The Many Qualities of Color
He stomped his feet. It was clear he was seeing red.
She sipped her tea and stared at the faded wallpaper on the kitchen wall. Would she ever stop feeling so blue?
Without using the actual word to reveal the emotion, the reader understands that the first person is angry and the woman sipping tea in her kitchen is sad. Universally, color expresses itself to us. Colors have special qualities attributed to them and can be used to set the tone or mood in literature and in art. Many artists have relied on the unique quality of a color to express feelings.
Warm colors like red, yellow and orange seem to warm us. They remind us of fire or sunshine. Warm colors bring images to the foreground. Red jumps off the page. Yellow is used to highlight study material because it stimulates mental activity. In advertising, orange has been used to promote food. It is associated with healthy foods and promotes appetite. Just as warm colors jump out, cool colours recede. Blue and green are cool colors. While orange can be used to create an appetite, blue suppresses the appetite.
What are some other qualities of color? Green is the color of nature. Green is the most restful color for the human eye and is said to have healing power. Green is often used to show a product’s safety. Drug and medical products are promoted using green. What color is peace? Traditionally, peace is olive green.
Blue is associated with depth and stability. Blue symbolizes trust and loyalty. It is good for the mind and body because of its calming effect. Highly accepted by males, blue is the preferred color of the corporate world.
Purple has a combination of qualities. To produce the color purple, you need to mix blue and red. The qualities of these two colours then get associated with purple, namely, the stability of blue with the energy of red. Purple is not often seen in nature so most consider purple’s qualities to be artificial. Yet, studies show that 75 percent of children choose purple as their favorite color. A designer of a child’s product would be wise to use purple.
The qualities of color play a large role in the world of graphic art. Graphic design artists can use the special qualities of color to enhance their work. Likewise, they can avoid the use of certain colors that might produce an undesirable end result.
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