Importance of Choosing the Correct Capsule Colors
There’s a reason why both gelatin and HPMC two-piece capsules are available in a very wide range of colors: Color selection can have a surprisingly significant impact on the success of your product. To understand why, let’s look at the various roles that capsule color plays…
Brand recognition is heavily dependent on capsule colors
Especially in today’s age of direct-to-consumer marketing that is common even for prescription medications, unique capsule colors or color combinations quickly become associated with particular brands. In fact, the association between colors and products is so strong that many makers of generic medications choose to mimic the colors of the original branded drug.
In addition to the broad range of standard color choices, some manufacturers of gelatin and HPMC two-piece capsules also offer pantone matching. This means that your two-piece capsules can be manufactured in the exact PMS color or colors associated with your brand. With pantone matching your capsules and packaging can all present the same unique color or color combination.
When choosing capsule colors, be aware that up to three different colors can be used. You can select one color for the capsule cap, a second color for the capsule body and a third color for the banding (which, in most cases, is optional). You can also use special finishes to further differentiate your product. Bright, metallic, luminescent, iridescent and pearlized finishes are all available.
Natural colorants can support a brand’s “natural” promises
In the nutraceuticals space, many consumers are specifically looking for safer and more natural products. To support this, some HPMC two-piece capsules, such as K-CAPS®, are available in a range of colors made from completely natural colorants. While traditional colorants come from synthetic sources, these natural colorants and pigments are made from natural sources such as flowers and algae.
Capsule color helps prevent medication errors
Research has shown that the primary way consumers identify their medication is via the product’s color. More than the product name, or the dosage shape, size or form, color is how people mentally catalog their pills. It is likely that they also associate the dosage quantity with the color. “I take two of the yellow capsules in the morning with breakfast,” they might report, “and then the green one and the blue one before I go to bed.”
From the patient standpoint, associating a medication or supplement with its color helps prevent errors by (a) serving as a reminder to take the pill and (b) making mix-ups visually apparent.
This color differentiation is also useful for others as well. Color helps prevent errors during production or packaging. Pharmacists can use color as another thing to double-check before dispensing the product, and staff members at hospitals and care facilities who must dispense multiple pills to multiple people also find it useful. Sometimes different colors are used to distinguish between different strengths of the same medication—another way to prevent often-dangerous medication errors.
Consumers have an emotional response to color
One of the most interesting reasons why choosing the correct capsule color is so important is one that has been studied for decades, in a variety of contexts: emotional response to color. It’s an established fact that different colors are associated with different emotions (although the details can vary from one culture to another). Beyond that, people will have an emotional response regarding the medication’s likely effectiveness based on the capsule color, with different colors associated with different medical properties.
For example, in many cultures:
- Blue and green are both associated with a tranquilizing effect. Blue in particular has been shown to be a good color to choose for sedatives and sleep aides, while green is an excellent choice for anti-anxiety medications.
- White is associated with pain reduction.
- Red, yellow and orange are seen as stimulants.
- Cheerful bright yellows make the most effective antidepressants.
Although this often takes place at a subconscious level, many consumers will look at a product’s color and make a judgment call regarding whether or not it will work based on that color. Furthermore, these preconceived color-based beliefs regarding whether or not a product will work as claimed are so strong that they can have a placebo effect—either positive or negative. A product can literally be more or less effective simply because the product’s color makes the consumer believe this will be the case.
Interestingly, these color effects are often amplified by brighter colors and embossed brand names. This means that the use of finishes that can make a color “pop,” combined with printing the brand name on the HPMC or gelatin capsule itself, can result in a stronger emotional response.
For best results, you’ll want to choose a color that matches the intended outcome of your product, not the most-common symptoms…and avoid colors associated with the opposite impact. So, for example, avoid using bright red two-piece capsules, which would be seen as stimulants, for sleeping aides or diarrhea treatments.
References
1Lowery, M., “Tablet and Capsule Colors: Multifunctional Purpose,” Nutritional Outlook, June 3, 2013.
2De Craen, AJ, Roose, PJ, et al, “Effect of colour of drugs: systematic review of perceived effect of drugs and of their effectiveness,” BMJ, December 1996.
