Colors are everywhere around us – in everything we see, touch, and even eat. Simply put, colors attract our attention. Many colors tend to affect us in different ways and ignite different emotions and feelings in us. Businesses even tend to choose their brand colors very carefully as a marketing strategy that attracts and appeals to customers psychologically.
What Evolution Has to Say
When our ancestors needed to survive a long time ago, colors were used as a tool for them to notice surrounding danger and to identify different foods. Our brains, in terms of evolution, are wired in ways that pay close attention to colors that contrast their surroundings. As such, colors are definitely something special in terms of our brain cognition. As a result, these different strategies have come about as a very valuable tool to marketeers.
Using Colors to Evoke Emotions
For centuries, artists have studied colors and how they affect those who look at them. As such, they chose their colors carefully in order to evoke specific emotions in people. Similarly, movie producers, especially when it comes to animation movies, use colors to trigger emotions. For example, in many cases, yellow is used to express joy, while red is used to express anger. Nonetheless, choosing colors to represent emotions can be a bit tricky as the meaning behind each color may vary culturally. For example, purple can represent royalty in some cultures but represent mourning in others. Even more so, one color can mean different things in different contexts. While red may represent anger in certain situations, it is also the color representing love and romance.
Color Psychology
While research on this field is not very deep, substantial evidence has been strong enough. Color psychology has shown that, besides culture, the emotions we feel from a specific color are also rooted in our own personal experiences.
Colors are split into warm colors – red, orange, and yellow – and cool colors – blue, purple, and green. Warm colors tend to generally evoke feelings pertaining to warmth and comfort as well as anger, while cool colors generally evoke feelings pertaining to calmness or even sadness.
Color Psychology in Therapy
There have been a few uses of color psychology in therapy as a method of healing –
- Red for body stimulation and circulation levels
- Yellow for nerve stimulation and purifying the body
- Orange for lung healing and energy levels
- Blue for soothing illnesses and relieving pain
- Indigo for alleviating skin problems
Nonetheless, color therapy cannot be very conclusive because of the fact that colors do not always have the same sought-after effect. In addition, modern research has shown that the effects colors have on us may be quite exaggerated.