Colours and Their Common Associations (1)

Posted by Mad_Monk on Sat 25 Apr 09, 11:34 AM to Mad_Monk's blog.

I always feel that the one of the most important elements of a successful scene are the first impressions received on entering the 'playspace'. Here I present the tool of Colour.

There are many sensations and these all need to be harnessed to conjure the required mental 'place'.

Here also is a link to an interesting essay about Michael Mann, the film director. He famously begins the composition of each of his scenes by deciding which colour will summon the requisite emotion. He is compared with Edward Hopper, one of whose works inspired Hitchcock's 'Psycho' house. I hope it inspires you.

The information has been garnered from many sources.

Red

Positive:

Passion, strength, energy, heat, fire, love, sex, excitement, speed, heat, ambition, leadership, masculinity, power, respect.

Negative:

Arrogance, danger, stop, gaudiness, blood, violence, war, anger, revolution, aggression.

Cultural:

Summer, autumn, radicalism, socialism, communism, Mars (planet), Gemini, December, Christmas, red ruby is the traditional 40th wedding anniversary gift.

Psychology:

Being the longest wavelength, red is a powerful colour. Although not technically the most visible, it has the property of appearing to be nearer than it is and therefore grabs our attention first. Hence, its efficacy in traffic lights the world over. The effect is physical; stimulating us and raising the blood pressure, respiration and pulse rates; it is said to make people hungry; giving the impression that time is passing faster than it is. It relates to the masculine principle and can set off the "fight or flight" instinct. Red is strong and very basic. Pure red is the simplest colour, with no subtlety. It is stimulating and lively, very friendly. At the same time, it can be perceived as demanding and aggressive.

Blue

Positive:

Seas, skies, peace, unity, harmony, tranquillity, calmness, coolness, confidence, conservatism, water, ice, loyalty, dependability, cleanliness, technology, air, wisdom, strength, light, friendliness, peace, truthfulness, love.

Negative:

Depression, coldness, idealism, obscenity, vulgarity (origin – the blue censor's pencil).

Cultural:

Royalty, nobility, mourning (Iran), winter, July (sky blue), February (deep blue), Earth (planet), Virgo (light blue), Pisces (pale blue) and Aquarius (dark blue), in many cultures blue is believed to keep the evil eye away.

Psychology:

Blue is the colour of the mind. Essentially soothing; it affects us mentally, rather than the physical reaction we have to red. Strong blues will stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft blues will calm the mind and aid concentration. Blue evokes a race-memory of cloudless summer skies and clear pure waters – good hunting and fish-plentiful seas or safe drinking (see Hockney's paintings). Thus, it is serene and calming. It is the colour of clear communication. Blue objects appear further away than red ones. Blue is the world's favourite colour. However, it can seem metallic - cold, unemotional and unfriendly.

Yellow

Positive:

Sunlight, summer, air, earth, joy, happiness, gladness, friendship, sociability, optimism, hope, intelligence, idealism, liberalism, wealth (gold), femininity, April, September.

Negative:

Cowardice, illness (quarantine), hazards, dishonesty, avarice, weakness, greed, deceit, death (Middle Ages).

Cultural:

Taurus, Leo (golden yellow), mourning (Egypt), courage (Japan), green and yellow symbolised the devil (Middle Ages), ribbons - women waiting for their men to return.

Psychology:

The yellow wavelength is relatively long and essentially stimulating. In this case, the stimulus is emotional; therefore yellow is the strongest colour, psychologically. The right yellow will lift our spirits and our self-esteem; it is the colour of confidence and optimism. Too much of it, or the wrong tone in relation to the other tones in a colour scheme, can cause self-esteem to plummet, giving rise to fear and anxiety. Our "yellow streak" can surface.

Green

Positive:

Nature, cool fresh forests, spring, fertility, youth, environment, wealth, money (US), good luck, vigour, generosity, go, grass, life eternal, air, sincerity, hope, renewal, natural abundance, growth, health, August, balance, harmony, stability.

Negative:

Aggression, naivety, envy, bad luck, coldness, jealousy, disgrace (China), illness, greed.

Cultural:

Bad spirits, corruption (North Africa), Cancer (stars - bright green), earth (classical element), during the Middle Ages, both green and yellow were used to symbolise the devil. Islam. Green is the luckiest of colours in some western countries including Britain, Ireland (the national colour) and the U.S.

Psychology:

Green strikes the eye in such a way as to require no adjustment whatever and is, therefore, restful. Being in the centre of the spectrum, it is the colour of balance - a more important concept than many people realise. When the world about us contains plenty of green, this indicates the presence of water and little danger of famine, so we are reassured by green, on a primitive level. Negatively, it can imply stagnation and, wrongly used, will be seen as being too bland.

Purple/Violet

Positive: Sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, nobility, ceremony, mystery, wisdom, enlightenment, riches, romanticism (light purple), delicacy (light purple).

Negative:

Envy, arrogance, flamboyance, gaudiness, mourning, profanity, exaggeration, confusion, pride.

Cultural:

Gay, Libra (violet), May, November, mourning widows (Thai), wounded soldiers (US).

Psychology:

The shortest wavelength is violet (or purple). It inspires a higher level of thought and spirituality. Highly introverting, it encourages deep contemplation & meditation. It has associations with royalty and conveys the finest possible quality. It has associations with time, space and the cosmos, being the last visible wavelength before the ultra-violet ray. Too much purple can bring about too much introspection and the wrong tone of it imparts something cheap and nasty, faster than any other colour.

Pink

Positive:

Spring, gratitude, appreciation, admiration, sympathy, femininity, health, love.

Negative:

Gauche, derogatively homosexual & bisexual.

Cultural:

June, marriage, homosexual & bisexual (pink triangle).

Psychology:

Being a tint of red, pink also affects us physically, but it soothes, rather than stimulates. (Interestingly, red is the only colour that has an entirely separate name for its tints. Tints of other colours are simply called light blue, light green…etc). Pink is a powerful colour. It represents the feminine principle, and survival of the species; it is nurturing and soothing. Women, apparently, are drawn to pink as this recalls ruddy (healthy) skin on viable mates and ripe, nutritious fruit from hunter-gatherer times. Too much pink is physically draining and emasculating.

Orange

Positive:

Energy, balance, heat, fire, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, enthusiasm, desire. Orange has less intensity or aggression than red and is calmed by the cheer of yellow.

Negative:

Aggression, arrogance, gaudiness, over emotion, warning, danger.

Cultural:

Hinduism, Buddhism, autumn, September, Sagittarius.

Psychology: A combination of red and yellow, orange is stimulating; reaction to it is a combination of the physical and the emotional. It focuses our minds on issues of physical comfort - food, warmth, shelter etc - and sensuality. It is a fun colour. Negatively, it suggests the exact opposite - deprivation. This is more likely when warm orange is used with black. Too much orange suggests frivolity and a lack of serious intellectual values.

Brown

Positive:

Calm, depth, animals, nature, richness, rusticism, food (stimulates the appetite), stability, tradition, modest, wholesomeness, steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness and reliability.

Negative:

Anachronism, boorish, dirt, dull, filth, heavy, poverty, rough & unfinished.

Cultural:

Earth (classical element), October, Capricorn, Scorpio (reddish brown).

Psychology:

Brown usually consists of red and yellow, with a large percentage of black. Consequently, it has much of the same seriousness as black, but is warmer and softer. It has elements of the red and yellow properties. Brown has associations with the earth and the natural world. It is a solid, reliable colour and most people find it quietly supportive - more positively than the ever-popular black, which is suppressive, rather than supportive.

Black

Positive:

Modernity, power, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, style.

Negative:

Fear, anonymity, anger, sadness, unhappiness, remorse, mysterious, sex, seriousness, conventionality, rebellion.

Cultural:

Evil, death, mourning, January (Western cultures).

Psychology:

Black is total absorption of all colours. Black is an absence of light, since no wavelengths are reflected and therefore, as many people are afraid of the dark, it can be menacing. The psychological implications of that are considerable. It creates protective barriers, absorbing all the energy coming towards you and enshrouding the personality. Positively, it communicates absolute clarity, with no fine nuances. It works particularly well with white. It communicates sophistication and uncompromising excellence. It is a myth that black clothes are slimming - it creates a perception of weight and seriousness.

White

Positive:

Pure, innocent, clean, clinically sterile, security, simple, peace, worship, humility, snow, winter.

Negative:

Cold, lifeless, surrender, cowardice, fear, uninspired.

Cultural:

Air, fire, death & mourning (Eastern cultures), hope, Aries, Pisces, January. Psychology: As black is total absorption; white is total reflection. It reflects the full force of the spectrum into our eyes. Thus, it also creates barriers, but differently from black; often a strain to look at. It communicates, "Touch me not!" White is purity and uncompromising; it is clean, hygienic and sterile. The concept of sterility can also be negative. Visually, white gives a heightened perception of space. The negative effect of white on warm colours is to make them look and feel garish.

Grey

Positive:

Elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability, subtlety, wisdom, balance, neutrality.

Negative:

Anachronism, boredom, decay, decrepitude, dullness, dust, pollution, urban sprawl.

Cultural:

Mourning, formality, March.

Psychology:

Pure grey is the only colour that has no direct psychological properties. It is quite suppressive. An absence of colour is depressing and when the world turns grey, we instinctively draw in and prepare for hibernation. Unless the precise tone is right, grey has a dampening effect on other colours used with it. Heavy use of grey usually indicates a lack of confidence and fear of exposure.