Warm Colors - : Red, Orange and Yellow Are Next To Each Other On The Wheel and
Warm Colors - : Red, Orange and Yellow Are Next To Each Other On The Wheel and
Warm Colors - : Red, Orange and Yellow Are Next To Each Other On The Wheel and
Colors can make us feel happy or sad… they can make us feel
hungry or relaxed. That’s why it’s important to understand
the psychological effects colors might have on an average person, or
your client’s target audience. Let’s take a closer look at how color
impacts our emotions and behaviors.
Warm colors
—
Red, orange and yellow are next to each other on the wheel and
are all warm colors. Warm colors often evoke feelings of happiness,
optimism and energy. However, yellow and orange can also slightly
irritate the eyes and red can increase a person’s appetite.
Red
Photograph: Cas Cornelissen (via Unsplash)
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
Cool colors
—
Cool colors include green, blue, and purple. Cool colors are usually
calming and soothing but can also express sadness. Purple is often
used to help spark creativity as it’s a mixture of blue (calm) and red
(intense). If a company wants to display health, beauty or security,
incorporate these colors.
Green
Photograph: Buzo Jesús (via Unsplash)
Blue
Photograph: J DuClos (via Unsplash)
Neutral colors include black, gray, white, tan and brown. In design,
these colors are great as background colors. Use black, gray and
white when using brighter colors. If you are using textures, then
incorporate tan and brown as your backdrop.
The author
Allison S. Gremillion
A Louisiana native, Allison moved to San Francisco and became the first Community Liaison at
99designs. Over the years, she established and lead several designer teams focused on
supporting, educating and motivating 99d's global community of designers to reach their fullest
potential. She loves advocacy work, design, psychology, and making real connections with
humans all over the world.
Color has a great impact on every human and of course it contributes a lot in mood
changes or how one feels .
1. Red
Red stimulates and excites the brain. It is associated with power, passion, and energy,
or it might also be associated with danger or aggression.
When it is combined with other colors, red elicits different responses. For example, red
and green represent Christmas and can evoke a range of emotions associated with that
holiday. It has the same effect when combined with white in some Eastern cultures.
2. Orange
Orange is a stimulating color that elicits feelings of excitement, warmth, and
playfulness. It has the same energizing quality as red but is more muted, which can
bring about a sense of comfort and creativity.
When paired with black, orange represents Halloween as it’s celebrated in Western
culture. This can evoke variant emotions such as delight or fear, depending on the
viewer.
3. Yellow
Yellow draws attention and stimulates positive emotions. It is associated with hope
and optimism, but it can also communicate cowardice and dishonesty. In the Hindu
religion, yellow is a sacred color.
4. Green
This color is often calming and cool. It can represent good luck, health, nature, and
renewal or rebirth. Green can also communicate jealousy and envy.
It can even have different meanings across cultural lines. For instance, green is not a
successful color in China or France. However, it draws out investors in the Middle East
who associate it with money.
5. Blue
Blue improves concentration because it calms the mind. It can be sedative and calm or
sad. Psychological associations with the color blue include trust and security,
cleanliness, order, and technology. IBM was nicknamed Big Blue among international
technology markets. Many banks have blue logos to evoke a feeling of trust in their
customers.
6. Purple
Purple is calm and soothing like most cool colors. It is associated with spirituality,
royalty, and mystery. Purple can also symbolize cruelty and arrogance. There are very
few elements of nature that are purple.
7. Pink
Pink is a calming color that signifies vulnerability and safety, as opposed to the
aggression of red. Pink is often associated with femininity in Western cultures.
8. Brown
Brown is warm and restful, but it can also be depressing. Combining brown with
orange, yellow or gold reduces its depressing quality. Brown symbolizes earth,
endurance, and reliability. Brown is a successful packaging color for food in the U.S.,
but it has the opposite effect in Colombia.
9. Black
Black is depressing and associated with death, unhappiness, and fear. It can also
signify elegance and sophistication, power and sexuality. Many Western cultures use
black to signify death, but in clothing or packaging it represents wealth, elegance, and
sophistication. Black clothing has long been the unofficial uniform of sophisticated
New York City dwellers.
10. White
White is cheerful and can be associated with sunlight when combined with red, yellow
or orange. It represents purity and innocence, but can also be associated with sterility
and death. Cultural responses to white can be quite different. In the U.S., it is used for
weddings to symbolize purity, while in many Eastern cultures, it signifies death.
Different shades of color can also affect the emotions. Combining colors also change
how they are perceived. In general, too much bold color can be irritating, even if it is a
typically calming color. The best uses for the emotional responses to color are subtle.
You may not remember what color the walls are in your favorite restaurant, for
example, but you know you feel relaxed when you eat there.
Color is not only used to infuse emotion into advertising, it is also used in the decor of
public buildings to evoke the preferred emotions in patrons. Pale green is often used in
prisons to calm inmates. You won’t find a prison room painted red because there is no
desire to inflame excitement, anger, or aggression in that setting.
Hospitals were traditionally all white to signify the cleanliness and purity. More
recently some relaxing cool colors are incorporated to reduce the tension created in
some by an antiseptic atmosphere. Soft warm shades of pink and yellow might even be
used to cheer the patients.