Color Psycholgy
How colors impact, moods, feelings and behavior.
Color can have a tremendous impact in our homes. The colors we choose for our surroundings reflect our personalities, lifestyles, travels, and interests.
While perceptions of color are somewhat subjective, there are some color effects that have universal meaning. Colors in the red area of the color spectrum are known as warm colors and include red, orange and yellow. These warm colors evoke emotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort to personel meanings.
Colors on the blue side of the spectrum are known as cool colors and include blue, purple and green. These colors are often described as calm.
Red
Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.
Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red.
Red brings text and images to the foreground. Use it as an accent color to stimulate people to make quick decisions. In advertising, red is often used to evoke erotic feelings This color is also commonly associated with energy.
Light red- represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love.
Pink- signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and passiveness.
Dark red- is associated with vigor, willpower, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath.
Brown- suggests stability and denotes masculine qualities.
Reddish-brown- is associated with harvest and fall.
Orange
Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red.
Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest.
Orange is symbolic of strength.
Orange has very high visibility, so you can use it to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of your design.
Red-orange corresponds to desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action.
Gold- evokes the feeling of prestige. The meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and wealth. Gold often symbolizes high quality.
Yellow
Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.
Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy.
Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colors when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning.
Yellow indicates honor and loyalty.
Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings. You can choose yellow to promote children's products and items related to leisure. Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design. Men usually perceive yellow as a very lighthearted, 'childish' color. Nobody will buy a yellow business suit or a yellow Mercedes. Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous color, so avoid using yellow if you want to suggest stability and safety.
Light yellow tends to disappear into white, so it usually needs a dark color to highlight it. Shades of yellow are visually unappealing because they loose cheerfulness and become dingy.
Dull (dingy) yellow- represents caution and jealousy.
Light yellow- is associated with intellect, freshness, and joy.
Green
Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money. Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision.
Green suggests stability and endurance. Green is directly related to nature.
Dark green- is associated with ambition, greed, and jealousy.
Aqua- is associated with emotional healing and protection.
Olive green- is the traditional color of peace.
Blue
Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven.
Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect.
Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness.
As opposed to emotionally warm colors like red, orange, and yellow; blue is linked to consciousness and intellect.
Blue is a masculine color; according to studies, it is highly accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability; it is a preferred color for corporate America.
Blue suppresses appetite. When used together with warm colors like yellow or red, blue can create high-impact, vibrant designs.
Light blue- is associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness.
Dark blue- represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.
Purple
Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty.
It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance.
Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.
According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.
Black
Mysterious, sophisticated, stylish, somber, heavy, sturdy.
Black is associated with power, elegance, formality and mystery.
Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown (black holes). It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humor, 'black death'). Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color (black tie, black Mercedes).
White
Innocience, clean, purity, serene, goodness, cool, refreshing, reflects light.
White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity.
It is considered to be the color of perfection.
White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning. White depicts faith and purity.
