Color Casts Powerful Messages: Learn how to USE it!

From: studyblue.com

I find as we become more immersed in internet advertising, gaming, social media, and the relaying of information in what we now call "infographics" (a one-page presentation of charts, facts and images), we need to spend more time examining visual literacy - understanding how color, lines, angles, camera shots, and the insertion of short bursts of text so profoundly influence our emotions, our decisions and the inferences we make.

In  previous posts, I have related:

• How visual literacy is defined and I gave an image, asking you to focus on exactly what that image relayed;
• How we use visual literacy in our daily lives;
• How visual literacy is a god-send for reluctant readers and what parents can do to help promote greater visual and verbal literacy;
• How to gain a "Graphic IQ" ;
• How visualization can help boost memory and creativity; and
• Powerful images of 2012.

This week, I'd like to demonstrate the awesome power of COLOR.

We use COLOR in our blog, Facebook, Pinterest posts and our kids use it for computer or hand generated school projects. To use and interpret color and color images effectively, we all need to understand how to generate various colors and when best to use each color.

Google defines  COLOR (n.) as  "The property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light." According to Wikipedia:

From: interiordesignipedia.com

"Color... is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, blue, yellow, green and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light power versus wavelength) interacting in the eye's ... light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects, materials, light sources, etc., based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra."

While "color" is the general term applying to the whole subject, hue, a more specific term refers more accurately to the pure spectrum of colors.  So, when you want to paint a room and you go to the paint store with either an idea in your mind, or a color chip in hand, you find catalogs or visually displayed rows of paint chips organized in groups of hue. Colors that can be produced by a single wavelength, the pure spectral colors, are called HUES. The paint chip hues you see are defined by that company so they know exactly how to reproduce it.

Primary colors are three hues that when mixed together can produce all other hues.  Interestingly, there are three types of primary colors [and click here for a more detailed discussion http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/element/color/color.htm:

• Painters Primaries -  red, blue, yellow
• Printers Primaries  -("subtractive colors") CMYK cyan (turquoise), magenta, yellow, black (designated "K" so as not to be confused with blue)
• Light Primaries - ("additive colors" when used with lights) - red, green, blue-  these are used on computers, for example when colored lights (as opposed to paint pigments) are used.  When all three overlap they produce white (as opposed to black when the other primaries are mixed). 

When mixing hues to produce various colors, not only do we have to mix the pigment or light but we have to consider their "value" (their relative lightness and darkness) and when placing one color next to another, we have to also consider their relative contrast (how clearly the colors stand out from other colors next to them). If values and their contrasts are close, shapes will flatten out and will not stand out from other colors.  If values contrast, shapes will appear to separate in space and stand out one from the other.

There is a whole science to mixing colors and I will leave this for another time. To read more see:

• http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/element/color/color.htm
•  http://www.color-wheel-artist.com/hue.html
• How to Mix Colors in Inkscape
• Color Mixing
• Crayola - explains how we see color and has some neat links for parents and teachers, for painting, color experiments and more.
• What colors mean in Eastern and Western cultures  (BEWARE: it's not always the same thing!) 
• Color fun for grades preK-K, 1-2, 3-5, and 6-8, courstesy of Scholastic: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/color-fun 

It's important to understand how to generate colors when working on any type of color project or presentation. BUT, equally important is understanding what inferences, emotions, and images these colors relay. Let's look at some basic colors and what they relay [in a future post I'll talk about shading, black, gray, white, and brown]:

From: desktopwallpaperhd.net

Red Before reading this paragraph, look at the image to the left...What feelings or thoughts does it evoke for you?

Typcially, RED  is engaging and emotive. It triggers adrenaline, stimulates the ‘fight or flight’ response, and increases blood pressure, breathing and metabolism.  Red primes attention and creates focus in the brain – and is often used to encourage last-minute purchases. Red is also good for catching people’s attention. It also makes you feel tense and often invokes anxiety. Typically, red evokes passion, energy, blood and war. It is often used in flags and is a symbol of pride and strength.

From: zmdark.deviantart.com

Orange  and Yellow...  Before reading this paragraph, look at the image to the left...What feelings or thoughts does it evoke for you?

Orange is often the color of flesh, friendly warmth. It evokes feelings of approachability, fun, and informality. It can also suggest something or someone that anyone can approach. Orange is often used to represent fire, the sun, fun, warmth, and tropical images. Orange has been found to increase oxygen supply to the brain and stimulate mental activity.

Yellow is the brightest color to the human eye and the first color a person distinguishes in the brain. It is associated with stress, caution, and apprehension yet it also stimulates a sense of overall hope, happiness, sunshine, and balance.  It is the color of sunshine and so is optimistic, upbeat, and often is associated with ‘modern’ but the energy of yellow can become overwhelming.  This depends on the shade of yellow.

From: twitterfone.ru

Green Before reading this paragraph, look at the image to the left...What feelings or thoughts does it evoke for you?

Green is also a calming colors and is one of the cool colors. It reduces tension. When we look at green it lowers the histamine levels in our blood which calms us. We associate green with plants, insects and has an overall organic feel to it.  On the other hand, green can also suggest decay (as in fungus and mold), toxicity and artificiality. Green typically represents growth, nature, money, fertility, healing  and safety.

From: mpfbrush.com

Blue: Before reading this paragraph, look at the image to the left...What feelings or thoughts does it evoke for you?

Blue is another cool color and it is the most tranquilizing color. When we see it, our brain releases 11 different neurotransmitters that relax the body and result in reduction in temperature, perspiration and appetite.  It is often used to suggest trust, elite status, excellence and loyalty. Doctors’ offices often use blue to help relax patients. Sometimes blue is too calming for learning environments because it makes us too relaxed. On the negative side, we may think of “the blues” when we see blue which will in turn evoke sadness, passivity, alienation or depression. Blue is also associated with exploration and is believed to prime creativity.

From: freewalls.org

Violet: Before reading this paragraph, look at the image to the left...What feelings or thoughts does it evoke for you?

Violet is the color of fantasy, luxury (royalty), playfulness, impulsiveness and dream states. It often suggests introspection. In its negative mode, it may suggest nightmares or madness.

QUESTION: What color triggers your appetite and suggests you're hungry????  Leave your best-guess in the comments and I'll post the answer here later in the week!!

How to help your kids develop a sense and understanding of color:

• PLAY with color - experiment mixing colors with paint pigments and with light (on the computer); string color beads together and talk about how the colors 'go' together;
• Play color games: Say you're thinking of a color that makes you feel happy, or sad, or angry, or evil...what color are you thinking about...
• Go look at art and color all around you -in museums, online,  outside in the winter snow - and talk about the colors you see and how they make you feel;  look at the colors of the seasons, of holidays - talk about them; play color games on the computer;
• Take photographs and play with exposure and color -which will in turn change the 'feel' of the photos.
• Read graphic novels and graphic, illustrated texts - no matter what age your child is - and talk about the artist's choice and use of color in the images or panels or even of the fonts used for specific words.
• Go to the movies and talk about the shots that really stood out - was it the camera angle, the colors used?

What color games / activities do you play with your kids?  Please share them in your comments.

In the meantime, thank you for your visit and please leave your answer to my color question and your favorite color games and exercises in the comments.  Your visit and responses are appreciated.