Colour Association
A fantastic article by Rikard Rodin of Zeven Design, truly excellent reference material!
There is a large array of emotional responses that are associated with colours. Some of these are obvious, some are more obscure. Here is a collection of emotions and concepts associated with particular colours which should be useful to those working in design, photography and illustration.
Contents
Warmth, anger, crudity, excitement, power, strength, love, passion, fire, blood, extreme emotions, battle. Red is supposed to prompt impulse buying. It is used much by the Church to give the feeling of pomp and circumstance. In history it represents royalty, majesty and triumph. Usually thought of as a violent and exciting colour.
Emotional Response
Red is a very emotionally intense colour. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. In heraldry, red is used to indicate courage. It is a colour found in many national flags.
Use in Design & Advertising
Red brings text and images to the foreground. It is used to stimulate people to make quick decisions; it is a perfect colour for ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Click Here’ buttons on Internet banners and websites. In advertising, red is often used to evoke erotic feelings (red lips, red nails, red-light districts, ‘Lady in Red’, etc). Red is widely used to indicate danger (high voltage signs, traffic lights). This colour is also commonly associated with energy, so you can use it when promoting energy drinks, games, cars, items related to sports and high physical activity.
Additional Associated Meanings
- Signifies: strength, health, vigor, lust, danger
- Holiday: Yule
- Planet: Mars
- Day: Tuesday
- Astrological: Scorpio
Related Colours
- Light red represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love.
- Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and passiveness.
- Dark red is associated with vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath.
- Brown suggests stability and denotes masculine qualities.
- Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall.
Examples
Spring, the macabre, freshness, mystery, envy, hope, eternal life. Being composed of yellow and blue, presents the feeling of light and coolness, cheer and restraint. It is the colour of nature as usually seen. Green alleviates tension. Implies restfulness.
Emotional Response
Green has great healing power. It is the most restful colour for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green denotes lack of experience; for example, a ‘greenhorn’ is a novice. In heraldry, green indicates growth and hope. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is the colour of free passage in road traffic.
Use in Design & Advertising
Green is used to indicate safety when advertising drugs and medical products. Green is directly related to nature, so is used to promote ‘green’ or natural products. Dull, darker green is associated with money, the financial world, banking, Wall Street.
Additional Associated Meanings
- Signifies: finances, fertility, luck, success, charity, growth, rejuvenation, ambition, greed and jealousy, plant kingdom, herbal healing,
- Planets: Venus, Mercury
- Days: Friday, Wednesday
- Holidays: Spring Equinox, Beltane, Saint Patrick’s Day
- Astrological: Taurus
Related Colours
- Dark green is associated with ambition, greed, and jealousy.
- Yellow-green can indicate sickness, cowardice, discord, and jealousy.
- Aqua is associated with emotional healing and protection.
- Olive green is the traditional colour of peace.
Examples
Value, sunlight, the Orient, treachery, brilliance, joy. Being nearest to sunlight, it is connected with cheer and springtime. Yellow claims attention first and fastest.
Emotional Response
Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this colour. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colours when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning. In heraldry, yellow indicates honor and loyalty. Later the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice.
Use in Design & Advertising
Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings. You can choose yellow to promote children’s products and items related to leisure. Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design. Men usually perceive yellow as a very lighthearted, ‘childish’ colour, so it is not recommended to use yellow when selling prestigious, expensive products to men—nobody will buy a yellow business suit or a yellow Mercedes. Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous colour, so avoid using yellow if you want to suggest stability and safety. Light yellow tends to disappear into white, so it usually needs a dark colour to highlight it. Shades of yellow are visually unappealing because they loose cheerfulness and become dingy.
Additional Associated Meanings
- Signifies: knowledge, learning, concentration, persuasion, charm, confidence, jealousy, joy, comfort
- Planet: Mercury
- Day: Wednesday
- Astrological: Gemini, Leo
Related Colours
- Dull (dingy) yellow represents caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy.
- Light yellow is associated with intellect, freshness, and joy.
Examples
Blue is usually associated with knowledge and serenity. Coolness, ethereality, the infinite, significance, repose, formality. It is associated with the sky, the ocean and ice. It has always been the symbol of truth and purity. Loyalty, compassion, connotes serenity.
Emotional Response
Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness. In heraldry, blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity.
Use in Design & Advertising
You can use blue to promote products and services related to cleanliness (water purification filters, cleaning liquids, vodka), air and sky (airlines, airports, air conditioners), water and sea (sea voyages, mineral water). As opposed to emotionally warm colours like red, orange, and yellow; blue is linked to consciousness and intellect. Use blue to suggest precision when promoting high-tech products. Blue is a masculine colour; according to studies, it is highly accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability; it is a preferred colour for corporate America and by survey is the “favorite” colour.
Avoid using blue when promoting food and cooking, because blue suppresses appetite. When used together with warm colours like yellow or red, blue can create high-impact, vibrant designs; for example, blue-yellow-red is a perfect colour scheme for a superhero.
Additional Associated Meanings
- Signifies: tranquility, understanding, patience, health, truth, devotion, sincerity, honor, loyalty, peace, wisdom, protection during sleep, astral projection
- Planets: Moon, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter
- Days: Monday, Friday, Saturday, Thursday
- Astrological: Libra, Sagittarius
Related Colours
- Light blue is associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness.
- Dark blue represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.
Examples
Death, gloom, sorry, hidden action, evil, mourning, disorientation through absence of light.
Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious colour (black tie, black Mercedes).
Emotional Response
Black is a mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown (black holes). It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humor, ‘black death’). In heraldry, black is the symbol of grief.
Use in Design & Advertising
Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth, but a black background diminishes readability. A black suit or dress can make you look thinner. When designing for a gallery of art or photography, you can use a black or gray background to make the other colours stand out. Black contrasts well with bright colours. Combined with red or orange – other very powerful colours – black gives a very aggressive colour scheme. Black also communicates elegance and prestige and thus is commonly used in high-end products, such as the iTouch, limousines, formal suits and Jack Daniel packaging.
Additional Associated Meanings
- Signifies: Negation without reflecting, unlocking when stuck, banishing evil or negativity
- Holiday: Samhain
- Planet: Saturn
- Day: Saturday
- Deities: The Crone
- Astrological: Scorpio & Capricorn
Examples
Snow, delicacy, purity, cold, peace, cleanliness, elegance, frailty, mourning, enlightenment, faith, glory, salvation. Orientation through light. In war, means surrender.
Emotional Response
White is associated with goodness, innocence and virginity. It is considered to be the colour of perfection. White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning. In heraldry, white depicts faith and purity.
Use in Design & Advertising
In advertising, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness because it’s the colour of snow. You can use white to suggest simplicity in high-tech products. White is an appropriate colour for charitable organizations; angels are usually imagined wearing white clothes. White is associated with hospitals, doctors, and sterility, so you can use white to suggest safety when promoting medical products. White is often associated with low weight, low-fat food, and dairy products.
Additional Associated Meanings
- Signifies: purity, consecration, meditation, divination, exorcism, the full moon, healing, peace, spiritual strength, may be substituted for any other colour
- Planet: Moon
- Day: Monday
- Astrological: Cancer
Examples
Being made of yellow and red, given associations of light and heat. It is the colour of pride and ambition. Associated with sunshine and warmth, considered cheerful.
Emotional Response
Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement and stimulation.
Use in Design & Advertising
To the human eye, orange is a very hot colour, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. As a citrus colour, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the colour of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.
Orange has very high visibility, so you can use it to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of your design. Orange is very effective for promoting food products and toys.
It’s disadvantage is that by survey of “favorite colour” orange usually comes the lowest and thus it is rarely used for longer term products, such as cars or electronic products.
Additional Associated Meanings
- Signifies: encouragement, adaptability, stimulation, attraction, plenty, kindness
- Holiday: Candlemas
- Deities: Brigid
- Planets: Sun, Mars, Mercury
- Days: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Related Colours
- Dark orange can mean deceit and distrust.
- Red-orange corresponds to desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action.
- Gold evokes the feeling of prestige. The meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and wealth. Gold often symbolizes high quality.
Examples
Colour of royalty. Has a strong religious significance. It is used as half-mourning. By associations, it gives a feeling of mystery. It is the colour of shadows.
Emotional Response
Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.
Use in Design & Advertising
According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colours. Purple is a very rare colour in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.
Light purple is a good choice for a feminine design. You can use bright purple when promoting children’s products.
Additional Associated Meanings
- Signifies: power, piety, sanctity, sentimentality, tension, sadness amplification of other energies, wisdom, high ideals, spiritual protection and healing, psychic ability, protective energy
- Planet: Jupiter
- Day: Thursday
- Astrological: Sagittarius
Related Colours
- Light purple evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings.
- Dark purple evokes gloom and sad feelings. It can cause frustration.
Examples
COLOUR COMBINATIONS
There are certain colour combinations which together have their own symbolism.
Red and green together denote pain (and, ironically, Christmas).
Black relieved with white signifies sophistication, vigor, newness.
Black and red together are the colours of enemy.
Examples
