The Message Behind Color

Understanding the Principles of Color Theory and Color Psychology

You perhaps are asked this question countless times: What is your favorite color? It is the go-to question to ask on dates, personality questionnaires, and basically at every occasion where someone is trying to get to know someone at the most basic level. When was the last time you’ve had to critically think about color theory? Many took an art class in high school or in college in order to understand this subject. There are other people though, in which their only experience speaking about color only occurred during their grade school years. We are here to tell you that color plays such an important part of our daily lives.

Many institutions know the power of color. Fast food industries use certain colors to attract customers. Many corporations use certain colors in order to positively influence productivity among employees. There are health institutions that use certain colors that help patients feel more comfortable. All of this is possible because many successful businesses and leaders understand the impact that color theory and the psychology of color have on the masses.

Below we will discuss the most essential components of color theory and the psychology of color.

Complementary Colors

One of the best ways to understand color theory is by understanding the color wheel. A color wheel is an illustration or chart that highlights the relationship of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. If you mix these colors amongst one another, for example, combining red and blue, you will get a secondary color. In this case, you will get the secondary color, purple. A tertiary color is created when a primary color and a secondary color is combined. When all of these groups of colors are created, a color wheel chart can be effectively produced. Because we are able to produce a great range of colors, we can use the color wheel in order to produce effective color schemes.

Color schemes highlight colors that provide order and structure. One of the most important of these schemes are complementary colors. Complementary colors are any two colors that are on the opposite sides of the color wheel. These colors include red and green, or orange and blue. It is suggested to use complementary colors to make someone grab his/her attention. There are many other prominent color schemes, such as the use of split complementary colors, analogous colors, and triadic colors to name a few.

Warm VS Cool colors

The color wheel also provides another form of distinguishing colors. Individuals can organize colors and placing them in categories of warm colors and cool colors. Reds, yellows, and oranges are categorized as warm colors. As the name suggests, these colors tend to produce a happy, joyful, and energetic feelings. Many restaurants use these tones because of the higher contrast, which has the ability to produce feelings of excitement among consumers. Purples, blues, and greens are categorized as cool colors. Cool colors tend to represent seriousness and mystery. Many corporate offices use these colors in order to convey professionalism, which helps employees become more productive. Many marketers, graphic designers, and advertising professionals use these color categories to accurately present certain emotions through products that are being marketed.

Color Harmony

When people think of harmony, they think about the arrangement of sounds in order to produce music that is satisfying to the ear. Harmony can also be applied in an optical way. We tend to be very visual people, and we automatically tend to reject certain images that do not have a sense of balance.

We all have a basic understanding of what is visually pleasant. For example, we understand which items of clothing work well, and most of that depends on the color that is being used. When we go to an art museum, we tend to see pieces that stimulate a positive response. The colors and shapes that an artist uses are carefully crafted in order to produce positive emotions. We can also see artwork that produces a negative response. We then tend to question it, to the point where some people might say “My 5-year-old can do that.” Perhaps that was also the response that the artist wanted. The artist used certain colors and shapes in order to produce the negative response. The emotions produced were achieved because the artist perhaps had an understanding of using different color schemes, such as complementary colors and analogous colors to make people have a response.

Meaning and Symbolism of Your Favorite Colors

There is significant meaning behind the most popular colors. Each of these colors has a distinct feature that sets them apart. Find out which colors are best suited for the message that you are trying to disseminate to your audience.