How colours impact our lives?
“Colors speak all languages.” — Joseph Addison
The world is a combination of colours laid out in a way that pleases our eyes. These colours play an integral role in design as well. Using the right colours in the right places can elevate our designs and increase their impact manifold.
Be it a company’s logo or a graffiti-ed wall, it makes an impact only when the colours are used effectively. The use of colours also evokes emotions in humans, while warm-toned colours can bring optimism, happiness and energy; cool-toned colours can be calm and soothing.
Colours are always responsible for inducing emotions in all of us. Thus it can be easily used to our advantage in our daily lives. From our clothes to our surroundings, the right colour palette can actually elevate your quality of life.
Colour Psychology
Did you know that painting is a very effective way of evoking emotions in humans? People often undermine the impact of colours on the human brain but they can be used as a very powerful tool in quite a subtle way. Psychologists believe that our choice of colours can be linked to our underlying personality.
Colour psychology is very commonly used these days while designing emotionally healthy homes and offices. These can positively impact our productivity and happiness. The colours we surround ourselves with isn't limited to aesthetics but also affects our emotions and behaviour.
It is encouraged to use warm and earthly tones in the living room to make it welcoming. In the bedroom, however, cool tones like blue, green and lavender help in creating a relaxed environment. While green is the preferred colour in home offices as it increases concentration.
Psychologists believe that our choice of colours in clothes can be integral in creating a positive impression. Green and blue are the perfect choices for creating the perfect first impression as they symbolise activeness and trustworthiness respectively. While brown and black are for those days when you want a professional and authoritative outlook.
You can even apply this colour theory to everyday activities. This may include using green for your desktop wallpaper and website design to increase productivity. Wearing orange for exercising increases oxygen supply to the brain by producing an energizing effect.
Colours in design
Colours play a vital role in how a design is perceived. While some colours can be used to generate excitement or enthusiasm others may help in building trust or loyalty. The choice of colours also varies considering the age group, gender and topography of the target audience.
Let’s dive into finer details using some examples.
Red Colour
While most people associate red as the colour of power or anger, red colour can also be used to evoke excitement and happiness in the viewers. Two iconic logos that come to mind are the logo of YouTube and Netflix. Both of these have a bright red colour in their logo.
The colour red in both these logos plays a vital role in its brand identity. They are both brands associated with excitement, thrill and enjoyment and something fresh for the young audience. The use of red exemplifies this idea and has definitely helped in creating its perception with the audience.
Blue Colour
The blue colour is attributed to trust, stability, peace and calmness. For this reason, blue is the favourite colour for designs in the health and technology industries. To show details like product reliability, quality and safety blue buttons are often used.
Blue seems to be brand-favourite colour, especially in the technical field. Look at the logo of Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Intel, HP, Dell, etc. They all have blue in common symbolising their attributes. So, when in doubt you can always add in a dash of blue to your designs for that extra trust factor.
Green Colour
The colour green is deeply connected to nature. It is used to represent growth, health, generosity and positivity. While most colours can be moulded according to one's needs, green remains very specific to representing nature. Green evokes a balance in our brain which helps inconclusiveness.
Therefore green is often associated with the health and fitness industries. WholeFoods, Starbucks, Sprite, Tropicana, etc all use green colour in there to build a sense of trust in their brand identity.
Yellow Colour
Yellow is linked with happiness, optimism and positivity. The bright shades of yellow can be very appealing to the human eye. Using this colour for depicting luxury and carefree life is a common hack used by designers. The colour can be used to invoke a sense of excitement in the viewers.
Brands like Lays, McDonalds, Subway, Snapchat, etc all use yellow in their branding. This makes the brand look exciting especially to a younger audience who is instantly attracted by the idea of happiness that these brands intend to sell.
While colours like pure black, neon and rainbow are discouraged in design, red and blue are the most widely used colours. Colours play an essential role in branding and promotion, so it becomes paramount to make use of the plethora of colours around us and come up with ways to create attractive designs.
Studying the art of using colours effectively can be very interesting and insightful. Incorporating these details in our life and work will definitely help in improving our overall outlook and increase productivity. So, next time you decide to buy or paint something, think a little more about the colours and the results may surprise you.
