WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Color Psychology

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's

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<v Speaker 1>Chuck and Jerry's here. And I just realized that I

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<v Speaker 1>open this like a regular episode, but it's not because

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<v Speaker 1>Jerry's not really here. She's here for Dave, who's possessed Jerry,

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<v Speaker 1>which makes this a short stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right, And we were talking about color psychology today.

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<v Speaker 2>You put this one together, and I think it's a

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<v Speaker 2>pretty good one because you know, it seems sort of

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<v Speaker 2>obvious to say that people have reactions to color, and

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<v Speaker 2>it is, but there's a lot more that goes into

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<v Speaker 2>it beyond just like seeing a color and having a

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<v Speaker 2>feeling like where you were raised, what kind of culture

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<v Speaker 2>you were raised in, maybe how old you are, maybe

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<v Speaker 2>how you're feeling at the time specific experiences with that

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<v Speaker 2>kind of color. And there's a field that studies this

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<v Speaker 2>called color psychology.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so it's an interesting feel in that it's very

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<v Speaker 1>quickly figured out. There's no universality to color psychology because

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<v Speaker 1>of all of those factors that you just mentioned. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a very personal response, but the fact that people do

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<v Speaker 1>have emotional and psychological response is to color, which means

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<v Speaker 1>that it's just totally symbolic to them that is worth

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<v Speaker 1>investigating and diving into. And then also there are some

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<v Speaker 1>broad strokes, especially when you're talking about a large culture,

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of societies that form an even bigger culture

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<v Speaker 1>that you can manipulate to sell things to those people

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<v Speaker 1>if you want to using color as a marketer advertiser.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean a lot of thought, like beyond just

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<v Speaker 2>your own home or whatever, how you want to paint

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<v Speaker 2>your room, which, by the way, we're going to color

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<v Speaker 2>drench our bedroom soon. Have you heard of this?

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<v Speaker 1>No.

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<v Speaker 2>Color drenching is when you paint everything in there, oh,

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<v Speaker 2>neat the same color, like ceiling, trim, doors, everything.

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<v Speaker 1>What about in lamps and stuff too, or just the

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<v Speaker 1>stuff that's fastened down.

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<v Speaker 2>No, no, no, just like wall, ceiling, trim, doors, everything

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<v Speaker 2>you would normally paint, you painted all one color. And

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<v Speaker 2>it sounds oppressive, but it's really kind of awesome and

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<v Speaker 2>it seems like a trend.

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<v Speaker 1>That sounds really cool. Are you doing it? And Matt,

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<v Speaker 1>it seems like a Matt would be best for something

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<v Speaker 1>like that.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, probably, Matt, maybe semigloss, but it'll be I think

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<v Speaker 2>it'll really cozy up our bedroom, which we're looking to do.

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<v Speaker 1>That's cool man, Do you know what color you're going

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<v Speaker 1>to get?

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<v Speaker 2>Probably like a deep green, something kind of dark.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, I used to have back in the nineties, back

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<v Speaker 1>when burgundy and dark blue and oh yeah, hunter green

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<v Speaker 1>or all in fashion. I put them all together in

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<v Speaker 1>my bedroom and it looks knockout awesome. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I'll let you know how it goes. Okay, I'll

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<v Speaker 2>I'll just nudge you in bed and say, what do

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<v Speaker 2>you think.

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<v Speaker 1>Perfect?

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<v Speaker 2>All right, So we were talking about the be a

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<v Speaker 2>thing like just painting a room or something. But you know,

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of thought goes into color design for logos

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<v Speaker 2>and like the lobby of the big corporation or what

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<v Speaker 2>kind of color the nurse's uniform should be or the

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<v Speaker 2>kid's hospital room should be. Like that's all color psychology.

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<v Speaker 1>For sure. There's also color symbolism too, where your culture

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<v Speaker 1>basically says, hey, we believe wearing black as a sign

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<v Speaker 1>of mourning, Like if you're in mourning, wear black. If

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<v Speaker 1>you go to another culture, typically in the East, they'll say, no,

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<v Speaker 1>you wear white when you're in mourning. Right, So there's

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<v Speaker 1>not an inherent meaning or symbolism in colors. It's all

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<v Speaker 1>what one culture decides that color means. Like another good

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<v Speaker 1>example is associating luck with green, and you can actually

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<v Speaker 1>trace that back to Ireland being considered the Emerald isle

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<v Speaker 1>leprechauns being associated with luck. So through a bunch of

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<v Speaker 1>cultural convolutions, the West associates green with good luck. Right

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<v Speaker 1>that you would not find that in other cultures. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>So there is like a real culturally bound aspect to it.

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<v Speaker 1>But like you said before, it gets even more gradiated

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<v Speaker 1>to where if you were chased by a bear in

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<v Speaker 1>the woods as a kid, you're probably not going to

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<v Speaker 1>like the color green very much, or you're not gonna

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<v Speaker 1>like brown because that reminds you of the color of

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<v Speaker 1>the grizzly bear, where somebody else would be like, I

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<v Speaker 1>was raised on a farm and everything was brown and

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<v Speaker 1>I love it, so I love the color brown. It

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<v Speaker 1>gets like that detailed in that granular The upshot of

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<v Speaker 1>the whole thing is that colors can't affect us, and

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<v Speaker 1>that in and of itself, you just it's so, we

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<v Speaker 1>just know that, But if you step back and actually

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<v Speaker 1>think about what's going on, it's actually kind of mind blowing,

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<v Speaker 1>especially in the ways it affects us.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for sure, they have done cross cultural studies about,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, how it is around the world. They found

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<v Speaker 2>that American Japanese the concepts of warm and colors are

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<v Speaker 2>about the same. But in Japan blue and green are

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<v Speaker 2>perceived as good and red, purple, orange are perceived as bad.

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<v Speaker 2>Where in the United States, red, yellow, green is considered

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<v Speaker 2>good and orange and red and purple bad. Yeah, And

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<v Speaker 2>one thing I wanted to mention about the mourning colors

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<v Speaker 2>is we have an African American church right around the

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<v Speaker 2>block from US, and they have had their fair share

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<v Speaker 2>of funerals over the years, and a lot of these

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<v Speaker 2>I've seen everybody wearing purple, and I wondered if that

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<v Speaker 2>was a thing in the black community or if it

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<v Speaker 2>was just something particular to the person, like that was

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<v Speaker 2>their favorite color.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know, but I do know that purple and

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<v Speaker 1>gold and white and black are all depending on the

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<v Speaker 1>culture appropriate mourning where.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm curious. I mean, I hope someone could write

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<v Speaker 2>in and tell me, because I never feel like I

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<v Speaker 2>can just walk up to the gathering and say like, Hey,

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<v Speaker 2>was this person into purple or what's the deal? Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>not the right time.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry for your loss, but I just have to

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<v Speaker 1>ask you, Yeah, you want to take a break and

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<v Speaker 1>come back and talk about the Crayola eight pack of colors.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's do it, all, right, Josh, I promised now that

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<v Speaker 2>we're back to talk about the Crayola eight But as

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<v Speaker 2>we do on stuff, you should know we're not going

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<v Speaker 2>to talk about all eight We're just going to hit

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<v Speaker 2>some highlights of those main colors and kind of talk

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<v Speaker 2>a little bit about what most people feel. I'll go

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<v Speaker 2>and start with red. I think we should talk about

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<v Speaker 2>red because that's the color that kind of has the

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<v Speaker 2>strongest reaction usually out of people, because red is just

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<v Speaker 2>a very big, bold, brave choice. In a lot of cases,

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<v Speaker 2>they say if you have a red car, you're gonna

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<v Speaker 2>get pulled over more often by cops. They report feelings

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<v Speaker 2>of strength when you wear red, or courage or aggression.

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<v Speaker 2>It can actually increase your heart rate and energy level.

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<v Speaker 2>And obviously red is why you know you paint stop

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<v Speaker 2>signs red because it's a real eye grabber or a

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<v Speaker 2>warning label is red because it'll catch your eye right.

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<v Speaker 1>And another one, I it depends on the shade or

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<v Speaker 1>I guess the saturation or value, but I like orange.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes apparently a lot of people can't stand orange, and

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<v Speaker 1>I get that because there are colors that I can't stand,

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<v Speaker 1>Like what, I really don't like magenta?

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<v Speaker 2>What's magenta? Is that like a purple?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's like a reddish purple, like like redish purple.

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<v Speaker 2>What's your favorite color?

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<v Speaker 1>Blue? Often like a roe's egg blue. But also I

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<v Speaker 1>like royal blues, kind of nice dark blue, the bluer

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<v Speaker 1>blues rather than the darker blues. I usually kind of

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<v Speaker 1>lean toward. But yeah, I also like pastels.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, sure, you've got your a nice stable of

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<v Speaker 2>like pastel sweatshirts and things.

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<v Speaker 1>I do.

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<v Speaker 2>I tend to depend on the season. I really, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>kind of obviously love like burnt oranges and browns and

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<v Speaker 2>sort of forest greens in the fall and winter and

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<v Speaker 2>I brighten up a bit. But I definitely love greens

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<v Speaker 2>and browns and hues of orange the most, I think.

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<v Speaker 1>I see, Yeah, but which one are you talking about?

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<v Speaker 2>Yellow? No? Orange?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, we just kind of finished orange. I mean it's

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<v Speaker 1>just all over the place, I think. Yeah, there's just

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<v Speaker 1>so many different weird associations. This list says flamboyant, energy, comfort, warmth.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, you can't really put four different things that

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<v Speaker 1>are less associated with one another together.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for sure, I do like black. I like wearing

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<v Speaker 2>black things, always have. Black is beautiful, Black is powerful.

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<v Speaker 2>Authoritativeness comes to mind obviously, like strength, it can be

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<v Speaker 2>overwhelming for a lot of people. Like usually painting walls

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<v Speaker 2>black is I mean, that's a that's a big choice.

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<v Speaker 2>I've got a couple of black black walls in my house,

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<v Speaker 2>Like my office, I have a I have one wall

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<v Speaker 2>that's black. Oh yeah, so like, but there are many

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<v Speaker 2>shades within the black, like when you go to pick

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<v Speaker 2>out paint colors, black is not just black. And obviously

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<v Speaker 2>you know, in like westerns, the black hat symbolized good,

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<v Speaker 2>the white hat symbolized like the you know, the bad

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<v Speaker 2>guy and the good guy.

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<v Speaker 1>And in hacking too, Oh okay, yeah it's true, like

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<v Speaker 1>there's black hat hackers and white hat hackers. Yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>we have to at least talk about yellow.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, let's do it.

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<v Speaker 1>This to me is like I think it's the most

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<v Speaker 1>all over color because people like yellow, but it's associated

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<v Speaker 1>with so many different things. Like we call people who

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<v Speaker 1>are cowards, they're called yellow, especially if you're an old

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<v Speaker 1>timey person. There's also like this idea that you might

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<v Speaker 1>cry longer in a yellow room, which I cannot find

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<v Speaker 1>anything to actually back that up. It's almost just become legendary,

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<v Speaker 1>but I guarantee there's some study that said that at

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<v Speaker 1>some point. But it's also considered very cheerful, right. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>yellow is like the color of the smiley face and

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<v Speaker 1>the sun, and it's just it depends on again, not

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<v Speaker 1>just like your experiences with yellow or what your culture

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<v Speaker 1>says yellow is, but your mood that day. Even more important, though,

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<v Speaker 1>is there's not just one yellow like you talked about

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<v Speaker 1>how there's all these different shades of black. Yeah, all

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<v Speaker 1>the colors have different saturations, just how colorful they are,

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<v Speaker 1>their value, the brightness, the hues, or the actual different colors,

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<v Speaker 1>like all of these things, Like a pale cream pastel

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<v Speaker 1>yellow is going to make you feel different than a

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<v Speaker 1>neon yellow is. Yeah, neon yellow is going to make

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<v Speaker 1>you run out and buy a mountain dew. The pasto

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<v Speaker 1>creamy yellow is going to make you want to sit

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<v Speaker 1>down and have tea.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, agreed, h I gott I mean I think the

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<v Speaker 2>rest of these people, people can go do more color

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<v Speaker 2>research if they're planning their wardrobe or they're painting their

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<v Speaker 2>house or something. Yes, my advice is to you know,

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<v Speaker 2>you got to get those small, little testra sizes and

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<v Speaker 2>just throw a little on the wall and see what

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<v Speaker 2>you think. And then look at it in a bunch

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<v Speaker 2>of different light, regular daylight, because that really can change

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<v Speaker 2>the hue of a color.

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<v Speaker 1>Is what kind of light you're using flashlight? Your power

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<v Speaker 1>may go out at some point, you want to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure it looks good in that too. Yeah, for sure,

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<v Speaker 1>you got anything.

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<v Speaker 2>Else, then I got nothing else?

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<v Speaker 1>All right, everybody, short, Stuff is out.

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