Black
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Black is a multi-dimensional color that can mean classic or new. It has an ominous characteristic symbolizing death. Therefore it is used in Western cultures for funerals. It has an air of intelligence (graduation robes), shrouded in mystery (space). It typically symbolized absence, modernity, power, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, secrecy, style, evil, death (in Western cultures), fear, emptiness, strength, darkness, seriousness, conventionality, anarchism, unity, sorrow, professionalism, and slimming quality (fashion).
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Blue
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Blue is non-threatening, yet confident and stable. Many police uniforms are blue because the color says confidence and security, while being non-threatening. Weightlifters have proven to lift heavier weights in blue rooms. With the good, there’s the bad. Blue can also signify depression. You’ve got the blues is a nod to this attribute.
Blue can symbolize seas, men, productive, interior, skies, peace, unity, harmony, tranquility, calmness, trust, coolness, confidence, conservatism, water, ice, loyalty, dependability, cleanliness, technology, winter, depression, coldness, idealism, air, wisdom, royalty, nobility, Earth (planet), Virgo (light blue), Pisces (pale blue) and Aquarius (dark blue, star sign), strength, steadfastness, light, friendliness, peace, mourning (Iran), truthfulness, love, liberalism (US politics), and conservatism (UK, Canadian & European politics). In many diverse cultures, blue is significant in religious beliefs. It is held to keep the bad spirits, stupidity and misfortune away.
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Brown
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Brown is the color of dirt, giving it an earthy, environmental quality which is popularly coupled with green. Shades of brown represent skin tones and produce a comforting feeling. Brown symbolizes calm, boldness, depth, natural organisms, nature, richness, rusticism, stability, tradition, anachronism, fascism, Nazism, boorishness, dirt, feces, dullness, filth, heaviness, poverty, roughness, earth (classical element), October, Capricorn, Scorpio (reddish brown, star signs), and down-to-earth. Brown can stimulate the appetite, wholesomeness, steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, and dependability. |
Gray
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Gray, somewhere between white (good) and black (evil), is a blasé color. It can symbolize elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability, subtlety, wisdom, old age, pessimism, boredom, decay, decrepitude, dullness, pollution, urban sprawl, strong emotions, balance, neutrality, mourning, formality, and March. |
Green
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Green says 'nature,' which explains why it is such a powerful symbol in the eco-friendly movement, as well as 'initiative' and 'wealth,' but just as it symbols good, the extremes of green are considered to be bad as in "green with envy" or its association with money which is sometimes deemed as "the root of all evil." It is a color that soothes the eyes and produces a calming effect when seen. This is likely due to the association with the greenery of nature. It’s also the color of spring, a time of rebirth and renewal. For companies providing a pampered escape, green is a color that will signify rejuvenation and energy for your brand.
Green symbolizes great intelligence, nature, spring, fertility, youth, environment, wealth, money (US), good luck, vigor, generosity, go, grass, aggression, coldness, jealousy, disgrace (China), illness, greed, Marijuana and drug culture,corruption (North Africa), life eternal, air, earth (classical element), sincerity, Cancer (bright green, star sign), renewal, natural abundance, growth, health, August, balance, harmony, stability, calming, creative intelligence, Islam, and the ordinary.
During the Middle Ages, both green and yellow were used to symbolize the devil. Green is believed to be the luckiest of colors in some western countries including Britain, Ireland and the US. It may also symbolize hope, spirit, life, precious, gem, gracious. While an association with green and forward motion or action may seem, at first blush, to make sense because of its association in the western world with the "go" traffic light, this association is not innate (green being a calming or soothing color) and is as a result of acculturation. Green for traffic signals was selected due to its ability to be seen well over distances and its high contrast with the colors used for stop (red) and caution (yellow).
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Indigo
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Indigo symbolizes spirituality and intuition. In the "seven rays" belief system, indigo is believed to represent both love and wisdom. Psychics who claim to be able to observe the aura with their third eye generally associate indigo, in auras, with an interest in religion or with intense spirituality and intuition. Indigo children are said to have predominately indigo auras. People with indigo auras are said to be in occupations such as computer analyst, animal caretaker, and counselor.
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Magenta
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Magenta symbolizes artistic creativity or anti-racism. It can also denote progressive politics (Spain), and some reports indicate that mangenta works well with such professions as artist, art dealer, actor, author, costume designer, or set designer. |
Orange
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Orange is energy, enthusiasm, 'get-it-done' attitude, and balance. It typically symbolizes Hinduism, Buddhism, happiness, energy, balance, heat, fire, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, aggression, arrogance, gaudiness, over-emotion, warning, danger, autumn, desire, Sagittarius (star sign), and September. Orange has less intensity or aggression than red and is calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow. Orange is symbolic of the Royal family of the Netherlands. As such, in the Netherlands, Orange symbolizes royalty, and as William of Orange was the Calvinist color, orange symbolizes protestantism, particularly in Ireland (Orange Order). |
Pink
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Pink is a sister color of red, but they are very different in terms of symbolism. It is a tranquilizing color. For this reason in many prisons the cells of the most dangerous residents have been painted pink. It symbolizes spring, gratitude, appreciation, admiration, sympathy, socialism, feminity, health, love, romance, June, marriage, joy, flirtatiousness, innocence and child-like nature. |
Purple
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Thailand considers purple to be the color of mourning. This is not so in western cultures, where purple is the color of royalty and wisdom. The Purple Heart, a high military honor for those wounded or killed in combating America's foes, embodies both purple attributes. Purple can symbolize nobility, envy, sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, ceremony, mystery, wisdom, enlightenment, arrogance, flamboyance, gaudiness, mourning, exaggeration, profanity, bisexuality, sexuality confusion, pride, Scorpio (violet, star sign), May, November, riches, romanticism (light purple), delicacy (light purple), and penance. Purple is the color of mourning for widows in Thailand. It was the favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra. Purple was also the color of dye that corkers used to make the king and queen's clothing. They weaved and made special clothes from silk woven off a tree. |
Red
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Red strikes a chord with more cultures than many other colors because of its intensity, passion and invocation of an inherent physiological response. Red is the color of celebration and good luck (China), purity and integrity (India), and mourning (South Africa). When used with a wide brush, red typically makes whatever it’s painted on look larger, whether it’s a torso or wingback chair. The color is bold and audacious, so it usually dilutes the colors around it. For this reason it’s used to accent and highlight objects of importance.
Studies show that red can have a physical effect, including increasing the rate of respiration, raising blood pressure and thus making the heart beat faster. Red is also said to make people hungry (McDonald's, Burgerville, corner cafés). The red ruby is the traditional 40th wedding anniversary gift. Red is also the color of the devil in modern Western culture.
Red typically symbolizes passion, strength, energy, fire, sex, love, romance, excitement, speed, heat, arrogance, ambition, leadership, masculinity, power, danger, gaudiness, blood, war, anger, revolution, radicalism, Communism, aggression, respect, martyrs, the Holy Spirit, conservatism (US politics), Liberalism (Canadian politics), wealth (China) and marriage (India).
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Rose
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Rose symbolizes optimism (as opposed to the gray which is used to represent pessimism) or romantic love (since it is the color of roses, which it is the custom to give to ones beloved in many cultures). |
Violet
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Violet symbolizes magic. In Chinese painting, the color violet represents the harmony of the universe because it is a combination of red (yang) and blue (yin). In the United Kingdom it is traditional to package chocolate in violet colored packaging because of the association of the color royal purple with luxury. |
White
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White is the color that represents purity, neutrality, sterility and youth. White is often associated with cleanliness or sterility. Doctors wear white to convey these attributes. White is also associated with neutrality — hence a white flag for surrender. For the same reason it is a neutral color that will continue to be the preferred backdrop on websites and the "color" behind the color. In Western tradition the bride wears white, a custom dating back to Ancient Greece. There, the temple that was dedicated to the goddess Athena was made of white marble. It led to the linking of the color to virginity.
White is known for symbolizing light, reverence, purity, truth, snow, peace, innocence, cleanliness, simplicity, security, humility, sterility, winter, coldness, surrender, fearfulness, unimaginative, air, death (in Eastern cultures), life, marriage (in Western cultures), hope, bland, empty (interior) and January (winter).
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Yellow
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Yellow echoes the dual nature of red. Though yellow evokes feelings of happiness, when we are confronted with too much yellow we become annoyed or angered. Yellow typically symbolizes sunlight, joy, happiness, earth, optimism, intelligence, idealism, wealth (gold), summer, hope, air, liberalism, cowardice, illness (quarantine), fear, hazards, dishonesty, avarice, weakness, greed, decay or aging, femininity, gladness, sociability, friendship, Gemini, Taurus, Leo (golden yellow, star signs), April, September, deceit, hazard signs, death (Middle Ages), mourning (as in Egypt and Frank Herbert's Dune), courage (Japan), and God (gold). Yellow ribbons were worn during times of warfare as a sign of hope as women waited for their men to return. |
