Ep 2 | Colour and Colour Psychology

Oh hey there. it's deja. your friendly locally grown ethically Source graphic designer who may have a little crush on hexachromacy.

 and we're talking Colors and color psychology here on designtea.

INTRO MUSIC

 before we get into color psychology I want to go over a not as short as I thought it was going to be history of pigments and color.  

Stay with me, I’m not your boring high school history teacher.

we as humans are obsessed with color, maybe not so much in the west today as we're seeing all over tiktok people talking about Millennial Gray, and Pantone coming out with an off white for 2026 colour of the year….  but as a whole, humans genuinely love color.

 so where did this all begin?

Early man used Earthen pigments on Cave walls to tell their stories. They used the earth to create their paints such as yellow Earth known as ocher and  red Earth also known as ocher and also white chalk. We see these as examples mostly in the cave paintings themselves. These Ochres were made from colored Clays that are found as soft deposits within the earth mixed with animal fats to last.

Carbon black, also known as lamp black, was also used during this time, they would collect it from soot of burning animal fats and use it as their black paint.

During the eras of Early Egyptian and Chinese societies there was an advancement in pigment from Scholars and production workers. they wanted to increase the strength and purity of the earth Colors by cleansing and washing them. the new pigments appeared from minerals like Malachite and Azurite and cinnabar. Cinnabar was known to be prized for being the first bright red color.

The Egyptians created the Egyptian blue color by making a blue glass from Sand and copper and grinding it into powder around 3,000 BCE.

Egyptians also invented vegetable based dye and discovered what's now known as the lake making process of producing pigment.

 I also want to note, as a historian or I guess former historian rather, I use BCE and CE when I am talking history because that is what we use nowadays. for those who want to know BCE means Before Common era, and CE is for Common Era which is the era we're in today and we’ll be staying in.

Lets continue,

 Egyptians also invented vegetable based dice and discovered what's known as the lake making process of producing pigment.

 China then created a brilliant red from Vermilion developed 2,000 years before it was used by the Romans. The Roman Empire had a tendency of just taking everything.

In the midst of the rise of the Greek and Roman empires purple specifically Tyrian purple,  was used by both of these groups and it signified power and wealth. The color itself still signifies power, wealth and nobility. And it comes from the fact that Purple was also one the most complicated and expensive colors to make in all of history.

So why was a complicated and expensive?  Tyrian's purples process involved using mucus from thousands of murex snails, and costed a fortune to be able to do so.  

Before evenm this. Indigenous peoples from Mesoamerica made a vibrant RED from beetles that was derived from cochineal (Dactylopius coccus), a parasitic scale insect that lives on prickly pear cacti in Central and South America. When you added Lime, the stone not the fruit, to it, it would turn purple!

Indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica used cochineal for thousands of years, and it became a highly valued export during the Spanish colonial period to produce vibrant red and purple textiles.

The Greeks during their time of discoveries manufactured white lead, known as the first fully opaque white, and was used to make flake white and cremnitz white.  this involved stacking lead strips on a confined space with vinegar and animal dung. probably the most smelly and unhealthy environment to be in ever. And probably the most toxic thing outside the manosphere.

 Italians in the Renaissance Era threw themselves at a lot of things during mainly when it came to drama, culture and art.  during this time they developed a range of Earth pigments by roasting siennas and umbers to make deep rich Reds of burnt siennas and the rich Browns of burnt Umber. hence the name, very literal.

lapis lazuli became a popularity in the Renaissance Era. Afghanistan to this day holds the world's largest and most significant deposits of high quality lapis lazuli in the world.  this Stone was used to create the most genuine and gorgeous color of  ultramarine.  this color was considered a luxury, so much so this was used in religious paintings of the Madonna AKA Mary.

Okay guys, get ready for number. You don’t have to memorize them. There is not test!

I’m more of an essay person anyway.

 In the 18th century science plays a large part in every part of the discovery process when it comes to colors. in 1704 Johann Jacob Diesbach created Persian blue, now known as midnight blue, just by accident in his lab.

 Okay so fun fact about this colour: It was the first color in the world to be chemically synthesized BUT it was the only colour to ever be renamed due to the dissolution of Prussia after the first world war.

Okay so…  what's better than expensive Ultramarine blue paint?

 a cheap one.

 the chemist Jean-Baptiste Guimet from france, in 1828, created a low-cost blue called French ultramarine.

 the artificial pigment is chemically identical to genuine ultramarine, however it has none of the fun and funky impurities of lapis lazuli.

 it's also fun to know that the texture is finer than it's thicker more crystal-densed counterpart.

 science helped  us produce and display a wide variety and range of colors, from around the world. in 1820 North america, the discovery of large Chrome deposits allowed an ease in manufacturing Chrome yellow, which is highly opaque, low cost, and has a variety of hues.

 zinc oxide was commonly used as white in preference over lead white, seeing as it would kill people less and had a tendency to actually last, especially in watercolor.

 in 1834 the darling company Windsor and Newton not sponsored solved a main problem with the zinc oxide white. the color wasn't opaque enough. the company developed a method of heating  the oxide to increase opacity solving that issue, calling the new development Chinese white.

 and what was the most important pigment of the 19th century?

 If you didn’t guess Alizarin, that’s fair cause I didn’t know it was a think either.

But yeah, it’s Alizarin, a compound that comes from the root of the matter plant and later synthesized from anthracene in 1869 by German and british scientists.  was a beautiful blue shade Crimson with a strong tinting strength and high transparency.

 it was also affordable, so I personally love it.

Also to note that it was a tough as nails compound to get and had enough intensive labor involved and make a billionaire cry in the first three seconds of trying.

 now that we have some of the history out of the way let's talk about culture and color for a second.

 culture and color go hand in hand when we talk about people from around the world. we can talk about India and it's Festival of Colors and we can talk about weddings from around the world from Brides dressing and white to Brides dressing in reds, and how color affects the individual.  in this way we can talk about how color in marketing changes from one country to the next or even one region to the next. 

So one of the things that I would always say to do before you even start a project, look at where you're developing your brand, or logo, ads, Etc.

is it in your country, are you familiar with it and it’s cultural norms (this includes the state, or province), and if you’re not what can you do to be more familiar with your audience?

And with that note, we’ll talk about colour psychology while you ponder that question. We’ll get into colour and how it’s represented in just a second.

 so what is color psychology?

 color psychology is the study of colors and Hues that affect human emotions and behaviors. color can influence the perceptions that are not conscious or obvious, like the taste of food for example. we see like places like Wendy's and McDonald's using the colors of red, the color red is known to make people hungry. colors can have qualities that can augment people's emotions, this can differ however between cultures, ages, genders and sexes. so let's give you a hypothetical.

 And the Video Game World use color theory and color psychology in their games to give their players a more in-depth and immersive experience of their game. Using it to influence a players behaviour and mood, every step of the way. Horror games do this the most, so lets give you an audio visual.

 so imagine this,

“ you're playing a scary game. the game starts you off and what looks like a regular room, the walls are painted a tan brown with various colorful pieces of artwork.  the floor is a deep cherry oak color with a white blue rug and a blue couch to match. it's night outside, but the lights are on and you have the TV set to a Studio Ghibli movie set in a moving castle with fun characters and beautiful coloring.

 but then, the lights turn off, the sounds cuts from the TV as well as its power and video and you  are left in the Erie Blackness of night. as you scan the room you calm a little as you say it yourself to believe that the power just went out.

 but then the tv, and the TV only, turns back on to a red screen, lighting up the room around you in a devastatingly grotesque state of bloody ruby red.”

 how do you feel?

 black and red and horror movies and games are used in abundance to cause a sense of fear, caution, danger, and to spark the fear of the unknown.

 in other games, such as the game Gris by nomada Studio Spain,  we see a different use of color psychology. so I'm going to go over this because it is quite the game, and it really does showcase how color can change someone's mood.

 the game uses watercolor painting of red, blue, green, yellow, white, black, and purple to represent the different stages of grief and fear.  the game has no dialogue, actually at the beginning of the game the main character is rendered completely mute.

Gris  starts with a grayscale, specifically mainly white. this represents our base, and a sense of loss and warning, and a state of emptiness shock and denial and pain and guilt. 

As the journey starts to begin a new color is added, the color red to represent anger. within the next stage of the game the color green in added to symbolize the next stage of bargaining, then adding blue later on for depression.

 the last two parts reintroduce white, with yellow and purples to symbolize acceptance and hope. after that the character finds her voice and uses it to recolor the world with all the colors properly.

 as you can see, color can be a very influencing factor. so let's dive into what color means what and how companies use it to influence people.

 every color has both a positive influence as well as a negative influence.

  and those perceptions of colors are subjective, but some colors do have a tendency to have a universal meaning. it's also important to know that the hues, the warmth, and the saturations of each color changes the meaning behind them.

 so let's go over this.

 warm colors and tones such as yellows, oranges, and reds have more tendency to invoke emotions ranging from a sense of warmth and comfort to anger and hostility.

 where as their cool counterparts such as greens, blues, and purples are more likely to exhibit calming effects, but also have a different form of range. cool colors can also evoke feelings of indifference, or even sadness and depression.

 some symbolic  meanings can be associated with various colors.

 for our Reds we have passion, excitement, love. but we also have danger, anger, and aggression.

 are pinks are known to be soft and reserved.

 purples are seen as Noble, mysterious and glamorous.

 whereas our Blues exhibit wisdom, hope, reason, and peace. but also exude sadness and depression.

 as you can see there are different variations to each color and again Shades change the range of this. you're going to be more saddened by a deeper and darker blue than you are by a bright pastel one.

 and this can very culture to culture. Red's in India symbolize Purity where in Latin America they're seen as having a religious connotation. and the Middle East it's danger and caution and in China it's luck and happiness and usually associated with the new year. red can also be seen as a color of protection in some cultures. Italians and Spanish speaking Nations use red to protect children from the evil eye.

 blues in Western cultures are known to be associated with trust and safety and associated with authority, loyalty and also security. but in eastern Nations it's tied to spirituality, immortality and Heaven. in Hinduism blue is seen to be associated with Krishna who embodies love and joy.

 greens and Indonesia,  and correct me if I'm wrong,  it seemed to be a more forbidden color representing exorcism and infidelity. and in China it's kind of the same It's associated with infidelity having a term for wearing a green hat meaning a man being cheated on by his wife.  in the Middle East Green is associated with Islam and you can see in a majority of flags think of Pakistan and Turkmenistan.

  okay so here's a random hottake,  graphic designer should know Flags, and it's  geography. but that might just be a me thing.  moving on!

 oranges in the Netherlands mean freedom, independence, and patriotism but in the Middle East it's seen as morning and loss.

 Browns in eastern Nations is a symbol of mourning, but in the Middle East it's a sense of comfort. where in the US it's a sense of stability and dependability.

 in the West we see yellow as happiness optimism and warmth. but in Egypt and much of Latin America it simply it's his death and morning. and in certain African nations gold and yellows are seen only to be worn by high ranking people in society. and again correct me if I'm wrong.

 blacks in the western world are symbols of elegant sophistication and power but also mourning and loss. whereas Latin America is seen as a masculine color. 

And for those of you who are like, Deja black is not a color it's a shade,  shut up a printer would tell you differently.

 Whites in the western for purity, marriage, religion and cleanliness whereas in Asia it's usually associated with death morning humility. you do also see whites in weddings I believe in Korea, so take that with a grain of salt.

 cultural sensitivity and branding let's talk about that.

 I kind of hinted at that earlier about cultural sensitivity. we as designers need to be researching into both our audience as well as our client when it comes to who we are representing into we are telling the story too.

 and I know that cultural sensitivity can be seen as a very big buzzword to some people, by  asking you to calm yourself. It's just not that serious.

 So what's cultural sensitivity?

Cultural sensitivity is the awareness, understanding, and respect for cultural differences. this can include behaviors, values and beliefs that may be different from your own. now we can talk about cultural sensitivity in a different episode.  I feel like we can go deeper in depth about this. especially for those who want to design worldwide instead of just within their own Nation.

Moving back to color and color psychology. we can confirm that colors can affect people behaviorally, emotionally, and provide an influence to the viewer.

 companies uses as a marketing tool for their brand. let's take a look at one example:

 the colors of red, blue, and white in different variations and combinations can influence a person into who to trust. Bank of Montreal is a well-established Bank from Quebec that  uses this palette in their branding. 

in order, they typically use blue as their dominant, white as their secondary, and red as their tertiary color.

 in their logo, the use of red is used more as a primary however. 

so what does this tell the viewer?

 blue, establishes calm, trustworthiness, safety, reason, and wisdom.

 while are red symbolizes passion, ambition, and strength.

 and white serves a sense of a simplifier adding a sense of Simplicity and Hope.

 so from this we can establish Bank of Montreal means to give an appearance and brand story that they are a trustworthy, and reasonable bank with a passion for finance here to make things simple and easy for those who choose to operate at their establishment. their customers can trust them  for their strength, ambition, and passion and give hope to Their audience that their money is safe with them.

 so do you think I nailed it?

 color psychology and general psychology is used in marketing, logos, commercials, social media posts, billboards, and other materials. establishments used these tactics to influence the masses. as we learn and grow as designers we find different ways to help people share their stories, influence people, and help businesses grow while creating their own personality.

 so from this episode, tell me what you think. what other ways can we use color to Market a brand? what other companies use color to promote  and influence their viewers?

 and before our episode ends let me talk about hexachromacy for a second because I brought it up.

Hexachromatic refers to the ability to distinguish six distinct colors or, more commonly, a visual system (biological or artificial) that uses six independent channels or dimensions to process colour information. It represents a higher level of chromatic perception than normal human trichromacy, which uses three channels, sometimes allowing for the perception of novel or "impossible" colours.

The mantis shrimp has this ability.

Thank You for joining me today, I had a lot of fun researching into this one because it's a fun one to research into.  and let me Flex those old historian muscles I have which I appreciate.

 so come with me, SIP some tea, and add a little sugar and honey to it.

 and we'll see you next time on design tea.