Colors are Psychological

What message are you giving by wearing each color intentionally or not intentionally?

Colors often have different meanings in various cultures. In Western societies, the meanings of various colors have changed over the years. But today in the U.S., researchers have generally found the following to be accurate.

Black- Black is the color of authority and power. It is popular in fashion because it makes people appear thinner. It is also stylish and timeless. Black also implies submission. Priests wear black to signify submission to God. Some fashion experts say a woman wearing black implies submission to men. Black outfits can also be overpowering, or make the wearer seem aloof or evil. Just keep all this in mind when you choose to wear black!

White- Brides wear white to symbolize innocence and purity. White reflects light and is considered a summer color. White is popular in decorating and in fashion because it is light, neutral, and goes with everything. However, white shows dirt and is therefore more difficult to keep clean than other colors. Doctors and nurses wear white to imply sterility.

Some people cannot wear white. I cannot wear white! White washes me out so I go for crème and ecru. Know whether you can wear white well. Normally, the cool side of the wheel can wear white well.

COLOR IS LIGHT- When light strikes an object and reflects back in your eyes, you get color! This element of art has three dimensions. Sir Isaac Newton developed the first circular diagram of colors in 1666. Since then scientists, artists, and designers have been using this concept.

Our brains and eyes act together to make extraordinary things happen in perception. Movies are sequences of still pictures. Magazine pictures are arrays of dots. Light acts like particles—little light bullets—that stream from the source. This explains how shadows work.

• Light also acts like waves—ripples in space—instead of bullets. This explains how rainbows work. In fact, light are both. This "wave-particle duality" is one of the most confusing—and wonderful—principles of physics.

Scientists have spent lifetimes developing consistent physical, biological, chemical, and mathematical explanations for these principles. We can start on the road to deeper understanding, without all the equations, by acting as scientists and make observations, perform experiments and test our conjectures against what we see.

 THREE PRIMARY MAIN COLORS- Subjective colors they are most commonly found in the Image Industry.

All colors derive from the three PRIMARY COLORS – red, blue, and yellow. These are the Primary Colors. Yellow is warm, blue is cool, and red is neither cool nor warm, but "in-between. When you add yellow to the color, you get a warmer tone; when you add blue, you get a cooler tone.

 Additive Colors

 (Lights) are red, blue and green. Addictive colors are used for mixing colors in TV’s, Monitors, and Spotlights. Not widely used.

Subtractive Color, or pigment based coloring, is the industry standard. The colors are red, yellow, and blue.  Subtractive Color is used for mixing colors in paints, makeup, and dyes. These colors are used in the Image Industry.

Artists, Image Consultants, Painters and more use this method of mixing colors.

Mix equal amounts of all three colors and get BLACK. If you mix equal amounts of two primary colors, you create secondary colors.

Only use additive colors when mixing lights.

The best way to learn subtractive color is through mixing paints. You can create ANY color mixing red, blue, & yellow, and adding white or black to it. Try it. It's fun!

SECONDARY COLORS: Secondary Colors are green, orange and purple. You get these colors by mixing the primary colors together.

TERTIARY COLORS: Tertiary Colors are yellow orange, red orange, red purple, blue purple, blue green and yellow green. These are all tertiary colors and you get them by mixing the secondary colors.

Red + Orange = Red-orange

Yellow + Orange = Yellow-orange

Yellow + Green = Yellow-green

Blue + Green = Blue-green

Blue + Violet = Blue-purple

Red + Violet = Red-purple

Joyce Knudsen, Ph.D. www.drjoyceknudsen.com [email protected]