Last Updated on: August 14th, 2022
I love colors. I also like rainbows, mainly because they are one of Mother Nature’s way of showing us the beauty of colors. Of course, I must mention that I’m like most people on this planet: I’m sighted, not blind.
However, my favorite color is black. Before you jump all over me and claim that black is not a colour and white isn’t, either, let me stop you. Save your breath! I’ve heard it all before. I know black is actually an absence of color. It doesn’t change the face that black is still my favorite color. 😉 Besides, as Karl Lagerfeld points out, “Black is the color that goes with everything. If you’re wearing black, you’re on sure ground.”
Plus, it’s no secret that, when it comes to clothing, black is slimming, as black hides the visible shape of the body. It does not allow us to see shadows created by extra lumps and bumps! As someone who has never been a skinny person, I like black for this reason!
I love looking at a bunch of colors together, too. For some reason, looking at something colorful makes me happy, even if it’s just a pack of markers encased in clear plastic sitting on the table next to me, or a picture on the wall. When I create artwork, like the cat collage I made my dad for Father’s Day last year, I tend to use all of the colors of the rainbow, or even a rainbow itself!
Colorful Facts
It is interesting that studies have shown that something printed in black letters on white has more authority with readers than any other color of printing. This is amazing, given that so many colors have been identified. Did you know that zomp is a color? It’s the last one on the list.
Colors and their Meanings
There are many different colors, and each one has its own meaning. The 8 most common ones are:
- red = energy, passion and action
- orange = adventure and social communication
- yellow = the mind and the intellect
- green = balance, harmony and growth
- blue = trust and responsibility
- purple = imagination and spirituality
- brown = security, protection and material wealth
- black = hidden, the secretive and the unknown
Then there are other colors, such as:
- indigo = intuition, perception and the higher mind
- turquoise = open communication and clarity of thought
- pink = unconditional love and nurturing
- magenta = universal harmony and emotional balance
- gray = detachment, indecision and compromise
- silver = illumination and reflection
- gold = wealth, success and status
- white = purity, innocence, wholeness and completion
The psychology of color meaning elaborates on these meanings and also mentions that some of the meanings are positive and some are negative.
Gems, Roses and Crystals
Gemstone colors have different meanings than those of roses, especially when two different colors of roses are paired together.
Crystals are different yet; they have varying healing properties and energies. Black is the most powerful color. It’s a good thing black is my favorite! 😉
Finding Your Color
To determine your colors, you can take a survey, take a quiz, or simply identify which ones make you excited about how you look, save you time and money, make you look younger, or get you the most compliments.
FYI, I’m a “light spring” who is “warm.” Apparently, according to this fun quiz, I’m also a “yellow,” which means I’m very perceptive and smart, have a great sense of humour, and am always learning and searching for understanding. I have to agree with this!
Oh, I’m also a “white,” or so these people say! According to this:
Whites need their “alone time” and refuse to be controlled by others. Whites want to do things their own way and in their own time. They ask little of others and resent others demanding much of them. Whites are much stronger than people think, but are not often seen for their strength because they don’t easily reveal their feelings. Whites are even-tempered, diplomatic, and the voice of reason; but can also be indecisive, unexpressive, and silently stubborn. When you deal with a WHITE, be kind, accept and support their individuality, and look for non-verbal clues to understand their feelings.
Colors in Business
Business logos and calls to action need to be selected carefully because each color will evoke a particular response. If your goal is to calm someone, muted and light colors (such as pale pink, light green, or gray) should be chosen. If you want people to act immediately (and buy something), reds and oranges should be used.
Color is very important when branding your business. (Related: A 12-Section Guide to Branding Your Business Online)
The psychology of colors for all businesses (including those on the internet) provides more information on which colors to use and choose, and the following color emotion guide was created by The Logo Company. It clearly shows which emotion each color elicits.
Hi Lorraine,
Ah..glad I finally made it – just been an overwhelming week 🙂
What a lovely and colorful post about colors, and I loved that infographic, which I’ve seen earlier too. I think it explains it all so well. I think all the colors are so beautiful and each one of them has a meaning and you can relate to them, just as you mentioned above.
My favorite is deep red or maroon, sea green perhaps, shades of pink and peach – there just isn’t any one I would say, because I wear so many colored clothes, and love using them too, or perhaps I used to paint long back, so I can relate to that color palette too 🙂
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice weekend 🙂
Harleena Singh recently posted…Why Your Blog Is Not Making Money
You make me laugh, Harleena, listening to you try and choose just one or two colours to call your favourite!
What did you used to paint? Do you still paint? (I can’t imagine you do; when would you have the time?)
Hey Lorraine,
I’ll be honest with you, I don’t believe in the stuff behind the colors. Like telling me I’m a certain way because of a color I like. Although I might have some of those traits I don’t really believe in all of that.
Seeing a color doesn’t make me feel one thing or the other. I either like the look of it or I don’t. So although people “claim” that having read headlines captivate people more I don’t feel that myself. I do what’s recommended but I don’t really care what the color of it is. If it says what will draw me in it could be the worst color in the world and that wouldn’t matter to me. Just like what the restaurant suggested that red stimulates the appetite. That has nothing to do with my darn appetite. LOL!!!
Now blue is my favorite color, always has been and you can probably tell by my blog too. I do love blue but I wear a lot of black. It’s not that it’s a great color but every darn time I go shopping the clothes I find that I like only come in black. What’s up with that anyway. I’ll go out of my way to try and find something I like that’s not in black but I fail miserably. My family laughs at me so for our last reunion I promised myself I would not wear black but the shirt I ended up getting did have black in it but it wasn’t the dominant color thank goodness. We do look better in black but I get so tired of it.
Okay, that’s my thoughts anyway girl but you really did do your research on this one. Great job and it’s interesting none the less.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted…Content Marketing: Good Versus Bad
Adrienne, I completely agree with you about colours not affecting your appetite! I love food and will eat almost anything regardless of what colours are around me or what colours restaurants use to try to induce me to eat. I don’t think that there is any colour that would get me to eat more. I wish there was a colour to get me to eat less, though. I would probably look at it all the time! (If only losing weight were that easy…)
Boy you did your research on colors. Colors also affect how you dress. Have you ever been in a bad mood and then when you took off your clothes for the night you think to yourself, boy I hated that color. My favorite color is blue which is trust. So on my website I have used the colors red for energy and blue for trust. Both colors fit my personality.
Arleen recently posted…Core Marketing Techniques That We Can Learn From Disney
Arleen, I’ll admit that this took me a while to assemble, but I am happy I did it! I think colours are a great way to express ourselves (in addition to writing – and wording well – of course!) and I get what you are saying about bad moods as I tend to wear a lot of black and other dark clothing when I am depressed. Sometimes, however, I am conscious of this and so make efforts to select brighter clothing in the hopes that my mood will be lightened – to match my shirt!
I wonder why Facebook chose blue to be its colour? Perhaps it is Mark Zuckerberg’s favourite colour, too. 😉
Lorrainee, if you use something like “what-colors-say-about-us” in your permalink, you’re going to get lots more visits over time. If you want that…
And my first comment in a while is a bitchy comment 🙂
Greg recently posted…Blur Effect: How to Beautifully Make Text Stand Out in Your Images
How interesting! I like pink and purple best 🙂 They make me happy!
Christy Birmingham recently posted…Leaving a Legacy: Canadian Author Farley Mowat Passes Away
Did you know that the colour purple is said to be the colour of sexual frustration? Purple is my sister’s favourite colour, too. I like pinks and purples as well. My childhood bedroom was pink.
Hi Lorraine, I really enjoyed your post on color. My favorite is and always has been yellow. My newly remodeled kitchen is yellow and I really took a lot of criticism for it, but it’s beautiful and I love it! The only color I’m not found of is green, but there are shades of green I can live with.
donnajeanmcdunn recently posted…The Future of Fiction–From Tiny to Titanic, How to Claim Your Niche
Donna, my Nana’s bathroom was yellow, and it was pretty, so I can imagine your kitchen looks nice, too. Sometimes it’s that accents that “make” a room; she had a really nice yellow rug in it that was fluffy and soft.
I don’t really like any kind of neon colours, including greens, although I do remember that there was a time when they were really popular. But it was just a fad.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Interesting post, Lorraine.
I love colour, too. My primary/favourite is orange, with turquoise being a close second. It’s interesting to note that the word “communicator” is used to describe both, and that as a Gemini, I am a born communicator. and lo and behold, my career is that of a writer, so I guess I’m on the right path!
I have a fascinating book about the world of colour that you might like to investigate called “Colour Energy” by Inger Naess. I bought it at a wellness store, as the premise of the book is that we have quite a spiritual connection to specific colours. Check it out!
Doreen Pendgracs recently posted…book review: Eat Chocolate, Lose Weight
Doreen, it sounds like you love colours as much as I do! (Although, my least favourite is orange.) Your book sounds interesting, too. I think there is something to spirituality and colours, just as there is something to numerology. But that’s a discussion for another day. 😉
I’m glad you’re on the right path, too! 🙂
It says I’m green. Actually I love all colours but look best in warm colours with some depth. I like to wear a lot of colour, especially in spring and summer, more blacks and greys and browns in winter.
Yvonne Hertzberger recently posted…Self-Publishing #Fails — The Book Designer
I’m green, too, Yvonne, when it comes to other things – like getting my first book out there. 😉
One of my favourite colours is emerald green (not quite teal or turquoise). I tend to wear lighter colours in the warmer months, too. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
WOW, This is one long, but interesting, post Lorraine 😀
Chris Graham recently posted…5 Book Review Rules Which Could Make Writers Hate You Less
Thanks, Chris! I was up all night creating it. I had a post scheduled for today, but had to push it back two weeks, as the author whose book I will be/am reviewing is currently travelling in Europe and won’t be available to respond to comments. My post for next week is already scheduled, too. I didn’t have any other posts completed yet, as I’ve been doing some blog maintenance and also have been slacking a bit lately. 🙁
I hope you found something in this post useful. 🙂
This post is fascinating, and I learned a few things (for example, that a number of restaurants use the color “red” to stimulate appetite). This is very well done, and it’s a great use of graphics as communication tools.
Adam, thank you very much for the compliments on this post!
I’m pleased to hear that you learned something new. 🙂
I am just starting to experiment with infographics in my blog posts, and I think I may have overdone it a bit with this post, but I know not everyone reads every word so my goal was to reach as many people as possible.
I hope you shared this post, too! 😉