I recently came across a very interesting article while doing research on the field of charity work;

Charitable donations increase with a 'warm' orange background

The paper presents a study in which the authors of the research claim that the usage of particular colours in adverts might aid organisations in attracting more donations and raising more money.

Across five trials, researchers involved 2,732 volunteers to investigate the effect of colour in charitable appeals. Volunteers were invited to donate after viewing adverts with orange and blue backgrounds from organisations such as Save the Children and World Help.

When charity pleas that contained negative imagery (those depicting distress) were displayed on an orange background, people contributed nearly three times as much as when they were displayed on a blue background.

Meanwhile, donations that contained positive imagery (those with a positive impact) were higher among those with a blue backdrop than those with an orange background.

(Participants gave more money after seeing a 'positive' charity ad with a blue background, and again after seeing a 'negative' charity ad with an orange background, as shown in this graph of results from one of the five experiments)

( picture from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8270343/Charitable-donations-increase-warm-orange-background.html )

According to the authors, the impact is created by the contrast between the campaign's mood and the psychology of the background colour used. This contrast allows people to focus better on the images of the advert.

Here is a simple summary;

• Orange ( associated with warmth ) - Charity appeals with negative visuals are more effective when displayed on an orange backdrop because it draws our attention to the upsetting charity advertisements.
• Blue ( more of a cold colour, can be associated with sadness ) - Appeals that demonstrate the positive effects of contributing money, such as images of happy children against blue backgrounds, are effective because they draw our attention to the uplifting charity advertisement.

After reading the article, I was really surprised, so far in my projects, I have mostly matched the imagery to similar colour psychology; never contrasting ones.