From our first grade education, we can never forget the traditional yellow, red, and blue primary colors. The secondary or complementary colors are two primary colors being mixed together. White is the presence of all colors, black is the absence of all colors. Even from a young age, an infant can categorize colors between two. Why can infants who have a low understanding of the world find a red ball more attractive than a black one? Their eyes are attracted by the brightness, the darkness, or the contrast of an object against its surroundings. We know that colors are something that we cannot escape but also we make every color symbolize its own unique trait and feeling. To better familiarize with our surroundings and feel more comfortable in our environment, we identify things with our senses. We communicate these feelings or attitudes toward something in everything we do. Colors are a big impact of the way we feel and act towards anything we do.
Psychologists have proved that the cool colors such as the blues, greens, and violets which make us feel more calm and relaxed as opposed to the warm colors such as the reds, yellows, or oranges that arouse our senses and make us feel more bright and cheerful. Everywhere we go, we experience color communication. Whether it is our old time favorite coffee shop or our local fitness center, we are victims of the color communication these companies have imposed into our minds without our own conscience knowledge. One of America’s favorite fast-food places is McDonalds. As a previous worker of McDonalds, I would try to bring food from home to prevent getting into the habit of eating that type of food. Unfortunately, every time I would come into the workplace, my appetite appeared even if I recently had lunch at home. The red and yellow walls in the McDonalds tend to indicate appetite and excitement. Vivid, warm colors like yellow and red cue speed and will cause people to eat faster, or at least give them the impression of speed.
In contrast, coffee shops are usually painted with contemporary colors such as dark brown, light grey or tan to give the impression of a relaxed environment where it is possible to sit and feel calm. The color brown is designed to appeal us to their product and to feel satisfied. I have always been interested in this topic.
At a wedding why does the bride wear a white dress? I always hear the relatives at every wedding exclaim to the bride, “You are as white and pretty as a pure bride!” What is it about the color white at weddings that provoke peoples desire to wear it? According to an article on Zimbio, “The color white has long been a symbol of happiness, purity, and even virginity in the Christian traditions.” When girls first married in those times, they were completely undefiled by the world and only become a “woman” when she was with her husband in full purity. Nowadays, this tradition is still used even though people do not know the true meaning. Others have started to replace the traditional wedding dresses with their image of the new decade dresses that feature dark colors with no white in them whatsoever.
Dark colors are meant for funerals because they are considered submission colors. They are symbols of sadness and of loss of a loved one. However black is the color of authority and power as well. It is popular in fashion because it makes people appear thinner while making them stylish and timeless. Therefore, black is popular color to wear to parties and as a business associate to present authority.
After a long day at work, we like to go feel like we are young again and we spend a few hours at the gym to get those muscles of ours to work. The gym is my least expected place where they would use color communication but as studies show, weightlifters are able to handle heavier weights in blue gyms. The color blue causes us to be more productive and will make us work harder. Out of all the colors, blue is the least appetizing so it makes sense why gyms would be blue. At any type of sports field, sometimes the opponents’ locker room will be painted a light or dull pink. We think of pink as a romantic color, but it is great to tranquilize people. It is painted pink so their opponents will lose energy.
My last topic that really interests me is when pregnant woman find out the gender of their baby, they will buy many blue or pink colored clothing to represent male or female like traits. Our society has automatically placed those two colors on those genders in a way of separation. From an article on the web, it states that, “In the 1800s, almost all babies wore white—in fact, parents back then were so unconcerned about distinguishing between the sexes that they outfitted their infant sons and daughters in dresses across the board. And even when babies started sporting colorful clothing in the mid-nineteenth century, specific hues were not identified as male and female” (color code). In the early twentieth century, the generally accepted rule was pink clothing for the boy and blue clothing for the girl. The reason is that blue, associated frequently with the Virgin Mary, was believed to reflect little girls’ purity and goodness, while pink, which derived from red, was seen as a better match for male children’s fiery temperament. However, by the 1940s, the society inversed this trend and positioned pink with femininity and blue with masculinity.
Color communication always changes throughout the years and throughout cultures. In some European countries, having light colored couches as opposed to dark was considered to be a symbol of poverty but here in the U.S different kinds of people have light living room sets. Colors also have the power to control our society with great power. For example, the red light on the stop signs has the power to control every car around the world to stop until the light turns green. The power of color influences us consciously and unconsciously. Now, next time I want to control something, I know the techniques of the power of our unavoidable color communication.:)
