All colors have a certain meaning or carry an emotion. For example, you are often taken more seriously with blue clothes than with red clothes. In this article you will find the meanings associated with certain colors.
Colors in everyday life
So every color has a meaning. However, colors can often be used much better with certain objects or activities than people think. With good use of colors one can often achieve much more. Below are briefly the meanings of a number of colors. It may be useful in the future to first think about the color you are going to use when performing certain actions . For example, the color of your clothing can make a big impression on people, but also the color of your home furnishings, company, company logo or car.
Meanings in brief
- Black: glamour, noble, emotionally safe, content, oppression, threat, heavy
- Dark blue: intellectual, communication, trust, efficient, duty, calm, cool, thoughts, serious, seniority
- Light blue: Soothing
- Red: physical, activity, life, love/passion, energy/heat, aggression, stress, war, blood (life)
- Orange: physically comforting, material (food), warmth, safety, surrender, pleasure
- Pink: soft, care, physically calm, warmth/tenderness, physically weak
- White: hygiene, sterility, purity, simplicity, sophisticated/elitist, bright
- Green: balance, harmony, growth/development, healing, peace
- Yellow: emotion, optimism, humor, trust, self-confidence, extrovert, friendly, creative
- Brown: earth, warmth, serious, material, foundation, heavy, elemental
- Gray: neutral, damp, uncertain, no energy
- Purple: spiritual, awareness, authenticity, truth, introvert, decadent
Use of color in clothing
At the start of the day, think about what you are going to do that day. It may be wise to adjust your clothing accordingly.
Do you have a job interview? Then wear dark blue clothing (intellectual, confident and serious) rather than red clothing, then you will be taken more seriously. If you want to look active, choose the color red for your clothes.
Use of color on websites
On a website, the color gives the first impression. On a children’s website it makes more sense to use the colors yellow and red (optimism, humor and activity). On a website with business purposes, on the other hand, it is better to use the color dark blue (intellectual, trusting and serious).
It is wise not to use a very bright color for the background of the website. This feels restless for the eyes and is not pleasant for the user.
Always make sure that the text color has enough contrast compared to the background. Bright text colors are generally also less readable than soft text colors.
Use of colors in companies
also important for companies to use colors properly. The appearance of a company is often determined by its color, both in the logo and the colors in the building determine this appearance.
Certain colors in a building can also help staff function better. For example, designers, or other people who need certain inspiration, find the color yellow useful. Yellow gives creativity. They will probably come up with more creative designs in an office with many yellow tones than in an office with many black tones.
Color properties
- The color white repels heat
- The color black attracts heat
- Black often makes products much clumsier than when a product is white
- Dark red can give a product a luxurious look, while bright red can make a product look very ‘fake’
- The color gold often makes things kitschy
Other cultures
In other cultures, colors often have a completely different meaning. The definitions given here for certain colors apply to Dutch culture (and often also to Europe and America). But be careful, because in China, for example, the color white is associated with death, while in the Netherlands it is often the color black.