Persuasion, Color, and Food

To answer, “what role(s) do(es) visuals play in persuasion?” in just two paragraphs lets use restaurant logos for example. There’s a reason why MacDonald’s, Wendy’s, Sonic, Hardee’s, Bojangle’s, Denny’s, Pizza Hut, and numerous other “food stop” locations have red and yellow in their logos. Yellow and red are colors that are supposed to make the human subconscious think of food. You might also notice that Subway, Quizno’s Subs, and Blimpie (which are places that are thought of to be a bit healthier) often use either yellow or red in conjunction with a ‘green’ for many of their restaurant themes. Many people like to fill the tops of their healthy submarine sandwiches with vegetables. The green helps symbolize the fact that sub sandwich joints have vegetables and are supposed to be good for you. Notice that I’ve only pointed out the visual colors of persuasion used my restaurants. There are endless other factors to take into account.

Since I’m already on the restaurant kick, have you noticed how the new Subway logo font is in italics as compared to the previously very vertical logo font. Maybe Subway is trying to say, “Hey, we’re just as fast as those other guys!” Many viewer don’t even realize how persuasive a visual can be. Visuals can make or break a theme and add an extra kick to influence. The concepts of color scheme and font choice only brush the notion of visual persuasion.