforts while making no meaningful commitment to green initiatives. This is called ‘greenwashing’.

While genuinely green products or businesses back up their claims with facts and details, companies that engage in greenwashing present a facade often easily destroyed by enterprising journalists.

Pure green is a strong, vibrant color that can be combined with other colors to create stunning and energizing designs. Let’s look at some green color palette inspiration.

Combining this vibrant green with some blue shades and tints is a great way to build a harmonious palette for your next project.

Feeling experimental? Try this color palette with its range of saturated and muted colors.

Looking for a bold contemporary look? Spice things up with this vibrant double complementary palette.

Green is great for adding color to your next project or livening things with other vibrant colors. With an Envato subscription, you can access millions of high-quality assets and templates across the broadest categories, whether you’re creating for web or print. Head to Envato for more inspiration for an excellent collection of green creative assets.

And if you’re looking for more color inspiration, check out: