Color Me Orange

What color are you drawn too? Are you a warm hue person ? A cool one? Do you like gray? There are about a gazillion shades of gray (both warm and cold) - uh, and once at the Kmart paint section when they were touting Martha Stewart paints there must have been fifty shades of white. It's something to consider when we're creating. You can always warm or cool a color down by the addition of something mixed with it - or something placed next to it. I know if I use my favorite color in beads - Orange - they often sit there awhile until that orange lover comes around. It's not a color that everyone is drawn to. I think by now everyone knows why they painted McDonald's in Yellow and Red - and Shell Gas Stations. It's the hurry up/ be happy/ get it and go color scheme.

Now here's a funny one. My Dad used to have this little mantra he used to say to my daughter. It was like grandpa brainwashing. He used to tell her that green was her favorite color. He'd repeat this, yes - kind of mantra singy song style. A,nd along with that he'd add diamonds are a girls best friend, never be the nurse when you can be the doctor....and on it went. Wasn't he grand? And, way ahead of his time. She does kind of like green. Maybe it worked a little.

Attached is some color info I thought you'd enjoy. I'd tell you where it came from but I can not remember and didn't put a note with it when I saved it in a life a long time ago (for that I apologize). I always questioned one thing I heard about a color though. It is that Pepto Bismol Pink is calming. I get the brain wave thing but it really only makes me want to puke! I'll stick with the Orange.

COLOR PSYCHOLOGY

Our personal and cultural associations affect our experience of color. Colors are seen as warm or cool mainly because of long-held (and often universal) associations. Yellow, orange and red are associated with the heat of sun and fire; blue, green and violet with the coolness of leaves, sea and the sky. Warm colors seem closer to the viewer than cool colors, but vivid cool colors can overwhelm light and subtle warm colors. Using warm colors for foreground and cool colors for background enhances the perception of depth.

Although red, yellow and orange are in general considered high-arousal colors and blue, green and most violets are low-arousal hues, the brilliance, darkness and lightness of a color can alter the psychological message. While a light blue-green appears to be tranquil, wet and cool, a brilliant turquoise, often associated with a lush tropical ocean setting, will be more exciting to the eye. The psychological association of a color is often more meaningful than the visual experience.

Colors act upon the body as well as the mind. Red has been shown to stimulate the senses and raise the blood pressure, while blue has the opposite effect and calms the mind.
People will actually gamble more and make riskier bets when seated under a red light as opposed to a blue light. That's why Las Vegas is the city of red neon.

For most people, one of the first decisions of the day concerns color harmony. What am I going to wear? This question is answered not only by choosing a style and fabric appropriate to the season, but by making the right color choices. And it goes on from there. Whether you're designing a new kitchen, wrapping a present or creating a bar chart, the colors you choose greatly affect your final results.

How often have you caught your breath at the sight of a flower bed in full bloom? Most likely the gardener has arranged the flowers according to their color for extra vibrancy. Have you ever seen a movie in which a coordinated color scheme helps the film create a world unto itself? With a little knowledge of good color relationships, you can make colors work better for you in your business graphics and other applications.

Color is light and light is energy. Scientists have found that actual physiological changes take place in human beings when they are exposed to certain colors. Colors can stimulate, excite, depress, tranquilize, increase appetite and create a feeling of warmth or coolness. This is known as chromodynamics.

Now that I'm sure you have figured all of this out you better get out there and get your color scheme's perfect. Your chromodynamics are counting on it!!!!