How Color Affects The Way We Think [INFOGRAPHIC]

There is a lot more to color than meets the eye. Colors effect us in many different ways. Graphic designers need to understand how colors make us feel, what we think, what it makes our bodies do on a physical level as well as an intellectual level. There are 11 social media and video infographics you can find here however we are going to focus on just this one.

White: Try to imagine yourself in a square room with white walls, floors, and ceilings, no windows. How do you feel? Empty? Blank? Like a scene from The Matrix? If you haven’t seen the movie there’s a scene where Neo (the protagonist) needs to learn, and he’s placed in an all white room to do so. The Wachowski brother’s (the directors) knew what they were doing with this scene. They were promoting Neo’s (and therefore the audiences’) sense of blankness, their need to learn and absorb, just as the white walls could absorb paint. This scene is an excellent example of how color can be used to make a certain impression on an audience. Typically white symbolizes purity, emptiness, and space.
Red: Now try to imagine a room with red walls, floor, and ceiling, no windows… Cheeseburgers… feeling hungry? Red is often used in advertisements for food service companies, it stimulates appetite. Think McDonalds, Pizza Hut, or KFC for example. Red is also associated with the threat of failure. Was I the only one who’s teachers scribbled everywhere with red ink if I made one simple mistake?
Pink: Try to imagine a light pink room….it should have a calming effect. Fact: Pink is used in the drunk tank to calm inmates. I thought this was a purely fascinating fact about a real world application for the psychology of the color pink.

Green: Look at the green M&M (There’s a picture at the bottom of this page). She’s kinda cute with her luscious curvature, long lashes, and sensuous plump lips. Of course M&M’s knows what they’re doing; green has long since been a color of fertility as well as sexuality. Is it any wonder the green M&M has a beautiful woman’s face? And has more curvature than the other M&M’s?

In summary color affects the way people view things. It can repel, dispel, and attract attention depending on how it’s used. Below there are two awesome info graphics that talk about color in advertising, and what the color of the year has been for each of the last twelve years. I also included a picture of everybody’s favorite M&M diva.Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/