Colors have a much stronger effect on our wellbeing than we think.
They send messages to which we respond.
They affect our emotions and health.
Color researcher Prof. Axel Buether says: "The power of colors is clearly underestimated."
The world is becoming more colorful again: in nature and in the wardrobe.
In contrast to dogs and cats, who perceive their environment in blue and yellow, the environment looks motley to humans.
The photoreceptors in the retina of our eyes can distinguish as much as 20 million colors from one another.
This not only creates particularly beautiful images in the head, but also has a function that we are hardly aware of: whether red, blue, green or white - such signals are important means of communication.
Colors send messages that we perceive intuitively and to which we react.
Colors influence our emotions and health, how we live together in private and our success at work.
Professor Dr.
Axel Buether researches how colors work, he says: "The power of colors is clearly underestimated."
Colors never work on their own
When Professor Buether is asked exactly how this one color works, he first takes a deep breath: "There is no one effect of a color." Because colors in themselves do not mean much at first. A newborn baby has nothing to do with the colors of its surroundings. Only gradually do people perceive the light intensity, register whether they live in a green environment or in the city. All colors of the environment become familiar and ultimately form a color home. Color tones get a meaning, they trigger emotions. Someone who grew up in nature has different emotions with white and gray tones than a city dweller. Buether: "We are already seeing differences in people in northern and southern Germany." In addition, some meanings - such as attention to red - are innate,or their interpretation has been culturally shaped over the centuries.
In an unbelievable amount of hard work, Professor Buether photographed millions of objects in our everyday life, sorted them by color and looked at the context in which which colors are used and what we associate with them. Buether: “For each color we were able to form four clusters with four basic meanings. You can see at first glance that some of these meanings are totally contradicting each other! ”Green can be very poisonous or reflect health. Red is a warning sign up to murder and manslaughter or the color of love. The meanings of the colors come first from the environment, they are culturally influenced, in addition, every person has an individual color home, which in turn determines how we perceive color tones - the effect of the colors, their mysterious power,only arises in the interaction of all these factors.
Those who wear red like attention. Those who prefer black shy away from the risk
In experiments, Dr. Buether asked people to arrange their clothing according to color and to lay it out in a color wheel. Buether: “It is amazing how exactly one can read off character traits and also milieu affiliation from these color circles.” If someone likes to wear light tones, he is probably more open, a communicative person. Those who bet on red have nothing against paying attention. If there is a lot of black in the closet, the owner is probably more conservative, he doesn't want to reveal too much about himself or take any risks. This person is rather aloof, but wants to come across as serious or artistic. If the university lecturer stands in front of the students in a pink shirt, he wants to appear communicative and open and hopes for a lively discussion. Children are often dressed in very bright colors. Buether:"That is supposed to express happiness, but it is the parents who choose the children's clothes and thus mother and father express their idea of being a child."
Clothing also has a group character.
If all of the men in the company are suddenly walking around in light blue shirts, it could be that they are looking for cover in the group.
Buether: "Camouflage is also a function of color."
Anyone standing in front of the wardrobe and cannot find anything to wear has fallen into the classic trap of not thinking about the occasion while shopping.
Buether: "When we get dressed, we always think about how we want to look." You are lucky if you have clothes that can be easily combined.
So the gray suit for fading in, but the pink shirt as a sign of individuality and creativity, or the yellow scarf as an indication of good mood and happiness.
Expert tip: That's why you should tear off white woodchip wallpaper
The color scheme of the rooms in which we are staying also has a major influence on our well-being. For your own four walls, Buether advises: “Get rid of the white-painted woodchip wallpaper, which gives the white an unpleasant touch. If white, then it should be on smooth walls. ”But white as a light color does not invite you to lean on it, it has a cool and delimiting effect and is therefore not homely. But: "Tinted white tones are fantastic," says Buether. Simply stir in a little sandy color. “Then we get a natural surface that we know from stones, woods or sand. But also curry tones or clayey ocher tones are wonderful colors in which we feel comfortable. "
Color expert Buether carried out tests in retirement homes and hospitals and asked how people would like to live or work.
In hospitals, a change in the choice of colors, through which optimism, well-being and homeliness were expressed, has demonstrably been able to reduce the use of medication in patients.
The nurses were significantly less sick and overall more satisfied with their work.
Buether: "Such results are amazing every time."
The explorer of colors
Prof. Dr.
Axel Buether teaches at the University in Wuppertal, he is chairman of the German Color Center, the central institute for color in science and design.
Book tip: Prof. Dr.
Axel Buether, The mysterious power of colors, Droemer-Verlag, 25 €
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Color researcher Professor Axel Buether
© Sigurd Stone Prince
Red is the most powerful color, why is it?
Dr.
Axel Buether: In the center of the retina, the point of sharpest vision, there are predominantly red-sensitive visual cells.
This is the color that we see very consciously and sharply.
If something is red, our gaze falls on it immediately, be it the warning sign, a red tie or made-up lips.
The color attracts maximum attention because it is associated with blood, with power, but also with sexual attractiveness.
We can't help but look there.
So whoever wears red wants to get attention?
Buether: You are automatically the center of attention and that is not for everyone.
Although I sometimes buy red sweaters, I very rarely wear one.
They always stay in the closet.
I don't seem to want to get that attention.
Which does not mean that I am now hiding as a gray mouse.
Because of course I want to appear communicative and open-minded.
Then I choose a colored shirt, for example.
Is that how these inexplicable bad purchases come about?
Because you were in a mood that day, wanted to radiate something in a certain way that you can no longer identify with later?
Buether: Exactly, even if you like a color very much, you may not want to wear it because you don't feel comfortable with the message that this item of clothing is sending out.
The color of clothes reflects my personality, if I want to change, can I start with clothes?
Buether: We know it: After a breakup, women go to the hairdresser and dye their hair, others renovate the apartment and paint the walls, men in the midlife crisis attract more youthful, colorful things.
You send signals to the environment: I am attractive, I am communicative, I am vital.
But if you don't live the new sides of personality, but fall back into old patterns, these colors also disappear again.
Ultimately, you have to feel comfortable with the colors that you wear.
You speak of gut instinct.
Buether: These are intuitive decisions and since very few people know how colors work, this is the most important advisor.
But I can only advise studying the power of colors in order to understand what needs and emotions they arouse in us.
Because the advertising industry is of course very familiar with these messages: We buy something because the packaging promises us enjoyment and health.
Who checks the sugar content of the product on a beautiful green pack or doubts that a recycled cardboard box is valuable food?
There is a reason why the food industry rejects the nutritional traffic light: when people see red, they leave the item on the shelf!
A little theory of colors
Red attracts the most attention and the strongest emotion. The reddening of the skin or lips, for example, is hormonally controlled and perceived as a signal of fertility. Men find women twice as attractive when their photo has a red instead of a white background. Waitresses with red lipstick get significantly more tips. Whoever wears red signals to the environment a claim to leadership. This also makes them the ideal symbolic color for rebellions. Red signals readiness for conflict. Therefore, red works effectively on prohibition signs.
Blue: We no longer trust any color intuitively. It often stands for security, correctness and truth. Wherever our trust is advertised, blue is the perfect background (insurance, news formats ..) Blue is the ideal symbolic color for peace. (UNO or Unicef) and also stands for longings, hopes and dreams. The sight of a blue sky or the sea has a liberating and relaxing effect. If you want to widen narrow corridors, you should paint the walls and ceilings blue. But be careful: these rooms look cooler. Blue tones can be warmed up if they have been tinted with red, orange, yellow or purple.
Green: The green spectrum is our largest color space and comprises over half of all visible color tones. The colors of the vegetable nature were the basis for the development of our sense of sight. It is the symbolic color of the natural, growing and living and in many cultures also means hope and a new beginning. Green stands in maximum contrast to red. Where red signals injury and death, green stands for health and life.
Yellow is considered a cheerful color and symbol of happiness around the world, which is due to the emotional effects of sunlight. Yellow looks likeable, young and cheerful. In marketing, yellow is therefore used for products for the young or the young at heart. Yellow gives the impression of health, dynamism and active zest for life. But any contamination or cloudiness causes the magic of the color to dissipate.
White has a claim to perfection and was initially a sacred color. Now it symbolizes the sciences, but also stands for purity, cleanliness, flawlessness (wedding dress). The color is often used to identify professions and products in the food and health industries. White appears weightless, which makes it the ideal symbolic color for mobility and the preferred paint color for airplanes, rockets and cars.
Black stands for bad, wrong and ugly. In almost all cultures, evil eschews light and seeks darkness. The light-dark effect, for example in painting, has a dramatic effect. Anyone wearing black clothing increases the emotional impact of facial expressions and gestures, as the face and hands come more into focus. Bosses from politics and business showcase their importance with black tailor-made suits and black limousines. If you want to be seen as self-confident, intelligent, trustworthy and creative on your first date and job interviews, you can hardly avoid black. Black makes us appear more mysterious and significantly slimmer.
Brown is the symbol of the earth and guarantees security, stability and reliability.
When white began its triumphant advance in modern cities, brown mutated into a rural, conservative color and became a sign of backwardness.
It is often only a small step from down-to-earth to backward, from simple to narrow-minded, from traditional to narrow-minded and intolerant.
You can read more about colors and their effects in apartments here.