• Blue for productivity. Blue is a color that, in Western culture, we often associate with sadness or mysticism. This is our subjective take on it, as blue can represent royalty or power in other parts of the world. This may come as a surprise, but color psychologists have learned through studies that the most universal effect that the color blue has on people is productivity. Psychologists believe this is because blue is associated with calmness, thoughtfulness and organization, and influences those observing it to introspect. Other color psychologists observe that the blue of the sky and of water is overwhelmingly the most blue that humans take in, and its representation of wide open spaces puts distractions out of mind.
• Green for balance. Green is most commonly associated with nature because a majority of plant life on earth is green. Humans take in green largely through nature, so we associate green with natural living and surroundings. Not surprisingly, green has a balancing effect on our psychology. It is fitting that all Western labels that represent organic products or natural living are in green, and catch phrases like “go green” means making an effort to make life practices more sustainable, which is essentially another term for balanced.
• Lavender for calm. This one likely does not come as a surprise either. The things that occur in nature that are lavender are predominately calm times of day and plant life, particularly flora. Purple plant life is largely associated with flowers and herbs, which have therapeutic benefits. The sky is also purple at dawn and at dusk, which are times of day that are associated with serenity.
• Yellow for energy. Again drawing on nature associations, the sun is obviously the most universal source of yellow that people the globe over observe. The sun is, of course, pure energy, so it is entirely logical that we would associate yellow with energy. The psychological effects of being surrounded by the color yellow are that of invigoration and stimulation.

Many people have long associated different colors with moods. This is why we see so much red around Valentine’s Day – because red is the color associated with love, romance and passion. And when someone is feeling down, we commonly say they are feeling blue, because blue is associated with a subdued state of mind. These color associations are deeply ingrained within our culture, but something that many people do not know is that experts have studied the effects of different colors on people’s moods and have created official studies stating which colors are associated with which moods. They are not absolute, but rather represent the most common correlations between color and mood. Some strongly resemble the correlations that people have made culturally while others may surprise people.

There is still a long way for color psychology to come, but what we know for certain is that ranges of colors have a particular range of effects on their human observer, and that these effects can be subjective in nature. In Western culture, white often symbolizes purity and virtue, but in many Eastern cultures, it represents mourning. The most absolute way of understanding color psychology is generalizing certain ranges of colors. Red, orange and yellow are associated with stimulation, ranging from happiness to tension. Blue, purple and green are associated with depressive qualities, ranging from calm to sadness.

You can see color psychology used in interior decorating, marketing and any design related fields. Professions that involve selling have long made use of color psychology to influence their client’s moods and decisions. The more you learn about color psychology and how it relates to moods, the more you can begin to apply this information to your personal space and possessions. Many people have applied this information to the personal decorating scheme in their home, office and even their vehicles. It is a valuable tool considering it can influence you towards energy, calmness clarity and happiness.