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May 16, 2019 | Leave a Comment |
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see a color? Chances are you’re not alone. Color associations come from many sources universal, cultural, regional, communal, and individual. These all change over time, with changes happening faster at the individual level than the global level.
It’s useful to understand what associations accompany colors for a majority of people. This understanding can be used to influence perception, clarify statements, reinforce messages, produce physical responses, and elicit emotional reactions.
It’s also useful to understand what associations accompany colors for yourself. This understanding can become the basis for a personal palette that gives your images a unique style. It will clarify and deepen your personal journey.
You’ll find classic associations with the colors of the rainbow and more here. You’ll discover classic images connected with a color, verbal expressions related to the color, and synonyms or the many words used to describe colors in the same family.
Red
Blue
Yellow
Orange
Green
Indigo
Violet
Brown
White
Gray
Black
Read more on Color Psychology here.
Learn more in my digital printing and digital photography workshops.
Category: Color - Psychology Tags: Color, expressions, language, psychology, rainbow, symbols
Studying color psychology will make you a more able and aware communicator. After you familiarize yourself with the ways other people relate to colors it’s time to make it personal.
You have specific and unique relationships with color. This relationship has many layers. It’s a product of your biology, your culture, your time, your community, your experiences, and the reactions you choose.
When you become more mindful of your relationships with color you will deepen them.
Becoming more aware of your personal relationship with colors will lead to personal discoveries, help you communicate more personal messages, and do so in a more personal way.
Begin this journey into color by spending time with color and freely associating. What sensations, emotions, thoughts, memories, associations, words and phrases arise within you when you are in the presence of a color? Ask these questions for as many different colors as you can think of. It helps to look at the color while you’re doing this.
Do this more than once. How have your relationships with colors changed over time? It’s likely you won’t know unless you develop this habit of being more mindful of color. It helps to have a journal to look back and see influences and patterns over time. Keeping a journal can be a mindful practice.
When you first try this you may draw a blank. When was the last time you tried something like this? When you were a child? Reawaken that playful spirit!
Get the process started and guide it along the way with questions. Ask a lot of questions. Instead of looking for one answer look for many responses. Write down your responses. When you write, write for yourself not others. Forget about perfection. Instead, aim for rich and deep. Later, revisit what you write and add more. Continue to use this reflective process to energize and enrich your relationships with colors.
Here are a few useful questions to ask.
Do you or don’t you like it? Why?
How does it feel? (Describe the sensation of it.)
When you see a color what to do you feel physically?
How do you feel about it?
When you see a color what do you feel emotionally?
Where do you find it in your environment?
Where do you find it in other environments?
Do you encounter it a certain times (of the day or year) and not others?
What things do you connect with it?
Does it bring back memories?
How often do you wear it?
How often do you use it in your images?
(Look back at all of your images. It can be very interesting to track your use of colors over time.)
What other questions can you think of to ask of color?
Write them down.
Find more answers.
Continue your personal journey into color.
Category: Color - Psychology Tags: associations, Color, personal, psychology, Questions, relationship
Looking for great reading on color psychology?
Start with these three very different books.
The Color Box
Lori Reid
A simple approachable survey that’s lushly illustrated.
The Art of Color
Johannes Itten
The expanded version of a true classic The Elements Of Color includes personal exercises and analyses of historic paintings.
Color and Human Response
Faber Birren
A comprehensive overview of all areas of the field by the most prolific author on color.
Category: Color - Psychology Tags: Color, emotion, faber birren, johannes itten, lori reid, psychology, symbolism
July 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment |
Is there something you’ve always meant to do, wanted to do, but just … haven’t? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals.
View more creativity videos here.
Read more in my creativity ebooks.
Learn more in my creativity workshops.
Category: Creativity, Video, Video - TED Tags: habits, Matt Cutts, psychology, TED
After hitting on a brilliant new life plan, our first instinct is to tell someone, but Derek Sivers says it’s better to keep goals secret. He presents research stretching as far back as the 1920s to show why people who talk about their ambitions may be less likely to achieve them.
Category: Creativity, Video, Video - TED Tags: Derek Sivers, goals, psychology, TED
October 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment |
When the dotcom bubble burst, hotelier Chip Conley went in search of a business model based on happiness. In an old friendship with an employee and in the wisdom of a Buddhist king, he learned that success comes from what you count.
Find more of my favorite TED videos here.
Category: Video, Video - TED Tags: chip conley, happiness, psychology, TED
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