How Do Certain Colors Set Moods?

Instructions

Colors and Feelings

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   Color is one of the most important tools we have for setting a mood or establishing a setting in home decoration. Colors have traditional meanings, as in the purple in a king's robe. They also have associations, like yellow and orange with lemons and oranges. Tradition and environment combine to form associations that establish a mood for a room or space. Knowing how color affects us helps to make good decisions when decorating.

Traditional Associations

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   Red is energy, sacrifice and life. Blue is steadfast, calm and loyal. Yellow is cheerful, joyful and optimistic. White is pure, and black is sophisticated or somber. These associations are based on traditional interpretations and uses of color in each culture. As our world becomes smaller, the meaning of colors in other cultures affects the meaning in ours. A white dress in some cultures means that a woman is in mourning but in others is appropriate for a joyous occasion like a wedding. Medieval brides wore green, the color of fertility, and Japanese brides wore red. Robes of judges and ministers are black to signal the grave and powerful nature of their tasks. Associations based on convention are strong indeed, since everything from national flags to holiday color schemes utilizes them.

Associations and Color

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   Did you love grade school? Chances are that when you walk in a room with that pale blue-green that was on all the classroom walls when you were in school, you feel good. If you didn't enjoy grade school, that color makes you feel like you're ten again, about to be corrected by the teacher. Chances are, you can't verbalize the feeling but there it is. No matter how many times you're told that blue-green is a restful calming color, you wouldn't have it in your house if they paid you. We associate colors with feelings, if not events, in our lives and with people we've known. These associations are often subliminal. If you want a color that will surround others, identify your own environmental associations and avoid bad color choices based on colors that warm you but annoy everyone else in the room.

Psychology and Color

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   Not surprisingly, a great deal of research into the psychology of color is being done in the field of marketing. Humans have a sophisticated vision system that allows them to see colors better than many other mammals. The wavelengths of light stimulate nerves differently as they are transmitted by the eye, generating unique sensations for each wavelength. Red-green color blind people, who see the world in blues and yellows rather than the whole range, tend to be calmer and of more optimistic temperaments than their full spectrum-sensing fellows. Whether the effects of color on mood are determined by nerve stimulus, environmental association or convention, color does have a real, measurable affect on our perception and mood.

Resources

• Activities, facts and links
• Design psychology
• Marketing psychology