# What Each Color Means

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Nick Kolenda
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzIURAxr4tQ
- **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/21638

## Транскрипт

### Segment 1 (00:00 - 05:00) []

color is all around you but why is it so powerful at influencing perception in this video you'll learn why color has meaning what are those meanings and how to choose the right color combinations for whatever you're designing you can download a free pdf of this information i'll put a link in the description first why does color have meaning the answer can be found in ecological valence theory here's the gist the entirety of your color preferences from most favorite to least favorite falls in direct accordance with your emotional experience with each color if your favorite color is blue then throughout your life you've had the most positive experiences with blue objects if your least favorite color is brown then you've had negative experiences with the color brown and what's interesting is that new experiences can change your color preferences if you get hit by a blue car suddenly blue will become less enjoyable to you every color will mean something different to each person because everybody has had different experiences with color yet if you peel back the layers you'll notice that a few colors are experienced in the same context with the same emotions so let's analyze these colors but first what exactly is color it has three components hue is the overall category on the color spectrum like red blue green saturation is the level of vividness and value whiteness or darkness and let's start with the most basic color value white and black suppose that you're designing a website should it be light or dark well what's something universal about these colors something that everyone across the world would experience while looking at these colors how about visibility white is light whereas black is darkness plus white is an empty canvas anything on a white background is usually more noticeable and visible so if your website has light colors any actions on this website are going to feel subconsciously more visible which could be good or bad depending on the website in one study people were more likely to donate money when they were standing near an image of eyes when it feels like people are watching our behavior we behave in socially desirable ways so if you're designing a website for a non-profit a white color scheme might be useful any actions on this website such as donating or not donating will feel more visible to the outside world a dark website might be less effective at getting donations because this action might feel less visible yet that same dark color scheme might perform better for websites in which visibility is a bad thing like a promiscuous website or consider a social media site if users want to capture attention and build a following they might prefer a light color scheme because it feels like their content will be more visible to other users but if they're on this platform to procrastinate from work something that they shouldn't be doing they might prefer a dark theme to hide their behavior visibility is one trait of white and black do you see another black looks heavier doesn't it white is the absence of color so it feels empty and lighter and again this weight could be good or bad look at these two packages of chocolate if this chocolate is supposed to be lighter and healthier a white package should perform better but if this chocolate is supposed to be rich in filling then a darker and heavier package should perform better and same with durability dark products like this microphone just look more durable and same with abstract heaviness you typically want prices to feel lighter and smaller so you should place them on light backgrounds dark backgrounds will make them feel heavier and thus more expensive another trait is actionability white is empty so it facilitates movement and action dark colors can feel cumbersome and restrictive because of their heaviness therefore what's the goal of your website do you want people to take action such as signing up and purchasing then use light colors do you want people to spend more time on your website then use dark colors to weigh them down to recap color value can influence visibility heaviness and actionability next is saturation so which side is better well what's unique about a highly saturated color it's more noticeable right therefore what objects in the sensory world are very noticeable one example is size large objects are more noticeable than small objects therefore a highly saturated color will look larger these colors grab your attention but you're not necessarily aware that the color is what grabbed your attention you just know that something grabbed your attention and based on your everyday experience large objects typically grab your attention so your brain is tricked into believing that this object is larger in size in one study people who wanted a large suitcase preferred a saturated orange but people who wanted a small suitcase preferred a less saturated orange in another study people took more food when they were holding a highly saturated container because the container seemed larger so if you want something to seem larger choose a highly saturated color just like size proximity is another trait that grabs attention nearby objects are typically more noticeable and what's interesting is that it's not just spatial distance let's say that you're running a promotion that ends by a certain date usually you want to make this deadline feel closer in time to motivate people to take action therefore you can choose a highly saturated color for this date since this date will become more noticeable it triggers their

### Segment 2 (05:00 - 10:00) [5:00]

everyday experience in which nearby objects are more noticeable so this deadline will feel closer in time across many studies researchers have confirmed that our mental imagery is less vivid and colorful for events in the distant past or future in one study people were asked to color a blank drawing of a party if this party was occurring in five years down in the future they used more variations of gray because their mental imagery was less vivid and colorful in another study if a fundraiser was occurring in the distant future people donated more money if the imagery was in black and white and it's not just distance in space or time it also happens with social distance consider luxury brands are aspirational we desire them because they seem distant from us in fact research shows that ads for luxury brands perform better when there's more distance between the product and the model and you also prefer these brands when you're standing farther away from them spatial distance can be helpful for luxury brands and it seems like these brands recognize the importance of color and shaping its perception many luxury brands advertising grayscale these washed out colors depict these brands to be more distant from you and in turn this distance makes you desire these brands what else happens when objects are closer to you see more details right so that's another effect saturated colors feel closer to you and thus they orient your focus toward the details of this object in one study people viewed an advertisement for a camera if the background of the computer was read they preferred ads that described the details of the camera but if the background was blue they preferred ads that described the gist of the camera even though we're looking at hue red versus blue i suspect that the true effect comes from the noticeability of red and lastly saturated colors can also be stimulating for example in ebay auctions red backgrounds cause people to bid higher because this color heightens their arousal and they bid more aggressively on the other hand if you're bringing someone into your office to negotiate a deal bring them to a room with desaturated colors to minimize their arousal and aggressive tendencies in another study blue was effective for loading screens the saturated color would stimulate people and make them notice each second ticking away during that loading time to recap use highly saturated colors to portray a large size close proximity detailed information or exciting context and finally color has hue everyone thinks hue is most important but is actually the least meaningful aspect of color and here's why hues are linguistically derived in other words every culture categorizes the color spectrum in their own subjective way the united states has a term for blue and green but some cultures only have a single term for both colors or some cultures like russia divide blue into two different colors color hues are not universal but if you retrace the origin of these terms across languages you find a pattern most cultures begin by assigning a term for black and white and the next color is usually red so besides black and white red is a highly primitive color that can influence perception and behavior in some way so let's look closer at red and one important implication of it temperature across the world everyone sees red in the context of physical warmth in one study researchers tested different lighting in a mock airplane and participants felt physically warmer with warm lighting in another study people held a steel cup that was cold if the cup was red they held it for a longer duration because it seemed warmer now earlier you learned how spatial distance is connected to abstract forms of distance same with physical warmth we use physical warmth to describe abstract concepts like friendliness in our brain there's a neural connection between physical warmth and social warmth why is that when your parents held you as a baby you experienced these two concepts simultaneously there's a popular saying in neuroscience neurons that fire together wire together so your brain formed a connection between these two concepts because they frequently occurred simultaneously fast forward to today activating one concept will activate the other because of this connection when you feel cold and your body is craving physical warmth your brain is unknowingly craving social warmth as well during the winter people rent more romantic movies and they crave more social interaction conversely if you're seeking social warmth your brain will unknowingly seek physical warmth lonely people prefer physically warmer stimuli like showers and food and all of these findings can explain an interesting effect with the color red multiple studies show that people seem more attractive in red shirts why is that well objects in red seem physically warmer and if you are seeking social warmth your brain will misconstrue this physical warmth for the social warmth that you're seeking so red might be a good color if you sell something that has social benefits like a dating app conference or any type of social event now that we looked at the meaning of color how do you choose the best color scheme here are some combinations and when to use them a monochromatic scheme is the same hue with different levels of saturation or value these colors look similar and people group colors that look similar so your design will look

### Segment 3 (10:00 - 11:00) [10:00]

more coherent and united analogous colors are adjacent hues and same thing here you have a little more variety and flexibility so you could use it for larger contexts like a room or an advertisement a complimentary scheme has hues on opposite sides of the color wheel these colors will have the strongest contrast which can be useful to capture attention and it's also useful to depict conceptual differences subconsciously if two things look visually different they will seem conceptually different that's why infomercials depict problems in black and white yet solutions in vivid color you confuse this visual difference for a conceptual difference you know something seems different therefore the product must make a big difference but this contrast can also be harmful in the united states we symbolize political parties with color red states are republican blue states are democrat but these colors because of their strong contrast will imply more polarized beliefs a continuous color scheme has more visual unity and thus it implies more conceptual unity among these people in beliefs so if you want two objects to seem conceptually different use two colors that have a lot of contrast these two things will seem more conceptually different but if you want two objects to seem more similar then use similar colors finally a split complementary triadic and square color scheme can give you a decent variety of colors for large scale branding guidelines or projects and that wraps up this video on color if you need to choose a color in the future you can refer to my pdf for a summary chart just scan the list of meanings for something that you want to trigger or communicate and then look at the corresponding colors that can help you achieve this meaning