colour psychology … the meaning of orange

Orange is one of those love it or loath it colours. For me it always makes me smile.

positive psychological qualities of orange
orange is a combination of red and yellow. Yellow positively communicates fun, happiness, cheerful and optimism. Red’s positive qualities express energy, stamina, strength  and excitement.

When you have orange you get a combination of these qualities to produce a colour that is warm, friendly, fun and playful. It’s a great colour to stimulate social interaction and conversation.

the downside
Too much orange or using the wrong tone in combination with other colours and it can begin to appear a bit frivolous, not taking things seriously.

Mix orange with black and it takes on an entirely different meaning.  You only have to look at nature to see the bee is communicating, through colour ‘Stay away or I’ll sting’, the monarch butterfly ‘Don’t eat me, I’m poisonous’ and the clown fish, well they are just playing pretend…

colour intensity
Depending on the strength of the colour it will influence the intensity of the psychological qualities. You will experience a very different feeling when you look at Pantone Tangerine Tango compared to that of soft orange such as peach or apricot or even an autumnal pumpkin orange.

Do you have a favourite tone of orange? How does orange make you feel?

If you found this blog post interesting, you may also be interested in other blog posts relating to the colour orange. More about the psychology of colour.