We can feel joyful or unhappy, hungry or at ease, depending on the color. These responses have psychological, biological, and cultural imprinting roots. Brightness, shade, tint, and tone of a color, as well as whether it has a cool or warm tone, all play a significant role in how different colors can influence emotions. Let’s have a look at some of the effects colors can have on how you feel.

Warm colors

The warm colors red, orange, and yellow are situated near to one another on the color wheel. Warm hues frequently inspire joy, optimism, and vigor. But yellow, red, and orange can also draw your attention and signify danger or prompt you to take action (think stop signs, hazard warnings and barrier tape). Red might also make someone more hungry.

Psychological Effects of Warm Colors

Want to create an environment of stimulation or whet people’s appetite? Yellow or orange are two hues you could choose to use. These hues are frequently connected to food and may make you feel a little hungry. Have you ever questioned why such a large number of establishments employ these hues? Now you see why individuals still claimed to be hungry after watching the movie SuperSize Me.

You should use caution when utilizing vibrant hues, particularly orange and yellow. They reflect more light and overly stimulate the eyes, which can irritate someone’s eyes. If you’re watching your calories, you probably don’t want to paint your dining room or kitchen these hues.

Cool colors

Green, blue, and purple are examples of cool hues. While typically tranquil and pleasant, cool colors can also convey grief. Purple, which combines the calming colors of blue and red, is frequently used to assist inspire creativity (intense). Use these hues if a business wishes to convey security, beauty, or wellness.

Psychological Effects of Cool Colors

Have to be imaginative? Want assistance activating those brain synapses? Use purple if you can. Purple makes use of both red and blue to create a pleasing harmony between stimulus and tranquility that is meant to foster creativity. According to legend, light purple creates a calm environment that eases tension. They may make beautiful colors for a house or office.

Are you trying to find a calm and peaceful setting? You might think about utilizing blue or green. Typically, people associate these cool hues with relaxation. Green is thought to be less taxing on your eye muscles because the eye concentrates it directly on the retina, according to some scientific reasoning.

For high-traffic areas or areas where you or other people will spend a lot of time, the color blue is advised. Blue is another cold color that is often relaxing and quiet and is supposed to lower blood pressure and slow breathing. These hues work well in the bedroom because they should promote relaxation.

Happy colors

Bright, warm hues like yellow, orange, pink, and red are considered happy colors. Peach, pale pink, and lilac are examples of pastel colors that can brighten your mood. You will feel happier and more upbeat when a hue is brighter and lighter. Using several main and secondary colors for a vibrant, young impression is another way that colors can evoke positive feelings.

Sad colors

Dark and subdued hues are considered sad hues. Grey is the traditional color for sadness, but depending on how they are employed, cool, dark hues like blue or green or neutrals like brown or beige can have a comparable impact on sentiments and emotions. Black is frequently associated with mourning in Western cultures, but white is associated with it in several East Asian nations.

Energizing Mood Colors

All neon, bright shades are upbeat and stimulating. Colors like vivid green, yellow, and red can awaken your senses. As far as possible, avoid using these colors together as they can be highly strenuous on the eyes. Magenta, turquoise, royal blue, electric yellow, and neon green are colors that stand out right away from a distance.

Psychology of Color for Marketing & Advertising

It’s common knowledge that marketing and advertising use color psychology. They have enough faith in the principles of color psychology to incorporate them into their advertising, as evidenced by the fact that certain businesses have extensively invested in this kind of study and that many others have followed through with its application.

Color is frequently utilized in an effort to evoke sensations of hunger, connote a positive or negative tone, inspire sentiments of trust, tranquillity, or vitality, among countless other purposes.

The majority of marketing and advertising execs will probably concur that it is advantageous to comprehend and make use of the psychological effects of color. Let’s now examine some of the more prevalent characteristics of color psychology using some common hues.

How specific colors make you feel

Colors can affect the tone of mood because they are frequently linked to specific emotions and feelings.

Red

Red makes you feel passionate and energized.

Red is the warmest and most dynamic of the colors—it triggers opposing emotions. It is often associated with passion and love as well as anger and danger. It can increase a person’s heart rate and make them excited.

If you want to draw attention to a design element, use red. But use it as an accent color in moderation as it can be overwhelming.

Orange

Orange makes you feel energized and enthusiastic.

Orange enhances a feeling of vitality and happiness. Like red, it draws attention and shows movement but is not as overpowering. It is aggressive but balanced — it portrays energy yet can be inviting and friendly. Orange is great for a call to action to buy or subscribe to a product.

Yellow

Yellow makes you feel happy and spontaneous.

Yellow is perhaps the most energetic of the warm colors. It is associated with laughter, hope and sunshine. Accents of yellow help give your design energy and will make the viewer feel optimistic and cheerful. However, yellow tends to reflect more light and can irritate a person’s eyes. Too much yellow can be overwhelming and should be used sparingly. In design, it is often used to grab attention in an energetic and comforting way.

Green

Green makes you feel optimistic and refreshed.

Green symbolizes health, new beginnings and wealth. Green is the easiest on the eyes and should be used to relax and create balance in a design. It is a great color to use if a company wants to depict growth, security or inspire possibility. Green can also feel calming and relaxing.

Blue

Blue makes you feel safe and relaxed.

Blue evokes feelings of calmness and spirituality as well as security and trust. Seeing the color blue causes the body to create chemicals that are calming. It is no surprise that it’s the most favored of the colors. Dark blues are great for corporate designs because it helps give a professional feel, but using too much can create a cold, disengaged feeling. Light blues give a more relaxing, friendly feel. Great examples are social sites like Facebook and Twitter, which use lighter blues.

Purple

Purple makes you feel creative.

Purple is associated with mystery, creativity, royalty and wealth. Lighter shades of purple are often used to soothe or calm a viewer, hence why it is used in beauty products. Incorporate purple to make a design look more luxurious and wealthy or a lighter purple to show romance and mystery.

Pink

Pink makes you feel playful and romantic.

Pink represents youth, romance and tenderness. It’s inherently sweet, cute and charming.

Brown

Brown makes you feel down to earth.

Brown creates a sense of stability and support. It’s warm and friendly, practical and dependable, and can also represent the old fashioned and well established.

Black

Black feels sophisticated, classic and serious.

Black evokes power, luxury and elegance, but can also mean professionalism, neutrality and simplicity. It’s bold and powerful and is often used to evoke mystery. In certain contexts and cultures, the color black can also refer to mourning or sadness.

White

White means minimalism and simplicity. Using a lot of white color in design creates a minimalist aesthetic and can result in a simple, fresh and clean look.

In many cultures, white is used to refer to virginity, purity and innocence (think bridal gowns and baby clothes). It’s also the most neutral color of all.

Gray

Gray feels serious and professional.

Gray is a more mature, responsible color. Its positive connotations include formality and dependability, while the negative side can mean being overly conservative, conventional and lacking in emotion. It’s safe and quite subdued, serious and reserved.

Emotions and colors go hand in hand

Colors can be subjective, so it’s vital to keep in mind that what one person may find cheery may make another person angry depending on their past encounters or cultural differences.

Color is not universally accepted and can have distinct effects on different nations. But, since emotions and colors are inextricably intertwined, you must always consider how your use of color will affect your audience. Knowing the relationship between colors and emotions will help you make color selections that will produce the outcomes you desire.