THE MANY MOODS OF COLOR!

Color psychology – it sounds so profound. How does color make us feel? Did you know that the color wheel was developed more from the perception of humans and their psychological reaction to color than any scientific theory? I’ll explain the whole color wheel concept at some point, but it is the “moods” of color that I find compelling.

Color evokes feelings, it represents ideas, and so, if you learn to choose appropriate colors for the feelings you are trying to convey it will bring your work to a new level. Knowing the association will inform your color choices.

PURPLE – is the color of royalty, spirituality, bravery and sophistication. It can feel mysterious and even threatening when mixed with black. When mixed with white it is romantic, nostalgic and dainty.

BLUE – communicates trust, confidence, serenity, and reliability. It can also convey a feeling of loneliness or sadness. The lighter shades of blue are lighthearted and positive. Blue is the most favored hue.

GREEN – for some is a kind, generous color, which represents loyalty and intelligence. It symbolizes fertility, growth, life and healing. Yet for others it invokes feelings of envy and greed.

YELLOW – brings about a feeling of optimism and happiness. It is a cheerful, energetic color that can stimulate your imagination.

ORANGE– is vibrant, exotic, and flamboyant – it gets your attention! It cheers and it stimulates appetite and conversation.

RED – is HOT! Passionate, festive, exuberant, romantic are all words used alongside the color red. Other feelings brought out by the color red are danger, aggression and excitement. Pink is a feminine, tender, affectionate form of this color.

WHITE – brings life to other colors. It is clean, pure, youthful, simple and innocent.

BLACK – can be sophisticated and mysterious. It can also show authority and discipline.

GRAY - is a lifeless color. It depicts practicality and sadness.

BROWN – represents stability, simplicity and comfort. It is a conservative color.

When you become stumped with a project that you are working on – not knowing what colors to even start with think about the feeling or “mood” you want your work to portray. Think about each hue and what it means to you. Your definition for each of the colors above may be entirely different then mine. I challenge you to take out a piece of paper right now and list all of the colors above and then write down what feelings these colors bring forth in you. Then when you go to create a project think about what feeling you would like to represent. Are you sending an exuberant, happy birthday card, or do you need to convey your heartfelt sympathy to a special friend? Do you want to invite guests to a sophisticated black tie affair or a jumpin’ kid’s party?

When I actually take the time to think about the feelings that I want a card to portray my cards improve dramatically. For example when I created this slipper card – brown was used to convey comfort, soft yellow to show happiness and optimism and soft blue trust and confidence. The colors go hand in hand with the sentiment.

Here is another example – it is EASY to see where I was going with this design Ü

Pink – totally feminine - Hmmm – to you think it’s for a girl – LOL! But the green adds in a feeling of life – newborn life.

This scrapbook page has a story behind it – to me it is a meaningful, sentimental story. This page was created in honor of my father-in-law. Many of you have seen this page, but I have never explained the choices behind my selections. I might use it again for other parts of the “lessons” I’ll be sharing just because I did put a lot of “emotional” thought behind this creation.

When I sit down to create a page, a card, a project I don’t get all “theory” oriented, but I do think about what it is that I want to reveal. Being that I wanted to see the “soul” in these pictures I removed all the color from the photos – I wanted to draw the eye in to the faces in each segment. I then picked two colors – Not Quite Navy and Brown. The blue symbolized trust and confidence, but more so, it denoted the sadness I was feeling at that time. Losing two fathers in less than a year truly does something to ones spirit - it was a difficult emotion for me to accept. The brown brings forth the sense of comfort that creating this type of piece brought to me. By thinking about my father-in-law and putting my feelings on paper it brought a sense of healing to my heart.

The loss of my own father is still too fresh – I can’t quite bring myself to do something like this yet. But I do know that when I am ready I will allow myself to express my feelings, my moods, and I will use color to portray what it is that I am thinking.

As you design your cards, your scrapbook pages, and your paper craft projects, think about the feelings you want to evoke and perhaps selecting colors will become an easy part of the process. You won’t need to look at what someone else did – all you will need to do is think “what feeling do I want my card to bring out in the person I am sending it too?” and the decision will become apparent. Explore your many moods of color!!!

Comments

[Jackie]

I have been visiting your website for a couple of months, but just discovered this area where you are teaching design and color theory. My college days were long ago so I don't remember much about design - I just design. Thank you so much for the stimulating information. I especially love the section on color....so helpful and interesting. Thank you, Thank you, thank you!

[Jill]

I love reading these entries on the elements of design. I really love color and now I will be thinking more about how I want to use it to portray emotions. You are very talented. Thanks for sharing your insight.

[silverdragoness]

Very interesting. I like how you described how the colors make you feel. I'm going to have to disagree about gray though. I love it as a neutral.

[Asela]

You amaze me with your talents. Wowzer!!! I'm in awe....and your knowledge of design, ...too cool!

[Taryn Huskins]

Great lesson. I always have a hard time choosing colors. It never even occured to me to think about what moods I want to convey in relation to color.

[June Link]

This explains alot to me about my color preferences. I'm excited to apply this concept to my work in the home, garden and with paper crafting :) Thanks so much Ellen for your wonderful source of information.
June

[Charlee Gunderson]

WOW!!!!.... All I can say is WOW. You are so awesome to share your knowledge and wisdom with all of us. I read you first installment this morning and came back this evening to see if you had added any to it. Your explanation of color makes it so real. And your descriptions of the different colors and what they convey or evoke was awesome. All I can say is my heartfelt Thank You. You have really blessed me.