Color is the vocabulary with which designers craft poetry, and even compared to space and texture, color is the most powerful tool used in design. Whether you’re interested in design, make a living of it, or just enjoy decorating your own home, you are probably already intimately familiar with influence color holds. The ability of color to affect mood and even performance has been scientifically proven as well. One such study found that using colored walls in an elementary classroom reduced blood pressure in students and lessened off-task behaviors by 22 percent [1]. This is a perfect example of the well-known power that color holds. The common effects of specific colors are also often studied, but not completely understood. The reason for this is the subjective nature of color, examined more closely in the following paragraphs.

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            Most people have a favorite color, and anyone can decide whether they like or dislike one. How a person reacts to a color is determined mostly by what a person associates with it. After all, colors are simply different wavelengths of light, and don’t communicate any information on their own. Someone may like yellow because it makes them think of sunflowers, or avoid it because it reminds them of school. Red might remind an athlete of danger, and even cause them to act less aggressively in a match, as seen a 2008 study [2]. These associations can affect how we feel while looking at a color, and in turn influence our emotions and performance.

           Associations can also change, based on context. The same brown that might be mouth-watering in a chocolate commercial might also be found on a banana, signaling over-ripeness. This is supported by a Chinese study comparing test results affected by red and green 2x2 papers. Two groups were tested, one made up of college students, and one made up of stock brokers. Because the association of red=wrong answers, and green=right, college students with a red card got lower scores. However, stock brokers scored higher with the red card because of their profession. In stocks, red indicated a profitable rising market, and green indicated a failing falling market. [3] The differing associations of red and green affected the performance of the two groups in opposite ways. This shows not only how powerful color can be, but also how it can take differing meanings based on the context.

           In design, these associations can be used as tools. Associations can be intentionally created in order to change how a color feels. For example, placing coral next to a blue wall would invoke images of the ocean. Something similar to this was done in a recent study where researchers were able to measure and influence a person’s like or dislike for a patch of color by showing them a group of images that contained positive or negative photos of that color. For example, a group was shown a collection of images with 20 neutral images, 10 positive red images (ex. strawberries, roses), and 10 negative green images (ex. pond scum, moldy food). They rated the colors before and after the test, disguised as unrelated experiments, and the findings showing that their color tastes could be influenced [4]. This proved that associations made with color can be influenced intentionally. A designer can harness, strengthen or change the power of a color by understanding the associations that come along with it.