Artwork by Taryn Kim
Why does being surrounded by green foliage make you feel relaxed? Why are warning signs almost always red? Colours are omnipresent in our everyday lives, and they can evoke many different emotions and responses from each individual. Each shade and hue has a different connotation, and becoming familiar with colour psychology can be beneficial for personal well-being, learning capacity and mood.
Making Sense of Colours
Colour is received as electromagnetic waves in the visible region, and detected as signals by our retina. The signal travels to the visual cortex to be perceived, but some also travel to a region in the brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is known to control the body’s homeostasis; the maintenance of a constant internal environment in our body using autonomic and endocrine functions. This can involve the release of hormones or regulators that affect anything from your growth, reproductive system, sleep, appetite, and mood.
Certain colours may be perceived due to different changes in our external environment, stimulating a physiological or emotional response. For example, brightly coloured food may seem more appetising as it is associated with higher nutritional value and better taste, whereas dull-looking food is perceived as stale and nauseating. What we associate with a particular colour can be also altered by our memories and past experiences; a person who was involved in an accident while wearing a certain colour may come to dislike it in the future because it reminds them of the emotions and pain they felt during that time. Additionally, cultural perceptions of colour can cause differences in how it is perceived. A Western bride may wear a white wedding dress for its association with innocence and purity, while in Chinese culture, the traditional red wedding dress symbolises joy and prosperity.
Choosing your Palette
Picking suitable colours to surround yourself with can be a game-changer in improving your well-being and your productivity. We already take advantage of our knowledge of colour psychology in many spaces. Corporate offices often use a neutral palette with elements of grey, green, and blue with the hopes of increasing productivity, while educational spaces like schools and nurseries may use brighter colours in classrooms to spark creativity. Interior designers may select vibrant tones for a homely living room, and a more muted palette to create a calming effect for a bedroom. Studies have shown that using colours such as blue or green can promote faster recovery for hospital patients.
It can be advantageous to briefly familiarise yourself with the general associations of each colour as a point of reference. However, it is important that the list below only touches upon the surface colour psychology, and different shades of each colour can still have drastically different psychological effects.
Red- evocative, love, passion, power, danger, increases respiration rate and blood pressure
Orange- joy, enthusiasm, optimism, cheerfulness, rejuvenation
Yellow- creativity, intellect, freshness, energy, stimulates mental activity
Green- health, relaxation, safety, increased productivity, focus and tranquillity
Blue- calmness, serenity, imagination, slows metabolism
Purple- luxury, nobility, wisdom, independence and dignity
Pink- love, tenderness, youth, vulnerability, hope, kindness
White- cleanliness, order, faith, innocence, perfection
Brown- seriousness, reliability, wisdom, maturity
Black- formal, seriousness, fear and sometimes negative
What's Next for Colour Psychology?
In addition to its uses in the arts, colour psychology can be used as a form of psychotherapy. Chromotherapy has been used since the age of ancient Egyptians to improve mood and manage stress by exposing a person to visual stimuli of a specific colour. However, differences in individual perception of colour and the lack of definitive scientific evidence make some consider colour therapy ineffective. Our current understanding of each colour and its effect is supported by the many psychological studies that show that colour affects us both physiologically and emotionally. More studies and observations are still needed for us to gain a holistic understanding of how we perceive colours and how we can best use them to enhance our everyday lives.
References:
TEDx Talks. “The Psychology of Color | Riley Johnson | TEDxLosOsosHighSchool.” Video. YouTube, May 17, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7c0W5FZw64.
Color Psychology. “Color Psychology: A Guide for Designers, Marketers & Students,” n.d. https://www.colorpsychology.org/.
Mercurio, Laura. “How Do Our Eyes See Color?” Design Pool, September 25, 2023. https://www.designpoolpatterns.com/how-do-our-eyes-see-color/.
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