Healthcare Color Palette for Doctors and Surgeons: Colors That Build Trust
Updated: 1 day ago
Healthcare Color Palette for Doctors and Surgeons
A healthcare color palette is the set of colors a doctor or surgeon uses on the website, logo, office and even scrubs. The Center for Health Design (CHD) calls color selection a significant factor in designing healthcare facilities.
Psychologists have known for a long time that the color of the floors, walls, and furniture in a particular environment can lead to significant emotional changes in people, and patients notice it in every doctor's office and surgical practice.
Most practice color palettes need four colors: a base, a support color, a light neutral and one accent. The 60-30-10 rule above keeps them in balance on a website and in the office.
What the Research Says About Color in Medical Settings
A report was issued by the CHD titled “The Application of Color in Healthcare Settings," and it was authored by Sheila Bosch, Rosalyn Cama, Eve Edelstein, and Jain Malkin. The report found insufficient evidence linking specific colors to health outcomes, so treat color as a comfort and brand choice, not a treatment.
The colors in an environment can strengthen and arouse emotions and moods and this impact is extremely important to consider when building or rebranding a medical office or surgery center.
One study cited in the report surveyed 68 patients on which colors they liked in their hospital rooms.
Patients preferred lighter, natural tones over darker colors.
Patients' age was also discovered to be a factor when assessing color in a hospital or clinic. Brighter palettes are common in pediatric practices, while calmer neutrals tend to suit older patients.
A stay in the hospital, and also a visit to the doctor’s office or clinic is usually a stressful event for patients and their caregivers. The workers in these buildings are also affected by the color of their surroundings.
When building or rebranding a surgical practice, thorough deliberation of the color scheme can play a significant role in the comfort and stress relief for everyone.
Where your practice colors show up | ||
Touchpoint | What to use | Tip |
Brand color in header and footer, accent on buttons | Keep the accent for Book a consult only | |
Logo | Base color plus one accent | Check it still works in one color |
Waiting room | Light neutrals, wood, one brand wall | Avoid strong color contrasts |
Exam and recovery rooms | Soft, light tones | Patients preferred light colors (CHD) |
Scrubs and coats | White or your brand color | Match the website so patients recognize you |
Same brand and accent colors | One template so posts look like you | |
Signage and forms | Base color on white | Check contrast before printing |
Color Psychology in a Surgical Practice
Think about yourself in a green field underneath the wide blue sky. What do you feel? Research indicates that colors influence feelings.
Have you ever imagined how the colors of your clothes and scrubs may affect the patients you are serving?
Color psychology research is mixed, so use it to guide your brand, not as medical evidence.
What Is Color Psychology?
Color psychology is the study of how colors can arouse specific feelings, thoughts, or emotions. Colors may influence individuals differently depending on their current moods, or personal life experiences.
Color psychology can be a helpful approach to how various colors can help you build a medical color palette that relates to patients in a specific way.
Maintaining a solid awareness of color psychology can make you integrate a specific practice color palette into your design, branding, marketing, or creative projects.
Below is what common colors tend to say to patients, and where each fits in a doctor's or surgeon's brand.
What each color says to patients | |||
Color | Patients read it as | Good fit | Watch out |
White | Clean, safe | Backgrounds, coats | Too much feels cold |
Blue | Trust, calm | Orthopedics, general surgery | Bright blues can fail contrast |
Green | Health, nature | Family medicine, wellness | Never the only signal next to red |
Black | Premium, serious | Plastic surgery, med spa | Pair with a warm accent |
Grey | Modern, neutral | Text, support color | Light grey text fails contrast |
Gold | Premium | Plastic surgery accents | White on gold fails contrast |
Pink | Care, softness | Women's health, aesthetics | Keep it as an accent |
Yellow | Warmth, energy | Pediatrics | Never as text on white |
Red | Urgency | Alerts only | Not for booking buttons |
White: Clean and Safe
White represents feelings of cleanliness, neatness, and safety. Stains and blood can be seen easily on white. White uniforms and linens deliver a sense of sterility. Lots of doctors and nurses oftentimes dress in white laboratory coats and scrubs.
Black: Premium and Serious
The actual opposite of white is black. Black is the lack of light, which gives it startling overtones and profound psychological significance. Black signifies power, seriousness, sophistication, and darkness.
While black has been utilized by brands such as Nike, New York Times, and Chanel to indicate sophistication and classic styles, it also represents the color of death and mourning and is associated with intimidation, agony, and wickedness.
Black is timeless, which is why many plastic surgeons pair it with champagne or gold. With the current introduction of dark mode, black has become extremely popular in web and graphic illustration, taking over from white as the major color for producing space.
Red: Urgency
Red color signifies passion and urgency. Red also represents danger.
Red grabs attention, so on a medical website keep it for alerts.
Red colors should not be used in patient and recuperating rooms.
Yellow: Warmth
Yellow color signifies happiness and warmth. Yellow is associated with positivity and general well-being. It feels energetic in small amounts.
Use it as a soft accent and never as text on white, because it fails contrast.
Blue: Trust and Calm
Blue is the color of trust and calmness. That is why many orthopedic, spine and general surgery practices build on navy or blue. It provides a sense of peace and belonging.
Green: Health
Green is the color of trees, nature, and a serene environment. Green is naturally very optimistic and grounding.
However, green also has a negative flank. While being a symbol of health and abundance, it is also associated with sickness, jealousy, and envy.
Green shows up often in medical brand colors for its reassuring, calming effect. Green product labels usually imply healthy, natural or organic.
Pink: Care
Pink is a color associated with love and romance. Pink naturally represents feminine qualities such as kindness, softness, compassion and care. It suits women's health and aesthetic practices as a soft accent.
Pink is believed to have a powerful emotional impact on the psyche.
Grey: Modern Neutral
Grey is stylish and sophisticated. It’s a solid and reliable color, representing a strong foundation on which to build.
With the color of pebbles on the beach, natural elements, and mountains on the horizons that have stood the test of time, grey stimulates feelings of equilibrium, coolness, and strength.
Competent use of grey color can be strong and ultra-modern. It is a crisp slate on which bold ideas thrive. Grey has worked well for technology and luxury brands such as Apple,
Swarovski, and Mercedes-Benz. Grey’s subtlety and neutrality can both be a source of strength or weakness.
Used in the opposite context, grey can be an overwhelmingly boring shade and evoke feelings of despair, blandness, and redundancy. However, when used right, gray can be an incredibly sleek, strong color for design.
Gold: Premium
Gold is the color of success, achievement and triumph. It is associated with luxury, abundance, and sophistication. Gold implies assets, prosperity, and extravagance.
Plastic surgeons and med spas often pair gold with black or champagne. Use it for lines and icons, not text: white on gold fails contrast at 2.4:1.
Choosing Colors for Your Office, Scrubs and Website
Colors beautify your environment and add influence to it. Colors influence the emotions of your patients when they visit your office or surgery center. It is a good idea to plan your healthcare color palette for your waiting room, patient and guest rooms, and offices.
On your website, one rule is not optional: contrast. WCAG 2.1 asks for at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Many brand blues, teals and golds fail with white text.
Imagine how you desire visitors to feel when they stay in your waiting area. Imagine how you want your patients to feel when they are in the operation and recovery rooms.
Pay attention to your decor, uniforms, and linens. Do you desire a quiet, health-promoting set or a pleasant, inviting atmosphere? Your color choices may change all year round to fit holiday themes and unique events.
If your brand colors fail contrast | ||
Pair | Ratio | Fix |
White on teal | 2.5:1, fail | Navy text on the same teal (5.9:1) or a darker teal (5.5:1) |
White on bright blue | 3.7:1, large text only | A deeper blue (5.8:1) |
Light grey on white | 2.5:1, fail | Dark grey text (7.6:1) |
White on gold | 2.4:1, fail | Charcoal text on gold (5.9:1) |
Example Color Palettes by Specialty
Many healthcare buildings are adorned with white colors. White is neat and crisp, and hospitals should always maintain a clean environment. White is a bright color and a popular choice in healthcare facilities. But a medical color palette needs more than white: colors that are meaningful and calming.
White remains dominant in healthcare facilities because it provides a clear feeling. However, white alone is not a color palette for doctors or surgeons. The trend is to put in touches of colors to meaningfully entice the eye to a focus area.
Neutrals and mature colors are more attractive to adults than children. Adults care about neatness and sterility, so it would be natural to maintain a very neutral tone and use minimal collections of color in spaces.
Blue and green can be very calming and quiet. They suit hospital rooms, waiting areas, wards, and wellness hubs like spas.
Developing contrast and balance with various colors and saturations is also important. For example, a room that’s mostly “cool” needs to be made equal with “warm” but neutral components like wood.
Example color palettes for surgical specialties | |||
Specialty | Base colors | Accent | Feel |
Charcoal and champagne | Gold | Calm, premium | |
Orthopedics | Navy and slate | Orange | Strong, active |
Spine and neurosurgery | Deep blue and grey | Teal | Precise, steady |
General surgery | Blue and slate | Green | Clear, trusted |
Family medicine | Green and taupe | Sky blue | Warm, familiar |
Pediatrics | Sky blue and yellow | Coral | Bright, friendly |
Steps to Build a Cohesive Color Palette for Your Practice
To build a cohesive color palette for your medical practice, start with a SWOT analysis for your healthcare practice and understand your vision and mission statements as it relates to your practice and its location (urban, suburban, and rural).
Take note of your patients' population (mental health, elderly, pediatrics, etc.), the culture of the location (ethnically diverse or not), and any specifics about the facility and its site that are unique. All these factors need to be looked into to set a healthcare color palette that fits your patients.
Examination rooms need to be reoriented to concentrate on a table where staff could disseminate information with patients face-to-face and accent colors selected to mirror healthy colors on the faces of patients.
How to Match Colors to Your Practice Brand
Color is often the first thing patients notice. Before they read a word, they see your brand colors on your website, ads and Google profile.
Whether you are opening a new surgical practice or rebranding, pick colors that match how you want patients to feel, then use them across all your doctor marketing.
Below are the steps you need to take as you pick surgeon brand colors that reflect your practice and your goals.
About 1 in 12 men has some color blindness, so never use red and green alone to tell buttons apart.
Build your practice color palette in five steps | ||
Step | What to do | Result |
1. Know your patients | Specialty, age, top procedures | Two or three mood words |
2. Check competitors | Look at the top local surgeon sites | A color they do not own |
3. Pick four colors | Base, support, light neutral, accent | A palette like the examples above |
Contrast checker, color-blind simulation | All text at 4.5:1 or better | |
5. Apply 60-30-10 | Website, logo, office, scrubs, social | One brand guide for staff and agency |
Make Your Colors Work for Patients
A healthcare color palette will not heal anyone, but it shapes the first impression of your practice. Pick four colors, test them for contrast, and use them the same way on your website, office and social media.
Color only helps if patients find you. See how we grew a plastic surgeon in Dallas and a rhinoplasty practice in Manhattan, or talk to us about your website.
FAQs
How do I choose a color palette for my medical practice?
Start with your specialty and patients. Pick a base, a support color, a light neutral and one accent, then test contrast. Blues and greens in muted tones suit most medical offices.
Can I use bright colors in a doctor's office or website?
Yes, as accents. Bright colors suit pediatric practices and booking buttons, but most surgeons use calm, muted bases. Check that any bright color passes contrast before you put text on it.
How do I create a cohesive healthcare color palette?
To create a cohesive color palette in healthcare practice, follow the 60-30-10 rule: 60% neutral, 30% brand color and 10% accent, and use the same colors on your website, signage, scrubs and social media.
What is the best color for a surgeon's website?
There is no single best color. Navy and blue are safe for orthopedic and general surgeons, and charcoal with gold or champagne suits plastic surgeons. Whatever you choose, keep one accent color for the booking button.
