Colors have a big impact on the way we view things and how we feel about something. Below you will find a description of the effects that colors can have and common uses for each color.
Effects of Color Red
• Increases heart rate and respiration.
• Used by restaurants and fast food chains to promote appetite (e.g. Pizza Hut, McDonald’s).
• Promotes passion and symbolizes strength, which is why it is used in many national flags.
• Commonly associated with love.
• Very good at attracting your attention, which is why it is used on stop signs and traffic lights.
• Encourages action and causes you to make quick decisions (red is often used on buttons).
• Associated with energy, strength and passion.
• Can be used to indicate danger.
• Can intensify anger.
• Can give you a feeling of protection from danger.
• An emotional color.
• Common car color.
• Red clothes may appear hostile during negotiations.
• Red clothes make you appear fatter.
• Symbol of life (blood).
• Pink calms aggression and is associated with femininity.
• Used to indicate heat, such as on a hot water tap.
Effects of Color Orange
• Increases oxygen supply to the brain and stimulates mental activity.
• Stimulates appetite.
• Represents happiness, creativity and success.
• Can create the sensation of heat.
• Very good at attracting attention.
• Can give you a feeling of energy and invigoration.
• Stimulates social interaction.
• Less aggressive than red.
• Suggests endurance and strength.
• Can represent the flames of the sun.
Effects of Color Yellow
• Stimulates mental activity.
• Too much yellow can be overpowering and make you feel angry.
• Associated with sunshine, happiness and energy.
• Has a warming effect.
• Attracts attention and is a highly visible color (used on many signs, taxi cabs).
• Works best when contrasted with darker colors.
• Dark yellow suggests caution.
• Stimulates nervous system and can make you feel energetic.
• Encourages communication.
• Helps activate memory.
• Small amounts of yellow promote optimism and happiness.
• A lot of yellow is difficult to look at and appears very bright. Almost like looking into the sun.
• Enhances concentration.
• Speeds up metabolism.
• Darker yellows are associated with wealth (gold).
• Can signal a hazard, such as a risk of electrocution.
• Yellow promotes creativity when you are exposed to it briefly, but can quickly overpower you if you look at it for too long or there is too much of it.
• Yellow can be associated with cowardice, such as the yellow of a chicken.
Effects of Color Green
• Symbolizes nature, growth and freshness.
• Associated with safety and stability.
• Dark green is associated with money.
• Said to have healing properties on the body, and especially the eyes.
• Is a soothing and relaxing color.
• Can help to alleviate depression and nervousness.
• Suggests harmony and self-control.
• Bright green is a refreshing color.
• Associated with good luck.
• Green suggests initiative.
• Green can be seen well from long distances, which is why it is used in traffic lights.
• Darker greens can appear dull and gloomy.
• Green can be associated with envy “green with envy”.
Effects of Color Blue
• Slows down metabolism and suppresses appetite.
• Has a calming and relaxing effect on the nervous system.
• Symbolizes trust, communication, loyalty, peace and intelligence.
• Blue suggests health and purity.
• Too much dark blue can be depressive.
• Too much light blue can make you feel cold.
• Aids intuition and is good for creative thinking.
• Color of the sky and ocean.
• Causes opposite effect to red (calmness vs. energetic).
• Blue clothes are good to wear to an interview because they suggest loyalty.
• Blue rooms increase productivity.
• Some police uniforms are blue because it suggests confidence and security in a non threatening way.
• In some cultures blue is believed to keep bad spirits and misfortune away.
• Associated with a conservative point of view, such as with political parties.
• One of the most popular colors.
• Traditionally associated with males (baby boys).
• Used to represent temperature, such as on a cold water tap.
• Used by the United Nations because blue is associated with peace.
Effects of Color Purple
• Associated with royalty, power, wealth, ambition, magic, mystery and wisdom.
• Too much dark purple feels gloomy, and can cause frustration.
• Encourages creativity and problem solving.
• Calms mind and nervous system.
• Suggests spirituality.
• Purple items suggest luxury.
• Rare in nature.
• Color of mourning in Thailand.
• Can create envy.
• Overuse of purple appears artificial or disingenuous.
• Lonely color.
Effects of Color White
• Associated with light, purity and innocence.
• Is a cool and clean color.
• Suggests simplicity.
• White is used in hospitals to suggest sterility and safety.
• Associated with low-fat products.
• White clothes makes your skin appear darker.
• Aids mental clarity.
• Encourages you to clear clutter or obstacles.
• Associated with a fresh beginning.
• Brides wear white to suggest innocence and purity.
• Works well when combined with any color.
• Is a neutral color and is associated with neutrality, such as a white flag for surrender.
• White suggests trust.
• Too much white can make something appear empty and bright.
• White makes rooms look larger.
• Some eastern countries associate white with death.
• Associated with creativity.
• Associated with winter and snow.
• White objects reflect heat.
Effects of Color Black
• Associated with power, authority, evil, death and mystery.
• Black can symbolize fear.
• Creates perception of depth.
• Black clothes can make you look thinner.
• Has a negative connotation to it.
• Combines well with bright powerful colors such as white, orange, red and yellow.
• Too much black can be depressing.
• Can make things look stylish and expensive, such as with cars, computers and furniture.
• Is a color associated with death, such as at funerals.
• Black is often worn by authority figures, such as judges or policemen.
• Black gives a sense of professionalism, such as black suit.
• Black objects absorb heat quickly.
Effects of Color Brown
• Associated with earth.
• Suggests stability and order.
• Gives a feeling of wholesomeness.
• Light brown suggest genuineness.
• Dark brown can be depressive.
• Used in environmentally friendly products because it symbolizes natural things.
• Can stimulate appetite.
• Suggests reliability and friendliness.
• Color of morning in India.
• Associated with wood.
• Gives a sense of familiarity.
Effects of Color Grey
• A color in between white and black.
• Can symbolize stability, respect and wisdom.
• Too much grey can appear dull and boring.
• Is associated with pollution and an urban environment.
• Small amounts of grey can suggest solidity, such as solid as a rock.
• Associated with old age (grey hair).
• A neutral color which can enhance the effect of other colors.
Reviewed – 27th March 2016