The Psychology of Color

Some people don’t give color any thought when they get dressed in the morning, let alone think about the psychology of color. More so, if they work in a corporate environment where it is expected of them to wear a specific color.

A color can express a person’s personality and confidence extremely well.  You may find there are many people that have a particular color they like and wear it a lot or maybe one or two colors that they would choose to wear above any other color. That, in fact, has a lot to do with the psychology of color.

Different seasons of the year, particular cultures and certain situations can alter the meaning of colors for many people. Depending on the time of season you’re in, from warm, dark colors in winter to cooler colors in summer, they often reflect different emotions in us, therefore we wear the colors, depending on our mood or the season we’re in. The downfall of dressing according to seasons and mood is, we can often be left looking colorless, weary and debilitated.

How much time do we actually invest into the colors that we wear, why we wear the colors we do and really understanding the colors that will enhance our appearance and complement our own complexion that will help us look great and feel more self-assured?

As we all know, we go through many changes in our life and what we liked or what suited us in our youth can change as we get older.

By taking the time to educate yourself and investing a little more time into achieving the colors to suite you, lasting impressions can be made on those around you while contributing to your own self-confidence giving you a MAJOR boost.

Did you know, colors can project meaning without contact or conversation. Yes, you heard right….the psychology of color is much more present in our daily lives than what you may think. Your personality can express a lot by the colors you choose to wear but not always necessarily by what suits you.   Described below is a list of the colors and their meanings by personality via http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/ and http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/meaning-of-colors.html

The Psychology of Color

RED, meaning – Physical

Positive: Physical courage, strength, warmth, energy, basic survival, ‘fight or flight’, stimulation, masculinity, excitement.

Negative: Defiance, aggression, visual impact, strain.

Red is a powerful color. It is the color of energy, passion, action, ambition and determination. Red is strong, and very basic. Pure red is the simplest color, with no subtlety. It is stimulating and lively, very friendly. At the same time, it can be perceived as demanding and aggressive.

BLUE, meaning – Intellectual

Positive: Intelligence, communication, trust, efficiency, serenity, duty, logic, coolness, reflection, calm.

Negative: Coldness, aloofness, lack of emotion, unfriendliness.

Consequently blue is serene and mentally calming. It is the color of clear communication. Time and again in research, blue is the world’s favorite color. Blue suggest loyalty and integrity. However, it can be perceived as cold, unemotional and unfriendly.

YELLOW, meaning – Emotional

Positive: Optimism, confidence, self-esteem, extroversion, emotional strength, friendliness, creativity.

Negative: Irrationality, fear, emotional fragility, depression, anxiety, suicide.

In this case the stimulus is emotional, therefore yellow is the strongest color, psychologically. It is the color of confidence and optimism. Too much of it, or the wrong tone in relation to the other tones in a color scheme, can cause self-esteem to plummet, giving rise to fear and anxiety. Our “yellow streak” can surface.

GREEN, meaning – Balance

Positive: Harmony, balance, refreshment, universal love, rest, restoration, reassurance, environmental awareness, equilibrium, peace.

Negative: Boredom, stagnation, blandness, enervation.

Being in the center of the spectrum, it is the color of balance – a more important concept than many people realize. It can mean self-reliance as a positive. Negatively, it can indicate stagnation and, incorrectly used, will be perceived as being too bland.

VIOLET, meaning – Spiritual

Positive: Spiritual awareness, containment, vision, luxury, authenticity, truth, quality.

Negative: Introversion, decadence, suppression, inferiority.

It takes awareness to a higher level of thought, even into the realms of spiritual values. It is highly introverted and encourages deep contemplation, or meditation. It has associations with royalty and usually communicates the finest possible quality. Excessive use of purple can bring about too much introspection and the wrong tone of it communicates something cheap and nasty, faster than any other color.

ORANGE, meaning – communication and optimism

Positive: Physical comfort, food, warmth, security, sensuality, passion, abundance, fun.

Negative: Deprivation, frustration, frivolity, immaturity.

Since it is a combination of red and yellow, orange is stimulating and reaction to it is a combination of the physical and the emotional. It focuses our minds on issues of physical comfort – food, warmth, shelter etc. – and sensuality. It is a ‘fun’ colour. Negatively, it might focus on the exact opposite – deprivation. This is particularly likely when warm orange is used with black. Equally, too much orange suggests frivolity and a lack of serious intellectual values.

PINK, meaning – unconditional love and nurturing

Positive: Physical tranquility, nurture, warmth, femininity, love, sexuality, survival of the species.

Negative: Inhibition, emotional claustrophobia, emasculation, physical weakness.

Being a tint of red, pink also affects us physically, but it soothes, rather than stimulates. Pink is a powerful color, psychologically. It represents the feminine principle, and survival of the species; it is nurturing and physically soothing. Too much pink is physically draining and can be somewhat emasculating.

GREY, meaning – compromise

Positive: Psychological neutrality.

Negative: Lack of confidence, dampness, depression, hibernation, lack of energy.

Pure grey is the only color that has no direct psychological properties. It is, however, quite suppressive. A virtual absence of color is depressing and when the world turns grey we are instinctively conditioned to draw in and prepare for hibernation. Unless the precise tone is right, grey has a dampening effect on other colors used with it. Heavy use of grey usually indicates a lack of confidence and fear of exposure.

BLACK, meaning – hidden (although black is not a color)

Positive: Sophistication, glamour, security, emotional safety, efficiency, substance.

Negative: Oppression, coldness, menace, heaviness.

Black is all colors, totally absorbed. It creates protective barriers, as it absorbs all the energy coming towards you, and it enshrouds the personality. Black is essentially an absence of light, since no wavelengths are reflected and it can, therefore be menacing; many people are afraid of the dark. Positively, it communicates absolute clarity, with no fine nuances. It communicates sophistication and uncompromising excellence and it works particularly well with white.

WHITE meaning – perfection

Positive: Hygiene, sterility, clarity, purity, cleanness, simplicity, sophistication, efficiency.

Negative: Sterility, coldness, barriers, unfriendliness, elitism.

Just as black is total absorption, so white is total reflection. In effect, it reflects the full force of the spectrum into our eyes. Thus it also creates barriers, but differently from black, and it is often a strain to look at. It communicates, “Touch me not!” White is purity and, like black, uncompromising; it is clean, hygienic, and sterile. The concept of sterility can also be negative. Visually, white gives a heightened perception of space. The negative effect of white on warm colors is to make them look and feel garish.

BROWN

Positive: Seriousness, warmth, Nature, earthiness, reliability, support.

Negative: Lack of humor, heaviness, lack of sophistication.

Brown usually consists of red and yellow, with a large percentage of black. Consequently, it has much of the same seriousness as black, but is warmer and softer. It has elements of the red and yellow properties. Brown has associations with the earth and the natural world. It is a solid, reliable color and most people find it quietly supportive – more positively than the ever-popular black, which is suppressive, rather than supportive.