The Psychology of Color

“Color has got me. I no longer need to chase after it. It has got me for ever. I know it. That is the meaning of this happy hour” ~Paul Klee
 

Color is a form of non-verbal communication. It is not a static energy and its meaning can change from one day to the next with any individual.

For example:

• A person may choose to wear red one day and this may indicate they are ready to take action, or they may be passionate about what they are going to be doing that day, or again it may mean that they are feeling angry that day, on either a conscious or subconscious level.
• Orange is the color of social communication and optimism. From a negative color meaning it is also a sign of pessimism and superficiality.
• Yellow is the color of the mind and the intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful. However it can also suggest impatience, criticism and cowardice.
• Green is the color of balance and growth. It can mean both self-reliance as a positive and possessiveness as a negative, among many other meanings.
• Blue is the color of trust and peace. It can suggest loyalty and integrity as well as conservatism and frigidity.
• Indigo is the color of intuition. In the meanings of colors it can mean idealism and structure as well as ritualistic and addictive.
• Purple is the color of the imagination. It can be creative and individual or immature and impractical.
• Turquoise is communication and clarity of mind. It can also be impractical and idealistic.
• Pink is the color of unconditional love and nurturing. Pink can also be immature, silly and girlish.
• Magenta is a color of universal harmony and emotional balance. It is spiritual yet practical, encouraging common sense and a balanced outlook on life.
• Gray is the color of compromise – being neither black nor white; it is the transition between two non-colors.
• The color silver, however, has a feminine energy; it is related to the moon and the ebb and flow of the tides – it is fluid, emotional, sensitive and mysterious.
• Gold is the color of success, achievement and triumph. Associated with abundance and prosperity, luxury and quality, prestige and sophistication, value and elegance, the color psychology of gold implies affluence, material wealth and extravagance.
• White is color at its most complete and pure, the color of perfection. The color meaning of white is purity, innocence, wholeness and completion.
• Black is the color of the hidden, the secretive and the unknown, creating an air of mystery. It keeps things bottled up inside, hidden from the world.