Do Colors Speak?

Charu Arora
6 min readMay 3, 2020

We live in a world of yellow and green,

A plethora of colors never ever seen,

The tranquil blue makes the sky divine

And its tints make the rivers and oceans shine

The myriad of hue sprinkled on butterflies, glow

Like the Almighty has poured colors of rainbow

the colors often tend to heal,

So let’s dive into the colorful feel.”

Suppose if you were asked to gift an attire to your beloved, what color would you prefer?

Immediately the color would have struck into your mind and you must have imagined how attractive your beloved would look in that attire.

Color Psychology

Colors play an important part in our lives. Without even recognizing this fact, consciously or subconsciously our life revolves around colors. Every color holds a meaning behind it.

This is the core reason why some of the people feel anxious in a purple-colored room and more enthusiastic in an orange-tinted room.

Artists and designers feel that there is a science behind it. They believe that colors have a strong impact on mood, feeling, and emotions. This is the reason they give utmost importance to colors and incorporate that in their work.

Let’s understand color psychology and how it impacts one’s behavior with an example of the beautiful rainbow which comprises Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red (VIBGYOR)

How is it formed?

In the 17th Century, Sir Issac Newton was the first one who observed that when light passed through a prism or water droplets, we get to see a visual spectrum of different colors.

It is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction, and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It bends resulting in multiple wavelengths that appear as different colors for the human eye.

In the visible spectrum wavelength, red is the least refracted wave. Thus, red has the longest wavelength formed by the spectrum, and violet has the shortest wavelength.

Impact of colors on Traffic light

Have we ever questioned why the colors in traffic light are red, green, and yellow, and why not purple or pink?

The deciding factor is the wavelength of a particular color. Since red has the longest wavelength which means that one can see it from a greater distance. Therefore, since ages, red color has been used as a symbol of danger or stop to catch immediate attention. Similarly yellow and green comparatively have shorter wavelengths than red. Similarly yellow color is used as the color of alert or caution and Green has the shortest wavelength when compared to red and yellow, hence it denotes-Go. So, Stop, Caution and go

Impact of colors on Human Behavior

There have been various studies and research conducted for the same and the generalized conclusion is that every color has a meaning and it affects human behavior, but it could vary for few with different cultures or sometimes gender. Let’s talk about the basic psychology related to some of the heavily used colors:

1. Red

Red is associated with passion, love, It can also be associated with warnings and danger, or even with anger. Red can have a physiological impact on people, too, including raising respiration and heart rate. says it all. They have Red color is considered to be the most appetizing color and stimulates digestion as well. Therefore if you keenly observe, most of the fast-food outlets use red as a strong color in their logos. For example, McDonald’s and other famous food junctions cleverly use red and yellow colors in their logo.

2. Orange

Orange is energetic and positive. It is also the color of joy, creativity, warmth, enthusiasm, and determination. For example popular brands like Fanta, and Nickelodeon use orange color to emphasize fun and positivity. Along with this, many sports brands also use orange color in their branding to uplift the urge of being fit.

3. Yellow

Yellow is considered the happiest hue in the color spectrum and is closely associated with sunshine and hope. For example, Maggi uses yellow color which represents a sense of clarity and attracts customers in a higher realm. Also, most of the emoticons which we use are in enticing yellow color.

4. Blue

Blue is calming and also represents honesty and loyalty. It is also the color of reliability and responsibility. As it is considered the color of responsibility, hence it is found in many corporate branding color schemes. For example, Dell, Twitter, Facebook, and a plethora of companies use blue color.

5. Green

Green can represent new beginnings and growth, as well as nature. The different shades and tints of green evoke various feelings that help to capture the essence of the brand. For example, Spotify, Android, Starbucks.

6. Purple

Purple has long been associated with luxury and royalty, but also with mystery and the occult. This is considered a royal color because of the historic intervention behind it. It is believed that in historic times, only royals could afford wearing purple colored attires because this color was made by mixing two colors. Thus, purple-colored dye was very expensive. Today also it upholds the same meaning. For example, Cadbury, Hallmark, etc.

7. Black

In marketing and branding psychology, black is associated with boldness, formality, mystery, strength, luxuriousness, and seriousness. For example, Blackberry and Adidas.

8. Grey

In color psychology, grey represents neutrality and balance. For example. Apple, Audi.

9. White

White is pure and innocent, and often linked to cleanliness. For an artist or designer, white space denotes a myriad of possibilities where they could splash colors to sprinkle magic to their creativity. It offers a sense of calmness, tranquility, and hope. It is the color that stands out with all the contrast. Hence, many brands use this to depict the same trait. For example. Wikipedia, Uber, Chanel, etc

Conclusion

We deep-dived into the color psychology and had a glimpse of hidden meanings of colors and how color psychology impacts human behavior. Now, whenever you will see a logo or design, it would leave a food for thought in your mind. Why Red or Blue?

What’s Next?

There are many more topics we need to discuss in detail, follow me, and keep an eye on this place. In the next few posts I will be writing in detail about the following topics:

  • Chromotherapy.
  • Do walls speak?
  • Zoo or Conservation Park?

Please share your thoughts about this article in the comment section or share it on twitter and don’t forget to follow me on Medium.

Thanks for reading 😊 Cheers, keep learning and sharing 😊.

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Charu Arora
Charu Arora

Written by Charu Arora

Creative designer and tinkerer.Specialises in UI / UXDesign.Felicitated with Guinness World Record twice for painting.

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