Although I have a lot of black in my wardrobe, I love color, and am very inspired by it. I’ll often just see a random combination of vegetables on a stand at the farmer’s market, interior design in the background of a movie, or editorial pages on Pinterest, and I’ll snap a photo or take a screenshot for later reference. When designing for a client, if they have a favorite color, or combination, then I’ll use that as a starting point if possible, and often when there is a professional photo to be used, that will set the tone for the rest of the look and a complementary or contrasting color scheme to be used throughout.
The established psychology of colors assigns specific emotions or feelings to various shades on the color wheel, and I do think that it is a good overall guide. In marketing and advertising, the specific color chosen is very important to company recognition. You can’t think about Coca-Cola (or Valentine’s Day) and not picture that primary red. Whenever I’m in T-Mobile, I notice how light, airy, and fuchsia everything is. It’s not a color that immediately makes me think of high-tech, but according to the theory… it does convey vividness, confidence and energy, so I guess that fits. You can see the general idea being true for any of the basic colors.
However, I do think there is much more to it than the simplified color psychology would have us believe. Green for example, typically represents nature, peace, health, growth… but only sometimes. The green hue has many different shades, tones, and tints within itself, and then gets even more complex when used in combination with other colors, not to mention fonts, images, and textures to give it context. The images below are all green, and the first one is what color theory tells us that green means, but the other images are also green, expressing toxicity and pollution, retro metallic sportscars (which I also think of as bug green) and the industrial light green-blue that I always see peeling off of the walls in tv shows in old apartments, police stations or asylums. I always notice and say… “Yep, there’s dirty NYC apartment green again!”
One more, because this is fun, and any hue on the color wheel can be broken down and have infinite possibilities. Established rules may say that red is the color of boldness, of love and passion, which it certainly is. But it also can signify murder, danger, blood, etc. in a horror movie poster. It’s also the color of fire and heat, especially when veering over into it’s neighbor, orange. The Chinese think of red as the color of luck, joy, and vitality, especially used in conjunction with gold which is a combination that is used a lot.
So, although there is some truth to the dominant color psychology, and we do associate certain colors with specific emotions, when creating an overall brand for a client, there are many factors to consider. It’s more complex than relying on the basic color stereotypes. The job of a professional artist or designer, is to put the color as well as all of the other design elements, into proper context, so that the right message is expressed, and everything works together to properly convey your image as you’d like for it to be.
