Do you revel in red; feel keen for green or mellow to yellow?

Everyone has an opinion on colour, it’s one of those subjects that can unite or divide, invite emotion or create dispassion. Is a colour blue-green or green-blue? And almost everyone has a favourite colour they like and usually one they definitely don’t!

Colour Survey

A small colour survey I conducted turned up some interesting results on colour attitudes and preferences. Blue and red were commonly chosen as favourite colours and both of course, are very different in their effect. Red is a very ‘physical’ colour, whereas blue is the colour of the mind. Colour psychology might interpret these two colour choices as representing two different personality types; one that is an active ‘doer’ – red, and one that is a planner, thinker and strategist – blue. (Any football fans might want to give this aspect some thought…Red vs blue – which is the winning colour?).

Yellow was by far and away the colour most people felt uncomfortable about wearing or using. But hang on a minute. When asked, most people will describe yellow as “uplifting, outgoing and cheerful” and good for our self-esteem! What’s going on? Yellow reminds us of the sun of course, something that here in the UK we don’t benefit from too much of. Perhaps there’s also a little touch of ‘G.B.R’ – Great British Reticence too? Our naturally more inhibited traits mean we’re not usually given to drawing attention to ourselves with displays of overt behaviour and there’s no doubt about it – yellow is the sunny, confident, ‘here I am’ colour!

Which is your favourite colour?

Colour can shape our attitudes towards people, place and things. I hear many interesting stories from people about colour and I’d like to hear yours. Which colour floats your boat? Should red and green ever be seen? Do you detest a colour because you had to wear it for school? I’ve even heard a story about an aversion to a particular colour because it reminded someone of their mother-in-law! I’d love to hear your stories and comments. The best one will be welcome as my guest on the next ‘Exploring colour’ workshop on April 13th. Do drop me a line/post a comment – I’d love to hear from you!