You Are What You See

COLOR NOT ONLY IMPACTS HOW YOU SEE THE WORLD, BUT HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THE WORLD

By Gabrielle Gronewold, Culture Editor Illustarted by Keely Bradish, Arts Curator

Does putting on a red dress make you feel powerful? Does watching the clouds in a blue sky make you feel at ease? How is it that colors have such a profound effect on the way we feel? Color preferences are based on cultural and personal experiences. In fact, your color preferences may stem from cultural meaning and perception rather than free-will. Research shows that color preference is adaptive, meaning people gravitate towards colors that will cause them to either reproduce or succeed and stray away from colors that may cause harm. Positively associated experiences, like a clear blue sky, will trigger the brain favorably, causing someone to believe that color is inherently better and will bring them prosperity.1 Color can trigger many associations in our minds. Red is an arousing color, orange is energetic, yellow brings hope, green represents freshness, blue calmness and so on.2 The way we feel about a color upon viewing it can also lead to behavioral changes. Blue-colored street lights can lead to reduced crime rates and warm-colored placebo pills have been found more effective than cool-colored pills.3 Although this may seem like a bunch of exaggerations, the marketing world has bought in on color psychology and cashes in on our emotions and mood every day. Fields such as marketing and graphic design segment and emphasize that color triggers emotions and can ultimately influence purchasing behavior. The colors that a company uses to brand themselves has a direct impact on how a consumer perceives and trusts the brand.4 Consider McDonald’s: Red is a color commonly used to trigger stimulation, appetite, hunger and attention. Yellow triggers feelings of happiness and friendliness. Not only is the Mcdonalds logo extremely recognizable, but quickly elicits those

1 Douglas Fields, “Why We Prefer Certain Colors,” Psychology Today, April 1, 2011. 2 Banu Manav, “Color-emotion associations and color preferences: A case study for residents,” Wiley, February 26, 2007. 3 Kendra Cherry. “Color Psychology: Does it Affect How You Feel,” Very Well Mind, May 28, 2020. 4 Lauren Labrecque, “Exciting red and competent blue: the importance of color in marketing.” Springer Link, January 28, 2011. targeted emotions to a potential customer.5 Research has found that the correct use of color increases brand recognition by 83%, increases visual awareness by 93% and 85% of consumers make buying decisions based on color.6

If companies are manipulating our psyche to profit, why aren’t we also using it to take care of ourselves? By knowing the impacts of color on our mood, we as individuals can easily seek out and reap the benefits of mood changing color. Ancient cultures, including the Egyptians and Chinese, used chromotherapy, which utilizes colors to heal. In chromotherapy, red is used to increase circulation, blue soothes illnesses and pain and orange has healing effects on the lungs. Today, chromotherapy is still used as holistic medicine.7 Knowing that color can both impact our mood and have healing benefits on our bodies can allow us to do simple things in our daily lives to feel better. This could be as simple as wearing a yellow shirt to feel a little more optimistic or painting our bedrooms a shade of blue to feel more at peace. Using color psychology to our benefit is more important than ever. Jaehee Jung, a professor at the University of Delaware shared that during COVID-19, “We have to be our own cheerleaders. Clothing can put us in a mode to make us feel more confident, having a positive mood that can also lead us to be more effective accomplishing our tasks.”8 I’m all for an all-black outfit, but if a green top will make me calmer and more accomplished, I might just take the bait. The world is a colorful place, full of positively and negatively charged shades. Although it may seem minuscule, the colors around you do have an impact on how you feel and behave giving you all the reason to take ownership of your own color psychology. ■

5 Jessica Brown, “The surprising reason why the McDonald’s sign is red and yellow,” Indy100, September 13, 2017. 6 ‘The Psychology of Colors in Marketing and Branding,” Color Psychology. 7 Samina Azeemi. “A Critical Analysis of Chromotherapy and Its Scientific Evolution,” Hindawi, September 30, 2015. 8 Gretchen Brown, “I’m Wearing Bright Colors Again and It’s the Pandemics Fault,” Rewire, October 9, 2020.