What Do Your Uniform Colors Convey?

More people claim that blue is their favorite color with green being next on the list. In order, psychologists say that both make people feel safer. It is no wonder then that police, fire fighters and medics wear blue uniforms and that green is donned by the military.
First impressions are an opportunity to make an imprint on others, and the color of your attire will be subliminally registered. To this effect lawyers wear dark suits to court, doctors wear green or blue scrubs and police are “the men in blue.” Blue conveys trust and if you are about to go under the knife, you certainly want to have that.
Color is a form of communication and as such, I pay close attention to it when designing uniforms for our clients. This means asking them what image they wish to portray and whom they perceive as their clients or customers.
When one thinks of security guards, dark blues often come to mind but sometimes it is important to convey other qualities with a different color. We often use black as it conveys authority, power, sophistication and timelessness. Seldom is one color an island to itself with uniforms. For one of our high-end commercial accounts, the guard uniforms have a silver wave pattern tie. Silver is seen as a calming color. In conjunction with a black suit it emanates a professional, “I can handle this” message.
However for the residential buildings for the same owner, I designed a custom gold tie. Gold implies success. As an extension of yellow, it is also a color of happiness. Combine this with the black jacket and trousers and the uniform reflects authority, sophistication, success and happiness.
These accents, such as ties, scarves, buttons and trim… subliminally make people think of what the color hints at without taking away from the stability of the overall uniform. A number of our 5^th Avenue doorman accounts have maroon accents. Bright red is passion and excitement while maroon is a more tempered version. Red also denotes independence, leadership and ambition. As a tie or part of a pattern with other colors, it is noticeable but does not overshadow the rest of the uniform.
Hotels and restaurants are often places where people go for new experiences so when it comes to designing uniforms for guest service agents, concierges and servers, we can be more adventurous when it comes to color. Plaids, bright hues, and unorthodox mixing and matching are all fair game, depending on the establishment.  Sometimes, the hotel actually wants to create an air of frivolity, to allow the guest to indulge in spontaneous fun. A wild array of colors/patterns can inspire this freedom in the guests.
Choosing colors for our customers is one of the aspects of my work that I find the most fun as it truly does involve psychology.  So next time you are thinking about upgrading your uniforms, go outside of the box a bit. Experiment with an accent of a color or a pattern, think about the message you would like your company brand to convey and how color can be yet another extension of it.