Subscribe by RSSWhat’s Your Favorite Color?
Published on November 29th, 2007
I am curious. What is your favorite color? Is there a specific shade you prefer? Why do you like it?
I love color. I love the way it makes me feel. I love reading about color symbolism and color psychology. I love studying the physics of color and how our eyes see it. I love coming up with fun, new color combinations. Yet, I cannot seem to pick a favorite color. Every color has something to offer me. Consequently, my favorite tends to change — from day to day and even minute to minute.
When I was a young girl, my favorite was Crayola’s Ultra Blue. I loved that crayon and always searched for a reason to use it. When I was in high school, I switched to forest green. Later, I went through a phase of blue and orange together, but after I started designing, all of that went out the window.
Designing has stretched the way I think of color. Now my favorite color depends on the purpose — the message I am trying to achieve, the mood I want to convey or even the mood I am in at the moment.
There are so many fascinating tidbits and theories about color. It is hard to tell if nature or nurture is the cause of how colors affect us. My guess, it is a combination of the two. For example, in nature, blue often serves as a warning that something is poisonous. Thus, many people have studied the effects of blue on appetite and many have concluded that blue actually suppresses appetite. Consequently, it may not be the best choice for advertising food. Think about it, how many fast food chains use blue? Immediately, I think of an abundance of red and yellow. I do not think that was an accident.
On the side of nurture, the way we have been raised influences how colors affect us. In many Western societies purple symbolizes royalty, blue represents calm and loyalty, red represents power and love, yellow serves as a warning or can make you happy, green speaks of nature and fertility…the list goes on. Every color out there has many meanings tied to it. Check out this entry in Wikipedia for an extensive list of colors and their associated symbolism. For those interested in design these two sites have some more insights: www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html and www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html. Keep in mind that different societies think of color in different ways. If you want to represent royalty in China, you should think about using yellow.
What are your thoughts? Have you noticed particular colors change your mood? Do you automatically associate certain colors with certain things?
I can really relate to what you’re saying… and I can’t just pick one color either. I get excited over color combinations and shades.
I usually tell people my favorite color is nature. And every color I know of can be found in nature (even neons). Nature does some pretty amazing things with color. Just try manually recreating a sunset. It’s not the same…
Posted on November 29th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I’ve always been a green girl.
As a child I liked forest green. That seems boring to me now. Now I like Harlequin. I liked Chartreuse before I found out that Harlequin, being 75% green and 25% yellow rather than 50/50, is superior to Chartreuse.
I like bright green because it’s obnoxious like me.
I don’t know. It’s very outrageous, which I feel I can be. Actually, Even when I don’t think i’m being crazy, a handful of other people think I’m a nut. I just don’t know. I think everyone else is just boring. HAHA.
I noticed that I don’t like when rooms are painted red or yellow. Yellow is a gross color unless on a smiley face. What other color would work for a smiley. None. It can only be yellow.
Posted on November 30th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Amberlynn,
I agree, nature does so many amazing things with color. I think it’s fun to take inspiration from color combinations I see in nature when I design. Sometimes it comes up with combos that I would never have thought of otherwise.
Madeline,
Harlequin is an interesting choice. It is a great example of how the combination of hue, saturation and value can create a variation of how a color typically affects us. Many believe that green is restful to the eye, but if you were surrounded with harlequin I doubt that would give your eye a break. Like you said, it’s so bright that it is obnoxious. It makes me wonder what version of green was used in studies.
It is also interesting to me that you don’t like yellow rooms. I purposely painted my living room yellow because many studies have shown that yellow can create mental clarity and help you concentrate. Since I turned my living room into a dance studio, it seemed appropriate to me. Teaching, learning and choreographing in a room that helps me concentrate seemed like a good choice.
As for the smiley face, I agree, yellow seems like the only choice that will work. Mainly because it is a cheerful color, but also because other colors would create different effects. Green would make me think the smiley is sick. Blue might make me think the smiley is somber or cold. Red may come across as angry or maybe lovesick.
Posted on December 4th, 2007 at 8:55 am