Have you ever felt calm and relaxed in a room having blue walls? Does the green make you think about nature? If you have thought or felt these things, it is exactly how colors can impact our mood, emotion, thoughts, and even behavior. Color is one of the most common and essential parts of daily life. Thus, color psychology is the study of how different colors affect human mood and behavior and how a human being’s response is affected by various factors such as age, language, childhood memories, and cultural background in relation to colors.
You might have many questions related to color psychology, such as why I like a particular color, whether branding and color have a connection, and whether colors have meaning, so here is what the research says !!
Do Colors Have a Universal Meaning?
It is true that each color might not hit every individual in the same way. However, studies show that there is a universal meaning to some colors. For instance, red is associated with love and passion, and yellow is with hope and joy. These symbolic meanings that we as a society have given to colors ultimately impact how we associate or think about a particular color. These shared meanings act as powerful communication tools. Although there are universal meanings, studies show that many other factors also play an essential role in how we associate with a specific color. These factors include an individual’s experience, gender, culture and personal preference.
Colors lead us physiologically and emotionally
Color affects our body, other than psychologically and emotionally. Red is the color that heightens physiological alertness; that’s why danger signals are represented in red color. The color increases heartbeat and the amount of adrenaline circulating, thus activating our nervous system. Our reaction time becomes faster as the fight-flight mode is at work. Similarly, green or blue makes our body feel calm by reducing blood pressure. Thus, the dress of the surgeon.
Have you worn a particular color because you like it, and you were feeling happy that day? It’s because specific colors infuse certain emotions. In the movie insight out,’ five primary emotions are depicted with distinct colors: Anger in red, disgust in green, sadness in blue, fear in pale purple and joy in yellow. Happiness in scenes is colorful, while grey represents sad emotion. It is how closely colors and emotions are interwoven.
Do colors determine our performance?
When you receive your assignment after being graded with a red mark, it will definitely make you upset. In one of the studies, students were exposed to the color red just before their exam. As a result, the performance of the students had a negative impact. The reason for the result is that red is often described as threatening in terms of the school environment, so it has a negative effect. Thus, research exploring color psychology indicates that specific colors impact our performance.
Does color navigate you toward buying a particular product?
While buying a car, do you prefer a particular color over the other? Does your wardrobe have more clothes of a specific color? Or you felt compelled to buy a dress because of its color. It is due to our associations with colors and wanting others to perceive us in a certain way. For instance, black being one of the most bought colors of cars demotes power. Of Course, the price and availability of color matter and color preferences change over a period of time.
Nowadays, companies are investing heavily in color psychology, showcasing their belief in it. Even the packaging of products and the logo of the brand matter while shopping and buying products. For instance, red captures our attention. Thus, some companies have a red color for the ‘order now or play or subscribe button’. It encourages you, as an audience, to click the button. Products related to nature or organic use green color in their branding. Green is associated with nature, health and the environment.
Other factors influence the impact of colors
Colors have many different functions, from attracting attention to evoking certain emotions or motivation. They are powerful marketing tools and also determine how we perform. However, some elements impact our color choices, preference and how we associate colors differently. Some of the common features are
1. Color and Culture
While traveling to attend weddings abroad, it is often advised to know about their accepted and unaccepted color for cultural events. It is so that with the culture change, The meaning and how we perceive colors also change. Thus, it is essential to take into account the cultural differences. There are multiple meanings of a single color in different cultures. For instance, white is a color for wedding days and innocence, while black is associated with death and mourning in Western countries. In contrast, in many Asian countries, white is associated with death and mourning. This factor also impacts the branding and choosing a color for the logo and website, as the culture of your audience is one of the significant determining elements.
2. Color and childhood memories
Have you worn a particular color at school, and everyone praises you? Thus?? Are you most likely to wear it again? However, if you wear a violet color and people make fun of you, it has a slight chance of coming out of your cupboard again. It is the extent to which childhood memories and colors are linked, dominating our color choices.
3. Color and gender
There is no doubt that pink is a color associated with femininity. That’s why girl toys are mostly in pink or shades of it. The websites selling products used majorly by females, such as makeup, use pink or shades in their logo. Thus, these features impact us, and our minds make associations while growing up.
