The Relationship Between Colour and Mood
1. If color really has an effect on mood, what specific colors impact on mood and what mood results?Every color projects a mood, there are seven basic colors and beginning with the color red, I will give a quick explanation/corresponding keyword.Red = excitement, extremes (passion, hate, anger, in Asian cultures, happiness, quick changes (why fast food and sales involve a lot of red). Red relates to survival and triggers our “tribal” roots. Medically relates to anything solid, bones, joints, teeth, rectum, muscles.Orange = happy outlook, used to treat depression, it is creativity, it triggers our person to person skills. Orange is all about emotion (encompasses the swift changes, choices of red and the sense of self that yellow represents). Medically relates to fluid, kidneys, lymphatic, reproductive organs, urinary tract.Yellow = intellect, self, ego. (couples with yellow kitchens tend to argue more although yellow is good for dining room) Why? Yellow prompts ego and talking about self, political aspirations. It is associated with learning (think of all school related items that are yellow). Yellow is about honoring self, good color to have around when dieting, helps with digestion. I often drink out of a yellow glass. Medically relates to how we burn energy, so it is stomach area, pancreas, gallbladder, intestines. (there is a reason why McD’s does so well! red creates overeating and excitement, yellow is about self, therefore you overeat and overeat quickly). Yellow is also a color for caution, warning (workplace yellow) because it can be seen in the distance, but also because it stimulates the body to “keep mind on work”.Green is new beginnings, relationships, color of teaching, very calming, brings down blood pressure. Green relates to flow, whether that is blood flow or air flow. Green is about our relationships with God, self and others. Green is good to have around if you are establishing new relationships, client loyalty, any of that.Blue is the color of business, it represents truth, honesty, loyalty. It is the color of healing (with green can be very calming and healing) Blue is the most popular of colors. Blue is a good color to have when communication is key. Medically it corresponds with throat, ears, mouth, everything that we use to communicate with.Violet (including purple and indigo here) is about inspiration, intuition, spirituality. Young children and artists like violet. It contains the energy of red with the qualities of blue, so it is a good color to have around when you are looking for that “muse”. Medically it relates to issues of the head, eyes, forehead, pituitary.White is what I refer to as the “Christ Light” it elevates any color, so pastels are always calming and take on the “higher” qualities of the color it originates from, pink is nurturing and spiritual because it takes the passion and energy of red and clams it down to the nurturing qualities of pink. Same with all the other colors. Black is what I refer to as a magnifier. Those that try to intimidate by wearing all black are really just communicating that they need direction! (Think of ministers and priests looking to God for direction-wear black with a white collar) Black magnifies any bit of color that is with it, it absorbs all color whereas white is reflecting all color.2. What is the scientific basis for this cause and effect, if there is one?Believe it or not, and I now believe it, we have what is now starting to be recognized in the medical community (I know because I am speaking at the med schools and work with doctors, so it is not as woo woo as it sounds) an “energetic system” this system is comprised of seven major energy points, and many minor points. Each chakra reflects certain characteristics that are present within our life, they also reflect different colors. Chakras are cores of consciousness that process our emotions, they are the true integrators of the mind, body, spirit connection. It is my personal belief that the medical community will recognize theses chakras as an integral component of our energetic system, within the next five years. Technology is catching up, and when something can be documented (think of it as an exterior MRI) then it can be studied. Energy impacts energy, quantum physics is also beginning to justify this “theory” but color is energy manifested and it does, will, can affect your mood because it directly affects your energetic system. Try having an overabundance of yellow, I worked on my yellow presentation for Chicago and was nauseous from all the yellow! As a former academic (I was at Notre Dame from 1991-2001) I spent my research trying to prove this WRONG, but it is the WHY of color, there is example after example. I am excited that if it stays on the academic side of explanation and away from the “new age” stuff, it will be accepted.3. Is there a difference between how children, teens, adults and the elderly react to color? If there is, what colors and types of colors (pastel vs. bright) are best for which age group and why?Children tend to go for the bright because they can feel the intensity of the energy, which is why they use bright crayons and such. Teens tend to bring in more muddied colors because they are muddy and confused and there is an attraction there. From a strictly medical aspect, the elderly need brighter colors and we tend to tone them down, but they need the energy. Nursing homes make one HUGE mistake, they put the pastel prints, paintings with lots of blues and greens on the walls -good from an energetic healing standpoint, but TERRIBLE from an aesthetic!! As we age, our lenses get yellow (cataracts) so these elderly people see mud on the walls, very depressing and they don’t really know any different because it is such a gradual decline. There should be bold color and sharper shapes, more defined things within the environment of the elderly.If a child is hyperactive, they need to stay away from aspects of red, depression needs orange, confusion needs yellow, green is good if you feel restricted by your surroundings, blue is calming, good if you need to communicate well, violet helps inspire, gets you out of your head for awhile, dreaming.4. If you're in the decorating/design end of the business, is the relationship between mood and color something clients usually bring up? Do you broach the issue if they don't? If you do, do clients tend to dismiss it as important to them in the decorating process?Key is ask them what they want to FEEL, put some emotion into it, also function, what is the room for? Who is the room for? Also very very important to look at health. You would not put someone with cancer is a predominantly green room. That helps to narrow down the initial color and then one can figure out accents. Someone with ADHD should not be in a room of warm colors!5. What are some of the ways mood shifting color can be incorporated in decorating or redecorating a room?Just accenting with a color can bring in a mood. If you are depressed, buy an orange mouse pad or placemats! Drink from a green coffee mug if you are not liking who you are at the moment! (“I love me” is green) You can change an entire energy of a room by painting a corresponding strip on the wall or changing the throw rugs or accent pillows. It does not have to be a complete renovation. But again ask yourself what you need to bring into your life and work with the corresponding color. Chances are if people looked at the times they painted their bedroom or bought new shirts, introduced a new color in their life, they needed it, needed the energy that color emanates. It is so much fun to question an audience with that.6. Which colors work best in specific rooms such as a bedroom, dining room, office, living room?Again, all about feeling and function, as I said, couples with yellow kitchens (predominantly yellow) argue not because yellow is a bad color, but yellow is all about ego and self. Everyone congregates in the kitchen and it is usually the room in the house with the most energy. Yellow promotes us to talk about self, which is good, it is a color of learning as well, but think about the chaos in the kitchen from getting ready for work or school to coming home and trying to unwind, Where is it you tend to talk about your day??? Yellow for a dining room is great, a formal dining room is where you want your guests to do what? Talk about themselves!7. Do textures matter?Yes, texture and pattern can calm or agitate. I remember going to a dentists office when I lived in Mishawaka, the wallpaper was a mauve, blue and green all pastel with a cream background. I sat in the chair and it was a zig zag pattern! I became rather agitated because it emphasized the drilling! It affected my anxiety even though the color palette was non threatening. Horizontals are calming and correspond with cool colors. Diagonals are active and correspond with warm, arches or circles are generally calming, depending on quantity, size all that. My design students got an earful that day, but it was a good “crash course” on pattern and texture and how it relates to feeling and function.8. If you are in the commercial/industrial end of the decorating/design business, what mood enhancing colors work best in a reception area, an open area with many employees and the office of the CEO?Blues are always your best bet for business. Green is good if it is a business that is about relationships (clients, patients, all that) From an economical standpoint, warm colors in an office reduce heating bills, people “think” (and thoughts create) they are warming because of the palette. Cool colors tend to lead to individuals turning up the heat. Men prefer the cool colors. Warm inviting colors are good for reception areas, you want people to feel warm, but also it is open, and usually connects to the outside. Warm colors (reds, oranges, golds, yellows and many browns) invite people to think about themselves and their situations, cool colors (blues, most grays, violets and greens) invite people to think about the world and their relationships with what goes on, others.9. Is there a limitation on the effectiveness of a color impacting on mood? (In other words, if you paint a room blue to make a person feel calm, does a person get so used to it in three months that it ceases to have a calming effect?).No. But what I find is that too much saturation of a color can have a negative effect (like yellow and nausea) Most of the time it is subtle and you don’t realize it is the room color or the computer screen color or or or... Intuitively your body will take care of you, that blue room will create calm as long as you need calm created.
1. If color really has an effect on mood, what specific colors impact on mood and what mood results?Every color projects a mood, there are seven basic colors and beginning with the color red, I will give a quick explanation/corresponding keyword.Red = excitement, extremes (passion, hate, anger, in Asian cultures, happiness, quick changes (why fast food and sales involve a lot of red). Red relates to survival and triggers our “tribal” roots. Medically relates to anything solid, bones, joints, teeth, rectum, muscles.Orange = happy outlook, used to treat depression, it is creativity, it triggers our person to person skills. Orange is all about emotion (encompasses the swift changes, choices of red and the sense of self that yellow represents). Medically relates to fluid, kidneys, lymphatic, reproductive organs, urinary tract.Yellow = intellect, self, ego. (couples with yellow kitchens tend to argue more although yellow is good for dining room) Why? Yellow prompts ego and talking about self, political aspirations. It is associated with learning (think of all school related items that are yellow). Yellow is about honoring self, good color to have around when dieting, helps with digestion. I often drink out of a yellow glass. Medically relates to how we burn energy, so it is stomach area, pancreas, gallbladder, intestines. (there is a reason why McD’s does so well! red creates overeating and excitement, yellow is about self, therefore you overeat and overeat quickly). Yellow is also a color for caution, warning (workplace yellow) because it can be seen in the distance, but also because it stimulates the body to “keep mind on work”.Green is new beginnings, relationships, color of teaching, very calming, brings down blood pressure. Green relates to flow, whether that is blood flow or air flow. Green is about our relationships with God, self and others. Green is good to have around if you are establishing new relationships, client loyalty, any of that.Blue is the color of business, it represents truth, honesty, loyalty. It is the color of healing (with green can be very calming and healing) Blue is the most popular of colors. Blue is a good color to have when communication is key. Medically it corresponds with throat, ears, mouth, everything that we use to communicate with.Violet (including purple and indigo here) is about inspiration, intuition, spirituality. Young children and artists like violet. It contains the energy of red with the qualities of blue, so it is a good color to have around when you are looking for that “muse”. Medically it relates to issues of the head, eyes, forehead, pituitary.White is what I refer to as the “Christ Light” it elevates any color, so pastels are always calming and take on the “higher” qualities of the color it originates from, pink is nurturing and spiritual because it takes the passion and energy of red and clams it down to the nurturing qualities of pink. Same with all the other colors. Black is what I refer to as a magnifier. Those that try to intimidate by wearing all black are really just communicating that they need direction! (Think of ministers and priests looking to God for direction-wear black with a white collar) Black magnifies any bit of color that is with it, it absorbs all color whereas white is reflecting all color.2. What is the scientific basis for this cause and effect, if there is one?Believe it or not, and I now believe it, we have what is now starting to be recognized in the medical community (I know because I am speaking at the med schools and work with doctors, so it is not as woo woo as it sounds) an “energetic system” this system is comprised of seven major energy points, and many minor points. Each chakra reflects certain characteristics that are present within our life, they also reflect different colors. Chakras are cores of consciousness that process our emotions, they are the true integrators of the mind, body, spirit connection. It is my personal belief that the medical community will recognize theses chakras as an integral component of our energetic system, within the next five years. Technology is catching up, and when something can be documented (think of it as an exterior MRI) then it can be studied. Energy impacts energy, quantum physics is also beginning to justify this “theory” but color is energy manifested and it does, will, can affect your mood because it directly affects your energetic system. Try having an overabundance of yellow, I worked on my yellow presentation for Chicago and was nauseous from all the yellow! As a former academic (I was at Notre Dame from 1991-2001) I spent my research trying to prove this WRONG, but it is the WHY of color, there is example after example. I am excited that if it stays on the academic side of explanation and away from the “new age” stuff, it will be accepted.3. Is there a difference between how children, teens, adults and the elderly react to color? If there is, what colors and types of colors (pastel vs. bright) are best for which age group and why?Children tend to go for the bright because they can feel the intensity of the energy, which is why they use bright crayons and such. Teens tend to bring in more muddied colors because they are muddy and confused and there is an attraction there. From a strictly medical aspect, the elderly need brighter colors and we tend to tone them down, but they need the energy. Nursing homes make one HUGE mistake, they put the pastel prints, paintings with lots of blues and greens on the walls -good from an energetic healing standpoint, but TERRIBLE from an aesthetic!! As we age, our lenses get yellow (cataracts) so these elderly people see mud on the walls, very depressing and they don’t really know any different because it is such a gradual decline. There should be bold color and sharper shapes, more defined things within the environment of the elderly.If a child is hyperactive, they need to stay away from aspects of red, depression needs orange, confusion needs yellow, green is good if you feel restricted by your surroundings, blue is calming, good if you need to communicate well, violet helps inspire, gets you out of your head for awhile, dreaming.4. If you're in the decorating/design end of the business, is the relationship between mood and color something clients usually bring up? Do you broach the issue if they don't? If you do, do clients tend to dismiss it as important to them in the decorating process?Key is ask them what they want to FEEL, put some emotion into it, also function, what is the room for? Who is the room for? Also very very important to look at health. You would not put someone with cancer is a predominantly green room. That helps to narrow down the initial color and then one can figure out accents. Someone with ADHD should not be in a room of warm colors!5. What are some of the ways mood shifting color can be incorporated in decorating or redecorating a room?Just accenting with a color can bring in a mood. If you are depressed, buy an orange mouse pad or placemats! Drink from a green coffee mug if you are not liking who you are at the moment! (“I love me” is green) You can change an entire energy of a room by painting a corresponding strip on the wall or changing the throw rugs or accent pillows. It does not have to be a complete renovation. But again ask yourself what you need to bring into your life and work with the corresponding color. Chances are if people looked at the times they painted their bedroom or bought new shirts, introduced a new color in their life, they needed it, needed the energy that color emanates. It is so much fun to question an audience with that.6. Which colors work best in specific rooms such as a bedroom, dining room, office, living room?Again, all about feeling and function, as I said, couples with yellow kitchens (predominantly yellow) argue not because yellow is a bad color, but yellow is all about ego and self. Everyone congregates in the kitchen and it is usually the room in the house with the most energy. Yellow promotes us to talk about self, which is good, it is a color of learning as well, but think about the chaos in the kitchen from getting ready for work or school to coming home and trying to unwind, Where is it you tend to talk about your day??? Yellow for a dining room is great, a formal dining room is where you want your guests to do what? Talk about themselves!7. Do textures matter?Yes, texture and pattern can calm or agitate. I remember going to a dentists office when I lived in Mishawaka, the wallpaper was a mauve, blue and green all pastel with a cream background. I sat in the chair and it was a zig zag pattern! I became rather agitated because it emphasized the drilling! It affected my anxiety even though the color palette was non threatening. Horizontals are calming and correspond with cool colors. Diagonals are active and correspond with warm, arches or circles are generally calming, depending on quantity, size all that. My design students got an earful that day, but it was a good “crash course” on pattern and texture and how it relates to feeling and function.8. If you are in the commercial/industrial end of the decorating/design business, what mood enhancing colors work best in a reception area, an open area with many employees and the office of the CEO?Blues are always your best bet for business. Green is good if it is a business that is about relationships (clients, patients, all that) From an economical standpoint, warm colors in an office reduce heating bills, people “think” (and thoughts create) they are warming because of the palette. Cool colors tend to lead to individuals turning up the heat. Men prefer the cool colors. Warm inviting colors are good for reception areas, you want people to feel warm, but also it is open, and usually connects to the outside. Warm colors (reds, oranges, golds, yellows and many browns) invite people to think about themselves and their situations, cool colors (blues, most grays, violets and greens) invite people to think about the world and their relationships with what goes on, others.9. Is there a limitation on the effectiveness of a color impacting on mood? (In other words, if you paint a room blue to make a person feel calm, does a person get so used to it in three months that it ceases to have a calming effect?).No. But what I find is that too much saturation of a color can have a negative effect (like yellow and nausea) Most of the time it is subtle and you don’t realize it is the room color or the computer screen color or or or... Intuitively your body will take care of you, that blue room will create calm as long as you need calm created.
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