12 Colours: Colour Psychology + Meaning and Effect

Colours are not just colorful. According to colour psychology, they have a huge effect on us – both positive and negative. Colours are pure emotions. They attract attention and can evoke different feelings. This applies to marketing and advertising as much as it does to our clothing or the colours in nature. Even with creative hobbies like Paint by Numbers you see how carefully chosen colours directly influence the experience of a painting. Colours have the power to influence decisions or even improve our memory. We'll show you how this works, what meaning different colours have and what colour psychology reveals about yourself...

Science: What is colour psychology?

Colour psychology investigates whether and how strongly colours influence our thoughts and feelings. Behind this are preferences, associations, but also cultural and historical meanings. People have always used the symbolism of colours toto express power or feelings. What happens in our brains and the enormous manipulating effect that colours have has only been more intensively investigated in recent decades.

Blue is not just the world's favourite colour. Studies in Scotland and Japan have shown that blue street lighting has reduced crime and suicide rates. Green, on the other hand, makes people more creative at work. Whether it's the colour of the wall or the background of the screen, those who looked at green spaces in the studies subsequently developed more and better ideas. A study by Microsoft, on the other hand, has shown that a certain blue (hexadecimal code: #0044CC) is clicked particularly often in links on the Internet.

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Colour effects and symbolism

How colours affect us depends on several factors. For example, some colours are known in nature as warning and signal colours: Red, for example, or the combination of black and yellow (as in wasps). Moreover, certain meanings have been attributed to colours over the centuries. For example in religious contexts and ceremonies.

The cultural background also plays a role in colour symbolism. In Germany, for example, black is a typical colour of mourning. White, on the other hand, symbolizes purity, and thereforethe bride wears white at the wedding. In China it is the other way around: people wear white for funerals. In South Africa, red represents mourning, while in China it is the colour of great happiness.

Colour psychology: Which colour represents what?

Knowledge of the meaning of colours not only helps us to know ourselves better. It is an essential key to understand certain decisions or to be less manipulated. We show you which colours mean what in colour psychology.

Colour psychology yellow

Yellow is the colour of the sun. It shines particularly intensely and strikingly. Yellow represents warmth and good mood (just think of smileys!), development, pursuit of freedom, curiosity, spontaneity, openness, expectation, creativity and cheerfulness. Yellow is ideal against depressive moods and can even increase concentration. It is a particularly vibrant colour and is considered fun, playful and cheerful. In Japan, on the other hand, yellow represents courage.

Marks with yellow colours

Typical yellow brands: ADAC, Post Office, McDonald's, Ikea.

Colour psychology orange

Orange stands for youth, energy and zest for life. The colour seems even warmer than yellow and represents adventurousness, optimism and conviviality. It helps against loss of appetite or depression. Orange is also an extravagant colour. It is often worn by extroverts in their clothes. At the same time, the colour represents autumn and harvest time. So on the one hand a time of abundance without scarcity (of food). At the same time, the orange of the autumn leaves heralds the approach of winter.

Brands with an orange colour

Typical orange brands: Hermès, Fanta, Nickelodeon.

Colour psychology red

Red is one of the strongest signal and warning colours. It stands for self-confidence, strength, vitality, activity, dynamism, passion and eroticism. Studies have shown that women in a red dress are particularly attractive and attractive to men. It is the colour of life and love, but also of rivalry, anger and aggression. Also evokes the colour danger and war, suffering and punishment. It is no coincidence that many prohibition signs are red. The colour alarms us.

Brands with red colours 

Typical red brands: Coca-Cola, Nike, Netflix, Lego.

Colour psychology pink

Pink is a typical pastel shade. It combines the power and love in red with the innocence in white. Also the colour (as opposed to the stronger pink) stands for powdery delicacy, tenderness, sensitivity, delicacy and femininity. It is a typical girl and baby colour. Therefore, it is considered particularly innocent and pure. Sometimes also as naive. Which is reflected in some idioms.

Pink isclearly stronger and more expressive than pink. It stands more for fascination, joie de vivre, dedication. But it also stands for romance, extroversion and the desire to stand out.

Brands with pink colours

Typical pink brands: Telekom, LG, Lyft, Dunkin' Donuts.

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Colour psychology vilot and purple

In the past, purple was reserved for the nobility and high clergy. So it symbolizes power and magic. The colour is one of the most contradictory in colour psychology. On the one hand, violet is an expression of high aspiration, spiritual autonomy and sovereignty, which is why the colour is often used in connection with religion, sexuality or luxury. But it also stands for mysticism, fantasy and nostalgia. Sometimes it is associated with vanity and ambition. On most people, violet has acalming to concentration-promoting effect.

Brands with violet and purple colours

Typical purple brands: Milka, Yahoo, Twitch, Monster.

Colour Psychology blue

Blue is the colour of the sea and the sky. It symbolizes both depth (ocean) and vastness (horizon), inner peace as well as harmony, balance and contentment. Blue represents well-being and truth, seriousness, honesty and creativity. It is the most popular colour worldwide - among men and women. Because many associate it with loyalty, reliability, empathy and trust, it is particularly commonly used in marketing and corporate logos. However, blue can appear cold and distant.

Brands with blue colours

Typical blue brands: Facebook, Pfizer, Ford, Deutsche Bank, Linkedin.

Colour psychology turquoise

In colour psychology, turquoise represents clarity (of thinking) and friendliness. Like blue, the colour symbolizes openness and seriousness. At the same time it represents emotional balance and someone who is balanced and enjoys life. The colour mixes the harmony of blue, the growth of green or the energy of yellow. Turquoise is a special colour that can inspire ideas and strengthen concentration. It radiates positive energy without being pushy. It stays soft while maintaining control.

Brands with turquoise colours

Typicalturquoise brands: Intel, OB, Hasbro, Dacia.

Colour psychology green

Green is the colour of nature: lush grass and fresh leaves are green. The colour is therefore a symbol of life itself, of naturalness, fertility, hope and harmony. In marketing, green is often used as a sign of freshness and health. A strong environmental awareness is also reflected in greenery. This also applies to perseverance, authority and autonomy. Personally, the colour represents self-respect and a high claim to status or dignity. It combines the joy in yellow with the tranquility in blue. The colour relaxes and calms us. Many people associate green with prosperity, freedom and safety: emergency exits are indicated with green signs. Greentraffic lights, on the other hand, indicate that we can travel freely and safely. However, the colour also contains negative symbols: Envy and poison ("poison green").

Marks with green colours

Typical green brands: Android, Heineken, Starbucks, Spotify, Vorwerk.

Colour Psychology brown

Brown is the colour of earth and wood. Brown symbolizes sobriety, stability, warmth, safety and security. Wood paneled rooms immediately have a cosy and soothing effect on us. Although the colour to the darkshades, it radiates pleasure, coziness, softness and sensuality. However, it is again an ambivalent colour. It is also associated with comfort and unimaginativeness. It is often considered old-fashioned and boring. Spoiled things turn brown. Digested things too. Brown also stands for dirty or bad. In Germany it is also associated with Nazis. Brown is therefore one of the most unpopular colours.

Marks with brown colours

Typical brown brands: UPS, M&M's, Backwerk.

Colour Psychology white

White is the colour of purity and innocence. It is a strong symbol of truth, purity, peace, perfection and completeness. Nothing shines brighter than white light. That is why the colour is often associated with the divine. The colour also represents new beginnings: snow is white, and so is milk (which babies drink). Due to its purity and flawlessness, white is used by doctors in hospitals as well as by professional chefs in the kitchen. It indicates: Everything clean and sterile!

Marks with white colours

Typical white brands: Apple, Marc Jacobs.

Colour Psychology black

Black represents night and darkness. But also for the uncertain, mysterious and threatening. Black cats, for example, symbolize impending misfortune. It is one of the most powerful colours of all. So it not only radiates power - it also indicates it: high dignitaries and statesmen often wear black and drive in black limousines. Black can therefore also radiate distance, elegance and dignity.

Marks with black colours

Typical black brands: Amazon, Chanel, Dior, James Bond.

Colour Psychology gray

Nothing symbolizes neutrality and sobriety as much as gray. It is the colour of old age. But it is also the colour of maximum restraint or even gloom. Gray is inconspicuous, indifferent, distant. It is associated by many with loneliness, worry or sadness. At the same time, plain gray can radiate elegance, understatement and modesty. Therefore, the colour is also considered a sign of a serious and stable person.

Marks with gray colours

Typical gray brands: Swarovski, Nintendo (until 2016).

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What your favourite colour reveals about you

Speaking of favourite colours: Preferences can even be used to draw conclusions about a person's personality. The best-known colour test for this is the so-called "Lüscher test". It was developed in 1947 by Swiss psychology professor Max Lüscher Since then, the test has been revised, modified and improved again and again and is now believed to provide insight into a person's character traits and emotions. Don't you believe it? Then take a short test here and now!

Look at the following colours and put them in order - starting with your absolute favourite colour. You shouldn't think too much because it will affect the result. According to Lüscher, the arrangement of colours shows the following:

• The colours in the first and second positions represent your life goals.
• Positions 3 and 4 represent your current life situation.
• Positions 5 and 6 indicate repressed tendencies.
• The last two positions represent feelings that you reject.

Which colours have a positive effect on people?

Colours are used throughout. Both in marketing and in life or our clothes. It has been proven that warm colours (yellow, orange, red) stimulate the appetite. That is why they are often used on food packaging. Cooler blue and green, on the other hand, represent freshness and are therefore increasingly found on hygienic or frozen products. The so-called "cocktail party study" showed that people prefer bars with red rooms, but stay longer in blue rooms. And thenresearchers from Britain's Durham University examined the effect of clothing colours on Olympic athletes, they came to the conclusion: the wrestlers dressed in red won 60 percent of the time over those dressed in blue. Explanation: Red radiates more dominance.

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So the saying "clothes make the man" is true in two ways: form and design express status and power. But colours do the same thing. This is an effect that many people take advantage of in their professional lives, for example by wearing clothes and colours that are serious andappearing trustworthy while at the same time expressing high status or dominance in negotiations or job interviews.

Use of colour psychology in professional life

The findings of colour psychology can easily be applied to working life. Whether it concerns the design of offices and wall colours or the design of logos and company colours, the so-called corporate design and image. Many logos and lettering of strong brands have a high recognition value and at the same time reflect the values ​​or history of the company in their colour symbolism.

The choice of colours and where and how we use them also has a major impact on how we are perceived by others.

For example, applicants can subtly use colours in their applications by (discreetly) displaying the colours of the company of their choice in their application documents, thus indicating a high degree of identification or even affiliation.

Creative people, on the other hand, can express their individuality and ingenuity, as well as their connection to the industry, through their clothing. For a while, black was very popular with advertisers, architects and designers. It became like veryconsidered en vogue to wear only black.

Using colour psychology: tips for everyday life

Colours can be used to set effective accents and influence the effect on other people. Use this more consciously in everyday life and for your success.

Personality

Due to the symbolism described above, your choose colours consciously. Depending on what values, character traits or mood you want to express. Conversely, your don't be surprised if your colour choice evokes associations or is interpreted culturally differently.

Functionality

The colours should be chosen according to the occasion: Muted colours are better for official occasions and evenings, bright colours are better for festivities or parties. White clothing is considered particularly pure. However, they are also particularly sensitive to stains. White is therefore just as unsuitable for sweaty activities as it is for work with a lot of dirt.

favourite colours

We all have colour preferences. However, a personal favourite colour is not always the best choice for clothing. Or because fashion prescribes a different colour as "trendy". Or because we don't have it because of our skin type or figurevery favorable position.

Combination

Not all colours harmonize with each other. So-called complementary colours have a particularly balanced effect. Starting from the three primary colours red, yellow and blue, the complementary colour is always mixed from the other two. Red harmonizes with green, blue with orange, yellow with purple. With clothing, on the other hand, it looks particularly stylish if no more than two colours are used in total.

Frequently asked questions

What do colours say about me?

What colour symbolizes happiness?