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by Tammie Lister

Color Affects Your Mood

Remember those mood rings you could get as a child where the color changed depending on your mood? The way our moods are influenced by color is a crucial part of our interaction with the world and is inbuilt into our brains that certain colors trigger certain mood reactions. Color affects all our senses. Seeing color can change moods on conscious and unconscious levels. Colors affect even the food we eat and it’s a good place to see how you are influenced by color and how this goes back to our basic instincts. Imagine eating blue vegetables, often food that is blue, black or purple is avoided and if tested produces loss of appetite, this comes from these colors meaning food is off and therefore we assume not edible.

Color & Culture

Color and moods mean different things depending on your cultural background. I am going to use my English background in this article but the principles are the same the world over. The meanings of colors are taught from a younger age: red = danger, green = nature, white = peace, black = sadness. Linked to these is also the way we use colors in languages. Language is full of the use of colors to describe moods: “feeling blue”, “seeing red”, “green with envy”.

A lot of therapies have developed that use color to influence the conscious and unconscious parts of our minds. Psychologists have long recognized the power of color on our minds, from the color itself to tones and also whether they are warm or cold colors. As a rule the lighter tones can be linked to a subtler mood, seen as uplifting and create calm. The darker are vibrant, energizing and more powerful in influence. By using colors of the same hue you can create a harmonious mood. White can make a color look more intense and by using black you can mute a color. Through understanding color and the way it relates to moods you can use it as a powerful tool in design. By combining particular colors or giving a color a hue you can create the atmosphere and influence the interaction and message of a design.

Colors are attached to moods and also seasons, which link to a set of moods themselves. Using the colors associated with seasons you can also create moods - we are strongly associated with the seasons and our influence on moods. An example of this would be:
Spring: green, light browns, light yellow - freshness
Summer: white, yellow, orange - vibrance - solid colors in middle of dark / light hues
Autumn: brown, dark green, reds, oranges - these are the darker hues
Winter: white, dark red, purples

So, what do specific colors means to us and how can you use this to influence mood? One of the best ways of looking at the way color and moods are linked is by picking some of the most common moods used in design and showing how colors are linked to them. The following are a series of notes on how specific moods can be created using colors and color combinations.

Energizing / warm

Red, orange, yellow, brown is a neutral warm color - colors of fire.

Exciting

Yellow - bright, warm colors leave a strong, lasting impression.

Surprising

Unique colors may appear surprising in color combinations. If colors don’t naturally go together you can create a focus and make people look twice – this can also put off though.

Feminine

Pink, lavender - often by using white in darker color combination you can create a feminine look also by using silver with the brighter colors you create a softer look.

Dramatic

Dark powerful - contrasting bright and dark colors will reflect a dramatic color scheme.

Natural

Subtler, complex colors are usually dulled with grey tones.

Masculine

Majority of designs use dark colors with tans or browns and sometimes blue.

Youthful

Very contrasting or not contrasting at all - very vibrant or very pale, absolute extreme colors.

Tranquil

Mostly cool colors from violet to green and including blue and grey, when you exclude strong contrasts stress is reduced.

Calming

Tones of blue, violet or green with the neutral color being grey.

Color & You

As you can see, color and moods are connected at our most basic of psychological understanding. By considering the use of color you can influence what is felt by your design work. Humans interact on many levels and use all their senses. Influencing mood is something that a lot of marketing companies and designers use to target a market and promote their business. It can also be used in the environment we exist in such as your house or work place. Take some time to think about your own reactions to specific colors and what they mean to you. We all have our own interpretations but you will also find there are general rules that apply across us all with regards to colors and how they relate to moods.