How Do Colors Affect Mood & Emotions?

Do you feel happy in a yellow room? Does the color blue make you feel calm and relaxed? Artists and
designers have long believed that color can dramatically affect moods, feelings and emotions.
"Colors, like features, follow the changes of emotions," artist Pablo Picasso once remarked.

Color is a powerful communication tool and can be used to signal actions, influencing us in ways we
may not even be aware of. So how exactly does color work? How is color thought to affect mood and
behavior?

We live in a world where color is all around us. Everything from your toothbrush to your accessories
has color. As such, colors are not just superficial, but have deep effect on our moods, perceptions,
and behaviors. For example, Red is associated with power and emotion, Yellow represents
happiness, Blue represents calm, Green with nature, purple is associated with luxury and spirituality,
and orange is associated with creativity.

While color perceptions are somewhat subjective, some effects have universal meaning. On the one
hand, Warm colors like yellow, orange and red evoke emotions ranging from feelings of comfort and
warmth to feelings of hostility and anger. Meanwhile, blue, green, and purple are known as cool
colors, which are often described as calm, but can also remind seriousness and dignity.

Understanding how colors are perceived is essential when choosing colors for your workplace or
home. Using color therapy to create a harmonious environment will positively affect the well-being
and productivity of employees at work.

Chromotherapy is a way that uses colors to achieve physical, emotional, mental and spiritual balance.
According to The Wellness Corner Blog "Chromotherapy has been used as a method to treat physical
illnesses such as asthma, hypertension, depression, obesity, acne, etc., and emotional problems
such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Additionally, when we prefer to buy items in specific colors it can say something about the kind of
image we may be trying to project. Color preferences, from the clothes we wear to the car we drive,
can sometimes make a statement about how we want other people to perceive us. Other factors,
such as age and gender, can also influence the colors we usually choose.

A person may prefer brighter, bolder colors when they are younger, but are drawn to more neutral
colors as they age. This is why the buyer's personality can play a big role in color selection, but
buyers are often heavily influenced by factors like price and availability.
Another equally important part, from my point of view as a costume design student, is the influence of
color on clothes, and how they affect our personality and behavior, because it has been proven
through various studies that emotions have a direct relationship with the clothes we wear, because
human beings constantly dress to express who they are, what they like and how they feel
unconsciously.

With this, the ability of the colors presents in the outfits to contribute to the change of feelings and
emotions has also been proven, that means, it is said that there are colors that can give you
happiness, such as yellow and orange, and others that can take it away, such as gray or brown.

So, to prove it, I decided to frequently wear clothes with colors that in theory can cause sadness or a
low mood and came to the conclusion that yes, it is true that colors have the ability to alter our mood.
However, beyond the color I could say that it is more the type of garment that can influence this, since
there are certain outfits that do not generate a great change in the attitude in the state no matter how
bright colors they have and there are others that although whether they are black or gray, they raise
our confidence and totally empower us.

In conclusion, Colors can reduce stress, generate happiness, energize us or calm us down. Colors
have different meanings across cultures, but they all have one thing in common: they make us feel
something when we see them. Understanding how colors affect our personality and mood is an
important part of assimilating how we interact with them in daily life.

Written by Francisco Olier.