Chris’ Corner

written by Chris Barnes

Hello, my name is Chris. I’m the Director of Creative Media here at Sarreid Ltd. We’re starting a new segment here on the blog (as you’ve undoubtedly noticed, (duh!) called Chris’ Corner. It all began because I write internal documents to our constituents that seem to entertain. I’ll make you exactly two promises in this Corner. One, I don’t know furniture the way that I’m sure 100% of you reading this article do, and over the coming months, that will become indubitably obvious. And two, that you will find these articles light-hearted, sometimes humorous, sometimes informative, sometimes emotional, sometimes trivial, sometimes personal, and almost always an irreverent break from the industry norm. With that said, I cordially and humbly invite you into Chris’ Corner!

The Psychology of Color

Color. How does it affect you? Influence you? Determine your mood? Control your purchases? Determine your performance? Say about your personality? Well, the answer is “way more than you think!”

Let’s begin this dive with this: Do you know just how many colors there are officially? Go on, take a guess. I’ll wait. Assuming you didn’t cheat and google the answer – I’ll start by blowing your mind. 

According to the people assigned to figure out these things – there are approximately (that is to say, give or take a few) 18 Decillion different colors for your viewing enjoyment. Read that again, 18 Decillion! Again, assuming you didn’t cheat – most of you didn’t know there was a Decillion, but that’s an 18 followed by 33 zeros. In case you’re curious, that looks like this:

 18,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Holy smokes, that’s a lot of colors! And quite scary when you really dive into how color affects us! Color can be more influential in our lives than we realize. It affects our minds, bodies, and general mood. How color is perceived can be subjective, but we have colors generally recognized for certain things worldwide. Colors close to the red spectrum are known as warm colors. They include reds, oranges, and yellows. These warm colors evoke emotions ranging from warmth and comfort to anger and hostility. Whereas colors closer to blue (known as cool colors,) like purple and green, are known for evoking feelings of calm, sadness, or indifference. It doesn’t stop there, either. In a recent study, students shown the color red just before an exam typically scored 20% less than those shown Black or Green.

We also notice color psychology in consumerism, proving that colors and hues can have strong possibilities of effects, from lightening moods to creating anxiety. The color of the purchases might have a lot to do with our personality and why we chose that specific product. From the clothes we wear to the car we drive, to the furniture we use to decorate – the color can make a statement about how people perceive us. 

So, could the color of the car we drive tip off some underlying personality traits or quirks? Data says yes! When purchasing products, your color choice might say something about the image you are trying to project. Color preferences sometimes make a statement about how we want other people to perceive us. Other factors, such as age and gender, can also influence our color choices. To be fair, color choices can be controlled by options, pricing, features, and practicality. Not only that, but your color preference can change over time.

Color has always played an important part in conveying information and influencing our decisions. Studies and information in color psychology are relatively new and growing, and we still have a lot to learn about how it can affect our moods, purchases, and performance. How powerful can colors be in our everyday lives? 

It’s worth pointing out that color is also subjective – what appeals to or attracts one person will repel and disgust another. 

But make no mistake, color, and emotion are irrevocably connected, so you need to consider their effects. 

Knowing how colors and emotions are connected, you can choose colors accordingly to get the results you desire. 

10 Fun Facts about Color:

1. Red is the first color a baby sees.
2. Men and women see the color red differently.
3. The color Orange is so named after the fruit.  Prior to that it was known as Geoluhread.
4. When Emerson Moser (Crayola’s most senior crayon molder) was retiring he revealed that he was in fact, color blind.
5. Highlighters tend to be yellow because they don’t leave a shadow on the page when they are photocopied.
6. Night vision goggles use green phosphor because the human eye can see more shades of green than any other color.
7. Horses have the largest eyes of any land animal and they have excellent night vision. Unfortunately, their vision is only dichromatic, meaning they can only see two colors.
8. Most people today dream in color, but for those that grew up watching a monochrome television, they more likely dreamt in black and white.
9. Impossible colors, also called forbidden colors, are colors that are too complex for the human eye.
10. Yellow and red together make you hungry. (Fast food chains figured this out years ago and use this color combination over and over in branding, advertising and restaurant decor.)

I hope you have an excellent month!