Following on from my research into the psychology of colours, becoming interested in the connection and manipulation of emotions through colour, I found a pin on Pinterest whereby there were different emotions on coloured badges were pinned to wall. Passerby’s would take the badges depending on what mood they were feeling. It was all part of a campaign called ‘Not Myself Today’ revolving around spreading the awareness of mental health.
I was fascinated by the interaction of the public with these badges as most of society is very closed about what they are feeling but by taking a badge they were openly admitting it. Which makes me wonder what aspect of the design made them do it, was it the badge, the colour or the interactive nature of it.
The piece of design also made it clear to me that majority, if not all emotions can have a colour associated to them as shown within the large range of colours and emotions used in the design. Making me realise that a complex range of emotions can be shown through colour and not just the traditional ones. And making me think that the brain could be manipulated to feel very specific feelings though colours
I’m wondering if there were no words on the badges whether people would still pick a similar colour to what they felt when the emotions were shown. I’m also curious to how others would react to people’s emotional colour. I would assume with text people would understand what the person is feeling and presumably change their attitude or tolerance accordingly. Though with colour on its own would they do the same way or not. Some interesting ideas to think about and keep in mind.
Plenty of Colour Blog
Clicking on the link from this pin it lead me to the plentyofcolour blog. I found an immediate connection to this site as it was bursting full of colour, life and vibrancy. Even simply looking through the blog I found myself feeling more lively and happy, which I think was due to the energy of the colours translating to me and brightening up my mood. Illustrating the point that colour can change moods.
8 Million Petals
- Sony 4K Tv advertisement – Used to show the capabilities of their new 4K TV.
- Handmade installation – No CGI or robots
- Streets of Costa Rica
Inspired by
- Explosion of colour – volcano
- Energy of colour – power
- Joy, happiness, fun – Bright colours – Vivid
- Flow of the petals – Easily move – bursts
- Colour in dull places transforms them – Fun and exciting to be
BBC Asian Summer of Music
- Marketing campaign for the summer music channel in Asia.
Inspired by
- Mix of bright colours together – party, fun atmosphere – Richness
- Explosion of colour – paint dust is easy to create a movement and burst of colour – lightweight and easily manipulates
- Energy of the dust exploding successfully helps to create the energy and powerful fun feel.
Salience
- Paul Trillo
- Figures are revealed when dust of colour is thrown at them.
Inspired by
- Revealing of people by colours – I think this could represent how colour reveals a lot about people – Can tell a lot about someone from their colour
- I find the film too slow and there isn’t the same explosion of energy as previous pieces, which I think it due to the the slower music, the colour not bursting onto the screen as spontaneously as the Asian Music video and the colours are more muted and not bright and vivid.
Pigment Fireworks and Soft Gradients
- Marcel Christ
- Explosive
- Big Bang
Inspired by
- Organic nature of the explosions – shows the true energy and force that the
- Last image particularity has a space/ universe feel to it – Is space bursts of all the emotions exploded together?
- Remind me of fireworks – clouds of colours – bursts of fun in the brain.
Fluttering on by
- Elixir and Dream Interiors
- Saturday in Design event
Colour Hero
- Gabriel Dawe
- Layering of sewing thread installation
Inspiration
- Looks like a rainbow shower, as I can’t see the thread, the gradient of colour is beautifully blended and the pieces have a translucent texture to them. It gives me the idea that people could walk through them in order to increase their happiness. or alternatively different colours could give the user a different emotion.
Color Me Rad
- Similar to the Colour Run – 5km run while bombarded with coloured powder.
Inspired by
- Fun shown by the facial expressions and the energy put into through the paint dust.
- Let loose – Carefree
- Vivid colour
- Everyone is coloured differently depending on their experience
- Connects people – No race, everyone is colourful
Holi Festival
- Hindu Festival of colour – India, Nepal, Sri Lanka
- One day of throwing colour at each other – Breakdown the barriers of class and belief and bring people together.
- “faces become individual works of art”
A Due Colori
- Alberto Seveso’s
- High speed ink and water photographs
Exploding Crayons
- Alan Sailer
- Slow Motion Photography
Inspired by
- Fun
- Childishness of it – Rocket – Where is it flying to? – Imagination of a child –
- Makes me think of a eureka moment – Spontaneous elation
Patone Tarts
- Emilie Griottes
- Colour swatches using food
Inspired by
- Precise Layout – attractive – appealing to the eye – All has a similar layout – clear and fresh and nature
- Made me realise how many different colours there are in nature
What I found out?/ Thoughts
From the research I believe it has really made me see how much fun and excitement colour can be and how quickly it personally altered my mood. Maybe its being too spiritual of me, but it makes me question whether colour does contain energy and if colour can give us energy but also drain energy from us and this is the reason why colour has a deep connection with emotions.
I have found the research to help me start to piece together the emotional manipulation colour can have on us, as I actually mentally felt a change in mood when viewing the imagery, which helps me realise the power colour can have on us. This also makes me think that colour therapy is something I want to look more into, as I feel it can truly have a strong effect on people. Therefore I want to learn more about it how it works and its process.
ideas on the research
Concepting my colour and brain wave research, it brought up the idea of people thinking about a colour and this changes the character’s emotions due to the colour that was though of.
Or alternatively the player thinks of an emotion and this changes the colour on the screen.
So some way of connecting colour, emotions and the brain.
Plan
- Produce splatter drawings/ paintings to represent the energy of colour – Inspired by many of the artworks, where colour powder was thrown into the air energetically.
- Conduct further research into colour therapy and relationship between brain activity and colour or mental illness
- Research more into the Holi festival – Why does it happen? What is it for? What are the rituals behind it?
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