Don't Underestimate the Power of Color

Color has power over us. And why shouldn’t it, we evolved around the stuff and have a deep primordial relation with it. Allow me to tell one of my favorite examples to illustrate how powerful color actually is.

There was once a lake made from an abandoned quarry in Scotland. The lake was a beautiful cyan blue. Natural formations of calcium leach into the lake making the Ph of the water extremely alkaline. The lake was clear from any living thing including algae. Tourists who visited the lake fell under the lake’s spell of its beautiful blue color. Many of them jumped in to take a dip.

Since the water of the lake has the same ph as bleach, these people got hurt. The village near the lake knew of the dangers of the lake and have peppered the area with signs describing its dangers and why the water is dangerous.

Despite the number of signs, people under the spell of its clear blue water continued to jump in and continued to get hurt.

The village was perplexed. The signs don’t seem to work at all. Until one person from the village had an idea. Instead of putting up more signs which seem to be useless, he advised to color the lake black. The same water, just colored black with food coloring. Since then, not one visitor dared to even touch the water.

We can never underestimate the psychological power of color.

For anyone who considers themselves designers, I highly recommend this book: “Universal Principles of Design” by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler