Colour Meanings Research

Book by Patti Bellantoni 'If It's Purple, Someones Gonna Die' explores the power of colour in visual storytelling. Below I have extracted and focused in on the various meanings of colours and their effect on the audience.

RED – The Caffeinated Colour.

• Bright red is like visual caffeine.
• It can activate your libido, or make you aggressive, anxious, or compulsive.
• Red is power, but it doesn’t come with a moral imperative. Red can give power to the good guy or the bad guy.
• We tend to see it first, so it has the illusion of advancing towards us. It can manipulate our sense of space.
• Red can make something appear to move faster.
• Bright red can raise your heart rate and anxiety.
• It is visually loud and can elicit anger.
• Bright red tends to be cold, and heartless.
• Warm reds tend to be sensual and lusty, or romantic.
• Darker reds such as burgundy read as mature, regal and elegant.

YELLOW – The Contrary Colour

• Yellow is visually aggressive. It appears to come towards you.
• Associated with the sun, and the idea of powerful life energy and exuberance.
• It is attention grabbing.
• Yellow is the colour longest remembered and most despised.
• Is also associated with happiness.
• Yellow is the perfect symbol for obsession.
• Large quantities can be hard on the eyes, and even induce anxiety.
• When lightened, it becomes elegant and sophisticated.
• Pale yellow can also be associated with innocence.
• When more honey-like and golden, it becomes magical. The colour of memories, dreams and success.

BLUE – The Detached Colour

• Blue is tranquility and sadness.
• Can make people passive and introspective. A colour to think to, not to act.
• Blue creates a sense of longing, of something left unfinished, of melancholy.
• The colour for powerlessness.
• We can depend on the sky being blue, so the colour is synonymous with loyalty and dependability.
• Steel and indigo blue are associated with intellect.
• Blue-green/turquoise colour inspires openness and interaction.
• Can be used as dominant colour.

ORANGE – The Sweet and Sour Colour

• Orange is generically a “nice” colour.
• Opaque orange is the most upbeat and least dramatic.
• The colour creates a warm and welcoming congeniality.
• Light orange/sunset orange is romantic and emotional.
• Can be used as association to poison and pollution.
• Orange is the colour of the working class.
• Versatile orange can also be read as exotic.

GREEN – The Split Personality Colour

• Green is a dichotomous colour.
• It symbolises nature, life and health.
• Can also signal danger and decay.
• When used for irony, it can stimulate emotional response.
• Green liquid makes you feel uneasy, as it’s been made into a metaphor for poison.
• The colour can represent corruptness and lies.
• In association to the human body, green is often illness and evil.

PURPLE – The Beyond-the-Body Colour

• Purple is the noncorporal, the mystical, and the paranormal.
• Associated with sensuality within romantic tales and poetry.
• The colour is a symbol for the royal and regal.
• Can be used as a symbol for vigils, wakes and funerals.
• Purple is stereotypically the colour for psychics, fortune tellers and witches.
• It is a colour that inspires associations with the non-physical, transformations and transcendence.
• Purple can foreshadow both metaphorical and literal death.
• The colour can represent dreams and illusions.