The Power of Colors – Part 5
Blue is an interesting color and it has a lot of power. So many people list blue as their favorite color. I’ve run into other people who have loved it, but they are now sour on the color. There is a very important reason why.
As you can see from the title below, blue is a tranquil color. This is what Leslie Kane found about it. This is one of my favorite studies.
BLUE – THE TRANQUILIZER
Blue evokes a mood of tranquility and serenity. Almost any shade of blue will do it, from cobalt to sky blue to sapphire. An intriguing new study done at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, investigated the effect of blue surrounding a class of behaviorally disturbed children, some of whom were blind. The researchers first measured the kids’ baseline heart rate, respiration, and other physiological indicators.
Then the walls of the classrooms were painted light and dark blue. All of the physical indicators went down and the children became noticeably calmer – even the blind children! Researchers and teachers who observed the children during the one month other blue-paint period were amazed at how calm they were. When the classrooms were repainted their original brown and yellow, the children’s heart rates, respiration, and pulse rates went back up and hyperactive behavior resumed.
“The fact that the blind children experienced this effect provides strong evidence that color has a direct bio-chemical pathway to the brain,” Schauss says. “It works as long as the retina of the eye is attached to the brain. However, if a blind child closes his eyes so that color cannot strike the retina, the effect won’t work.”
According to Bonnie Bender of Pittsburgh Paints, blue can make a room seem like its color, too. “A large office was repainted from a soft orange to aqua,” she says. “The women began to complain of being chilly and some wore sweaters or jackets at their desks. They asked to have the office temperature raised. When the walls were repainted a warm color, the complaints stopped and management saved on the heating bills.”
Blue has also been shown to prevent suicide. The Blackfriars Bridge, a gloomy-looking black bridge over Thames River in London, was a favorite leaping-off point for despondent citizens.
Color consultants suggested painting the bridge Baker-Miller pink, but the public got huffy at the idea of a pink bridge. They settled for the next most soothing color, blue. The suicide rate at the bridge immediately dropped.
I love these reports or case studies. They are not some one opinion of how a color should affect us. The proof is there for all of us to think about. The power of colors is there even if we want to admit it or not.
Also, I want to add something that she didn’t talk about. You can warm up blue. When we mix gold or yellow with it, we get a periwinkle blue. This is a warmer color than a blue without the gold. This might be a tip that you might want to remember.
We are going to talk about how to use these colors together in the same room to create the right feelings in later articles. If people want, I will put this all into an e-book that you can download. Let me know!
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Tagged with: blue • children • Color • colors • power
