Several studies have reported and concluded that we humans subconsciously perceive books by their colour. This article is based on research that tries to assert why book cover colour should fit the novel and should not stand out the phrases. To some extent, colours have always made up a huge part of our existence and history. Colour has been an essence that generates a type of energy level for the readers so much so that within 90 seconds of interaction with the book cover, about 62%-90% of potential readers give an immediate judgement on the book cover.

“No branding tool is more powerful than color. It can transform a logo into an emotional experience by instantly stimulating desire, instilling trust and connecting your companies to the customer’s souls. Also, it’s pretty. After consulting with psychologists, designers, decorators, the guy at the paint store and our aunt down in Florida, we’ve created a guide to the virtues conveyed by 20 colours frequently used in company logos.” Ross McCammon

‘One should never judge a book by its cover’ is a universally chanted slogan, but all do it and no one holds it necessarily in a literal sense. A polished and professional look targets the audience and 90% of the time, colour influences the potential customers. The job of the book cover is to keep the right people reading the description.

Colour is the first thing we notice and the last thing we remember. It holds a variety of meanings based on personal experience, meaning, we cannot make generalised or concrete statements like, ‘red reminds of passion, hardiness, valour’ or ‘blue reminds of perseverance, justice, or vigilance.’ These are merely based on stereotypes and societal conventions that arouse similar associations for a large group of people. Otherwise, each colour reminds each individual of something different depending on their continuously evolving experiences. It is a fact that colour influences our blood pressure and heart rate as every time we encounter colour, our adrenaline, blood pressure and heart rate either increase or decrease. Usually, warm colours increase them and cool colours decrease them. Colour theory on temperature — The executive of a paint company received complaints from workers that the blue-painted office was too cold. When the office painted a warm peach, the complaint ended even though the temperature had not changed.

The colour blue causes the body to produce calming chemicals and is therefore often used in bedrooms to help people sleep. Blue is also considered to be one of the least appetizing. For instance, in 2000, the city of Glasgow installed blue lighting in certain neighbourhoods and subsequently reported the anecdotal finding of reduced crime in these areas. In 2009, Japan also installed blue lightning on its railroad stations in an effort to reduce the number of suicide attempts.

Despite the potential of a book, many of us do not want to let go of it due to the pleasure stimulated by the book cover. What we should be aiming for is, to match the emotional message that colour is evoking on a subconscious level. Colours have a visual harmonious relationship with each other to create all that positive connection. A customer that subconsciously (or consciously) sees those genre identifiers tells themselves “I’ve read a book that looked similar to this book and I enjoyed that book. Therefore, I’m likely to enjoy this book as well”. Hence, an individual can link any blue book to another blue book with completely different content and only because of the colour, the readers could perceive the content to be similar. Research shows that people associate colour with temperature and taste, and that turns into feeling, simultaneously turning into perceptions. Thus, colour decisions affect both the direct message of a book and brand values in any attribute of communication.

The book cover is not simply about packaging, rather is fueled by preconceived notions and misconceptions. Often authors screw up their book cover not because they lack designing skills, but because they try to avoid the same colouration of books. Anyhow, an author does not necessarily need to explain to the readers the meaning behind the book cover.

Customers generally make an immediate and initial judgement on a book within 90 seconds of interaction with it and about 62%-90% of that judgement is based on the colour of the book. Colour is a very influential source of information when people are making a purchasing decision. Colour mapping provides a means of identifying logo colour for new brands and ensuring differences in brand within a visually cluttered marketplace. New products could consider using dissimilar colours other than the ones which have already come in use by other brands to avoid similarities and to attract attention to the product. Using similar colours somehow emphasize similarity in the book and might give the wrong idea to potential readers. Uniqueness is brought in book colour as it could leave a bad mark in case the readers have a bad impression of an already published book of the same colour. People’s attention is captured subconsciously by colour before they consciously attend to something else. This implies that the colour of a book attracts an individual before they willingly get their attention at it.

Stuart Bache, a professional book cover designer, in an interview with Joanna Penn, pinned an interesting point about colour theory. “You have the design perspective, and then you have the motive. And your book cover is exactly the place where those rules should be applied.” The colour of the book cover communicates certain messages about its contents, which evokes people to grab the book. As per a study in the U.S., the blue colour covered book is the top choice of people with 35% of people preferring blue, 16 % green, 10% purple and 9% red.

It is found that the colour of the book cover has to do with the context of the book as well. Sometimes a book cover stands out too much and the content that does not keep up with it makes it less appealing to the targeted readers. The cover should be crystal clear and linear to the point by using straightforward imagery and clear content. It needs to fit into the relevant genre. A potential reader consciously or subconsciously identifies those genres and might tell themselves, “I have read a book that looks similar to this book, and I did not find it interesting. Therefore I am not going to enjoy this book either.” There are several books with a blue cover which poses a risk of those books being discarded by the potential readers for being alike cover-wise. Readers are in the search of new knowledge and the similar cover colour might give them the impression that they are already informed of the content a book holds.

To highlight the influence of colour on perception let’s take for instance the impact a colour has on food. Colour affects how people perceive the edibility and flavour of foods and drinks. People can mistake a cherry-flavoured drink for lemon-flavoured just because the drink is green in colour.

Human eyes do look for similarity/dissimilarity but also have a hunger for a surprising element, something that is refreshing and evokes new ideas. A good book cover must emphasize that the pages inside are worthy of the reader’s time and attention or else the reader could be influenced by a bad experience they had with a book of similar cover.

All things considered, colours are indeed powerful brand builders. The colour of a book can even impact the energy level of the reader. In a world of countless books, people more or less judge books by colour. Even colour blindness does not take away an emotional connection to colour vibration. Therefore, nailing a perfect book cover colour is more critical now than ever before.

Bibliography

http://petercullum.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Color-Theory-Psychology.pdf

https://miblart.com/blog/color-theory-in-book-cover-design/

https://damonza.com/book-covers

https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdotal/-finding-comfort-in-books-with-blue-covers

http://www.abebooks.com/books/monochr…

​https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-blue.html

https://rachaelritchey.com/2016/05/12/the-importance-of-color-in-book-cover-design/

https://99designs.com/blog/book-design/book-cover-design/

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