Speaking in Color

Much like music, color is a language that is universal and yet, deeply personal. It's understood across languages and cultures but each culture has it's own dialect and flavor.

Each hue, tint, tone, and shade, have their own resonance. That resonance speaks volumes to us when we take it in.

It communicates to us biologically...

... flushed red cheeks can mean embarrassment... or if it's winter, it can signal we're just in from the cold.

... a bright green plant is going and growing. But if it turns yellow we know instinctively that something is wrong... we need to pause and pay attention to what it needs. And the same goes for a traffic light. Green means go and yellow means to pay attention, pause, get ready to stop.

We associate black with sadness... if we read "a black mood swept over her" we know what that means. It's the color of grief. Combine black with blue and you've added a twinge of pain, perhaps fear to the equation. Color signals to us in our world through the body, nature, and plants, as well as societally through things like traffic lights. That same resonance is available to us through art.

Color also carries specific personal memory... avocado green appliances from childhood or the specific pink and green from the floral wallpaper in our bedroom as a child.

All of this data informs the colors we choose for the art we make, knowingly or unknowingly. But when we acknowledge it and begin to tap into the meanings of color, it can open up a whole new way of communicating through our art.

Color psychology is the study of how people respond to color and the common words we associate with them. But I believe there's a resonance that goes deeper than "choose blue if you want to be seen as trustworthy" in your brand colors.

The art we make (through the colors we choose) is communicating something deeper about our internal resonance. And we can choose what we communicate with intentionality.

What are you speaking about yourself with the colors you choose?