Colors are everywhere and their impact on us shouldn’t be under-estimated. Our nervous system requires input and stimulation. And color choice is the best way to help it.
Colors can change our mood, make us work or feel tired – imagine, your room colors may be the reason for your bad productivity or lower creativity! The human eye sees about 7,000,000 colors.
Certain colors and color relationships can irritate, cause headaches, or make you feel sick. Other colors and color combinations are healing and soothing.
Consequently, the appropriate use of color can maximize productivity, minimize visual fatigue, and relax the whole body. Here are some basics to start from:
| Color | Physical background | Feelings | Effect on productivity | |
| Thermal / warm colors (stimulate and raise blood pressure) | Red | Red raises blood pressure, increases breathing, heart rate and central nervous system functioning | Makes people feel hungry; subconsciously symbolizes dominance | Makes people more cautious and detail-oriented; => Make people’s work more accurate |
| Cool colors (calm, ease inflammation, and lower blood pressure) | Blue | Blue lowers blood pressure, the pulse rate and body temperature | Least appetizing; calming | Boosts creativity |
| Green | Green in the center of the spectrum has a stabilizing effect on the human system as a whole. | Relieves stress, makes you calmer | Researchers have also found that green can improve reading ability |
Now, just a few details to support the data listed in the table:
Red:
It may look weird that while making you more energetic and excited, this color also makes you more productive and attentive to details. This phenomenon is explained the following way:
“When you feel that the situation you are in is problematic,” said Norbert Schwarz, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, “you are more likely to pay attention to detail, which helps you with processing tasks but interferes with creative types of things.”
Blue:
By contrast, when people are calm, balanced and in a happy mood, they are more creative and less analytic. Hence if you need to get more creative, blue is the right choice for you. Blue also suppresses appetite, so if you have bad time concentrating because of the frequent breaks for some snacks, surround yourself with blue and you will get more organized.
Compare:
Want to see for yourself, compare then: Which one looks more delicious?
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Which one makes you more relaxed / energetic?
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Post images by janerc, FlickrJunkie, ruurmo , colormatters, flod, B G
More on colors: How Color Choices in Stores Can Influence Your Shopping Decisions
