Colors are Change Agents Triggering Emotions
Man and change make us many connotations. Change is a definition of a process that is reminiscent of a change in work, relationship, emotion, space, and even a total lifestyle change. What do we want to change in what direction, or what changes are expected of us? These questions, which attracted the attention of scientists, constituted research topics.
We know that two powerful features that govern the preferences and attitudes of the brain are feelings and thoughts specific to the individual. However, the rules of working together and overcoming each other are different. Is it the part of the brain that governs thoughts, or the part that governs emotions, that drives people's choices by mobilizing them? There is the amygdala, which is located in the central part of the brain and governs emotions, against the brain shell and gray matter that governs thought. Thought is guided in the context of causality based on knowledge. Emotion is influenced by basic motives and needs.
Influencing emotions is influencing people. Psychology therefore examines the factors that affect emotions. The relationship between emotion and color has found a response in everyone's life. The whiteness of the wedding dress, the use of red at birth, the identification of death with black and so on. Artists, especially painters, are the ones who understand and experience the relationship between emotion and color. “Colors play a key role in following the change of emotions, P says Pablo Picasso. With this word, he puts a strong emphasis on the change of emotion and color relationship.
Goethe Newton, Romanticism Against Realism
Color is a perception that occurs when different wavelengths of light reach the retina of the eye. When light strikes an object, the object absorbs the seven colors of light other than its own color and reflects its own color. The human eye sees the color in which it reflects the object1. Black and white reflecting all colors in the light are therefore not considered color.
The color circle was first developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666. The main colors in the circle are yellow, red, blue; intermediate colors include green, purple, orange and blend colors. These colors are also grouped as cold and warm colors. A hundred years later, the colors of the physical world were expressed in many different dimensions in Goethe's poems. Today, Goethe focuses on understanding the meaning that psychology finds in colors in those days, recognizing the links between human reactions and colors. He defined colors with emotions that they thought matched. Johannes Itten (1888-1967) tended to understand the symbolic and semantic properties of colors2. He does not treat color as a physicist or chemist, but as a representative of aesthetics and symbolism.
Figure 1: Color perception region in the brain
As we have seen in our previous articles, the fastest leaps in science emerge in the contribution of different disciplines to each other. The waves of light and sound have led physics scientists to become interested in behavioral sciences. The light wavelength is transmitted from the eye retina to the brain by two different neural networks. The resulting great coloration connects us with different ties to the world, events and products (Picture 1). The results obtained by examining these bonds allowed us to obtain information that could be used in different fields. Based on the data obtained, information to be used in treatment, training, production, marketing and institutionalization has been gained.
Functions of Color
The effect of color on human is examined in two dimensions. Its physiological dimension is the physiological response that develops with color perception. Examples include increased brain activity and heart rate. On the other hand, the psychological dimension includes emotions that color evokes as a stimulus. Changes in perception and attitude. According to neuroscience studies, we begin to learn to match the information from the visual stimulus with our different experiences and knowledge at an early age. This allows us to survive and make quick decisions3. In addition to physical stimulus properties; cultural, historical and political features also play a role in the sense of color.
In psychology, there is a mechanism that works between emotions and colors. As colors stimulate human emotions, emotions are reflected in colors. I had this experience in the first years of my professional life in the art workshop of the Psychiatry Clinic of Istanbul Medical Faculty. From my teacher Süleyman Velioğlu, we listened to how the patients reflect their inner world with the colors and shapes used in their canals. Different colors evoke different emotions. Some colors calm people and excite others. While warm colors awaken warm and close feelings, cold colors awaken a sense of distance, coldness and calmness. Eva Heller, a psychologist and sociologist, was one of the first to say that the connection between color and emotion and thought is not coincidental, reflecting a common international taste and unity of thought. His book has been a rich source of information on colors4.
The effects of colors on human beings are used in the treatment of various diseases, especially mental and nervous diseases. Changes in the level of hormones occur in patients exposed to daylight with color filters. Nowadays, bipolar depression and bright light treatment are seen as one of the positive outcomes.
In marketing, the evaluation of colors is used to guide our evaluation. The idea that unconscious psychology can be used as a powerful tool in marketing has become the main starting point for advertisers. The Censydiam Model says, “We humans are the subject of need, emotion and motivation”. Therefore, it investigates the relationship between colors and human motivation.
In education, the features of light and colors that facilitate learning are utilized. The educational institution, its environment and educational materials are handled with an interdisciplinary approach.
One of the studies that shape and color are decisive for learning designs that arouse positive emotions in the learner belongs to Plass et al. Accordingly, round shapes similar to the human face, when used alone or in combination with warm colors, give rise to positive emotions. This leads to less compelling learning activities by the learner and an increase in motivation levels.
Figure 1: The effect of color and shape preference on learning
As shown in Figure 1, instead of sharp-line shapes and cool colors such as gray, round shapes similar to human faces with warm colors such as yellow and orange affect the learning process positively5.
Colors and Descriptions
We said that there are three main colors in the color circle, which are yellow, red and blue. The intermediate colors, orange, green and purple, consist of the same mixing of these primary colors in pairs. The rapid rotation of the color circle reflects all colors and makes white visible. White is associated with purity, cleanliness, simplicity, hygiene, openness, peace and happiness. If the color that holds all colors is black, it is considered a sophisticated color. Therefore, it evokes attraction, power, reputation and grandeur. Taking into account the emotions evoked by the primary colors and a few intermediate colors6, we will discuss in which aspect they are used to highlight the corporate mission.
Red; Research shows that long wavelength colors (red, orange, yellow) evoke excitement because they are stimulating. Although one of the main colors of red is also referred to as the color of life, it contains mainly mixed emotions. Red, a color of passion, can be positive or emphasize negativity. Symbolizes the power of life. It refers to violence as well as reflecting vitality as the color of blood. Freedom, passion, adventure exacerbate feelings of anger and violence. It embraces innovation and brings new emotions that nurture individuality. With this feature, it became the flag color of the revolutionary parties and the left.
Coca-Cola is one of the leading brands that announce this color as life equivalent. Illy, Budweiser, Fijutsu, Emirates, CNN keep the ties with life strong and connect the message of pleasure with the different structural features of the institutions.
Blue; Blue, one of the three primary colors, is considered a security color. People basically need to be protected and safe. Sense of trust; It is a feeling that makes one feel safe and gives comfort and peace. Those who face the threat sometimes avoid the struggle and withdraw. From an analytical point of view, this withdrawal is the need to meet the protected, safe and cared lives of the childhood world. It is a tendency to get away from the stress and tension of daily life. Blue is the indicator of intelligence. It has been the color of invention and innovative technologies. The fact that technology is a product of knowledge and logic transfers the relationship of responsibility, trust and productivity with strong ties. As in IBM, Dell, Samsun, Philips, Volvo etc.
Yellow; The yellow color is associated with optimism, extroversion, friendship, joy and happiness and defines belonging. Even the borders are drawn and the frame is determined. The person has secured himself against the others and has gained the opportunity to be in entertainment, hubbub and festivity. The person who knows his / her own safe boundaries socializes, shares and spends a good time with his / her relatives within the boundaries. It establishes close friendships that encourage interaction.
Yellow shine and radiant warm colors. It offers abundance and wealth as the color of the sun and gold. It's like bringing people in search of opportunities and yellow page ads. Orange and yellow are the expressions of optimism, joy and warmth.
Some institutions draw another boundary on the outer periphery of the yellow to make the belonging more distinct. Just like brown in McDonalds and Shell and red in Lipton. They emphasize the color of being safe and not taking risks.
Orange; Orange, which is an intermediate color, is also a color of interest for institutions. This color, which evokes vitality, energy, extroversion and sociality, is defined as the color of pleasure. It is the preferred color of nutrition, health and travel companies. Fanta, Hard Rock Cafe, GlaxoSmithKline and so on. One always needs to maximize the feeling of satisfaction physically and emotionally. In the face of pleasure; frustration, self-control and social restraints have no chance. The purpose of consumption is to provide a sense of abundance and pleasure. To provide a sense of pleasure is the choice of some institutions; because this emotion is referred to as impulsive, intense, and sometimes even madness.
Purple; Purple is one of the intermediate colors. The power dimension, one of its dimensions, represents achievement and status in life. In the struggle to obtain the power that man wants to obtain; to be recognized as good and important, to be rewarded and respected. The purple color, classically the color of power, is associated with luxury, autonomy, quality, solemnity and splendor. Many people see purple as a representation of excess, fashion, diversity and grace. Purple, which is an indicator of unusualness in elegance, is also referred to as the color of sin. Its use in aristocracy has led to negative meanings and symbolization of the arrogance.
The most interesting corporate story of purple is the branding breakthrough with Milka cow. Since 1901, Philippe Sachard has placed the Alps and milk on top of the Milka cans by incorporating chocolate and milk. However, with the rise of the Art Nouveau movement, he chose purple as a commercial color. Thus, he expressed that Kraft products include the Art Nouveau spirit. Since then, the motto of yarat create value with difference ”is purple and purple cow.
Workplace and Artworks
Science and art are the products of high functions of the brain. Both make a difference in our lives. Science is objective, but art is subjective. The nature of scientific laws does not depend on the personal feelings and beliefs of the scientists who found them. The rules of art depend on the artist's understanding, emotions and passions. Easy to love, difficult to recognize; Because love is the work of emotion and science. What science and art have in common is that neither of them has absolute truth. They rely on observation and experimentation, correcting themselves, renewing and improving as conditions change. At the same time, both are universal. Science offers equal opportunities to all people. Art gives different emotions to all people and adds meaning to life.
Depression and stress levels were investigated in one of the studies investigating how the presence of artworks in the workplace would affect employees in a workplace where a poster with mountains rising behind the lake appears at sunset. The model, which approaches workplace stress in terms of demand and resources, interprets the high perception of job demand as a negative factor. Determines that hanging posters at work places high perception of demand and increases the level of depression. In the same study, it is seen that cold colors, for example “blue din are relaxing / calming and warm colors, for example,“ red 7 are stimulating7.
In another study on art at work, it was found that art positively affected performance. Working in an institution where paintings in different branches of art such as painting, ceramics, sculpture and photography are exhibited on a rotating basis, increases the social interaction and emotion sharing of the employees and positively affects the learning culture. The exhibited works are thought to strengthen the bond established with change, creativity, diversity, quality and corporate mission8.
Office of Borusan Holding Museum "Haunted Mansion - Borusan Contemporary" not only for Turkey, a pioneering initiative for the world. We know that there are unexpected surprises for visitors because of our experiences. I wonder what kind of impact it has on the employees as a scientist since the day it was organized.
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