Introduction

Everyday you see and use color. Its a basic element that defines a certain object, a person, or perhaps an emotion. Its embedded in our everyday lives and its so often a part of our culture we don't even notice it. Without it we wouldn't have such things as diversity and personality.

For example in Western cultures white is a symbol of purity, often worn by brides. But in Japan white is worn to funerals. Color has a number of parallels and different meanings depending on culture. Its important to be aware of the meanings of color in different cultures. It can insult or offend others if you wrongfully use one.

Pink

Pink is the color of universal love. Pink is a quiet color. Lovers of beauty favor pink. Emotional love of self and others, friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, has both fire and air elements. Gentle, Casual and Approachable.

Pink is a combination of red and white. The quality of energy in pink is determined by how much red is present. White is the potential for fullness, while red helps you to achieve that potential. Pink combines these energies. Shades of deep pink, such as magenta, are effective in neutralizing disorder and violence. Some prisons use limited deep pink tones to diffuse aggressive behaviour.

In some cultures, such as the US, pink is the color of little girls. It represents sugar and spice and everything nice. Pink for men goes in and out of style. Most people still think of pink as a feminine, delicate color.

Fun Fact:In Thailand, pink is associated with Tuesday on the Thai solar calendar, Anyone may wear pink on Tuesdays, and anyone born on a Tuesday may adopt pink as their color.

Cultural Meanings:

Korea: Trust
Eastern: Marriage
Western: Love, babies, especially female babies, Valentine's Day
Feng Shui: Yin, love
Psychology: Used in diet therapy as an appetite suppressant, relaxes muscles, soothing
Roses: Gratitude and appreciation (deep pink) or admiration and sympathy (light pink)

http://www.gemstonegifts.com/Colors/pink.htm

http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/pink.htm

Gold

It is no surprise that gold symbolizes wealth used wisely, but it is also the symbol of good health. People who favor the color gold are optimistic. Gold is intimately linked with Divinity and those gods associated with the Sun. It symbolizes wealth and success.

Lions are colored golden in art as a symbol of monarchy. The golden Lion was the symbol of the British Empire and is on the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.

Cultural Examples:

Eastern: Wealth, strength
Western: Wealth
Astrology: Leo (Golden Yellow/Orange)
Feng Shui: Yang, metal, God consciousness
Stained Glass (Dante): The sun, the goodness of God, treasure in heaven, spiritual achievement, and the good life.

http://webdesign.about.com/od/colorcharts/l/bl_colorculture.htm

Brown

Brown is a warm neutral color that can stimulate the appetite. It is found extensively in nature in both living and non-living materials. People who prefer brown are often conventional and orderly. The negative meaning of brown can be a repressed personality or a lazy person. Brown is the color of the earth and is associated with the material side of life.

Brown represents wholesomeness and earthiness. While it might be considered a little on the dull side, it also represents steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, dependability, and health. Although blue is the typical corporate color, UPS (United Parcel Service) has built their business around the dependability associated with brown.

Fun Fact: It is said that people who have brown auras are often unethical businessmen who are in business purely for the sake of greed, or people who are just generally greedy and avaricious

Cultural Examples:

Australian Aboriginals: Color of the land
Cherokee: Good.
Western: Wholesome, earthy, dependable, steadfast, health
Astrology: Capricorn and Scorpio (reddish brown)
Feng Shui: Yang, earth, industry, grounded

http://www.crystal-cure.com/brown.html
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/brown.htm
http://webdesign.about.com/od/colorcharts/l/bl_colorculture.htm

Purple

Purple is seen as a “difficult” and very personal color. Perception of its meaning shifts as it moves from blue (spiritual or mystical) to red (sensual). Purple has historic associations with royalty and luxury, since for many years the dyes used for purple were very expensive. It also has cultural associations with creativity and independent thinking. In Feng Shui, purple is a yin color, and belongs in the wealth and blessings corner. Violet is the color of the seventh chakra, Sahasrara, the center of enlightenment. Purple is one of the official New Orleans Mardis Gras colors, and in that usage represents justice. During the Victorian era, purple and lavender were considered sufficiently somber to be part of the official “half mourning” period as a widow gradually moved out of the more stark black dress of full mourning.

Almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors, making bright purple effective for promotion of children's products. Light purple is useful for feminine designs. Excessive exposure to purple may cause people to become sullen, withdrawn and ill-at-ease with their surroundings. Purple is a polarising colour - people either love it or hate it.


Cultural Examples:
Thailand: Color of mourning (widows)
Western: Royalty
European : Royalty
Catholicism : Mourning, death, crucifixion
Feng Shui : Yin, spiritual awareness, physical and mental healing

http://www.sibagraphics.com/colour.php
http://www.hilwerda.com/color.htm
http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm

Black

Black is the most misunderstood color. A black tie dinner is very formal and elegant. Women can wear that "must have little black dress" to the black tie dinner. Yet the bad guys wear black hats. Black symbolizes death in some cultures. Native Americans thought black was good because it was the color of soil, which gives life. Saturday's color is black.

Black is not a color, strictly speaking. It is the absence of all color. When people speak of opposites, it is usually in terms of black and white. Black, and its opposite white, represent polarities. Black absorbs all aspects of light. While white reveals, black conceals. It has come to mean hidden, fearful or bad experience. It is linked to the unknown or the unseen.

Black is a neutral background for many colors. In Feng Shui, black is a yin, water color, and fortunate for money or career. It is seen as sophisticated, adult and mysterious, but is also associated with mourning and sadness. Black along with subtle or metallic colors usually means “elegance.” Black used with brightly contrasting colors (such as white, red, or yellow) is often seen as playful, especially when used in vivid patterns. A black contrast makes pastel colors, such as pink, seem more sophisticated.

Cultural Examples:
China: Color for young boys
Western: Funerals, death, Halloween (with orange), bad guys, rebellion

European : Funerals, death, mourning, rebellion, cool, restfulness

China : Colour for young boys

Thailand : Bad luck, unhappiness, evilJudaism : Unhappiness, bad luck, evil

Australian Aboriginals : colour of the people, ceremonial ochre

Feng Shui : Yin, Water, money, income, career success, emotional protection, power, stability, bruises, evil

http://www.hilwerda.com/color.htm

Orange

Orange a close relative of red, sparks more controversy than any other hue. There is usually strong positive or negative association to orange and true orange generally elicits a stronger "love it" or "hate it" response than other colors. Fun and flamboyant orange radiates warmth and energy. Interestingly, some of the tones of orange such as terra cotta, peach or rust have very broad appeal.Orange is a power color. It is one of the healing colors. It is said to increase the craving for food. It also stimulates enthusiasm and creativity. Orange means vitality with endurance. People who like orange are usually thoughtful and sincere.

Fun Fact: Orange is representative of "gluttony" in Christianity.

Orange brings up images of autumn leaves, pumpkins, and (in combination with Black) Halloween. It represents the changing seasons so in that sense it is a color on the edge, the color of change between the heat of summer and the cool of winter.

Cultural Examples:
Ireland: Religious (Protestants)
Western:Halloween (with black), creativity, autumn

American Indians associate the color orange with kinship.
Orange is the Netherlands' national color, dating back to the Dutch War of Independence and the rebel Prince of Orange.
In China and Japan, orange is used to symbolize happiness and love.

http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/orange.htm

http://www.crystal-cure.com/orange.html

http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm

Blue

Blue is calming. It can be strong and steadfast or light and friendly. Almost everyone likes some shade of the color blue.

In many diverse cultures blue is significant in religious beliefs, brings peace, or is believed to keep the bad spirits away.
Blue conveys importance and confidence without being somber or sinister, hence the blue power suit of the corporate world and the blue uniforms of police officers. Long considered a corporate color, blue, especially darker blue, is associated with intelligence, stability, unity, and conservatism.

In Feng Shui, blue is a yin color and a water color, and is associated with relaxation, peace and trust, with navy shades signifying intellect and wisdom. Navy blues are seen as authoritative and conservative, especially in clothing. Indigo blue is associated with the sixth chakra, Ajna, the “third eye.” Bright blue is the fifth chakra, Vishuddha, involved in communication and self-expression.

Fun Fact: More people claim blue as their favorite color than any other color (over 50%). Blue cars have been among the top selling cars for decades.

Cultural Examples:

Cherokees: Defeat, trouble
Iran: Color of heaven and spirituality
Western: Depression, sadness, conservative, corporate, "something blue" bridal tradition

http://www.hilwerda.com/color.htm

http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm

http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infobluesymbolism.htm

http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/blue.htm

White

In most Western countries white is the color for brides. In the East, it's the color for mourning and funerals. White is often associated with hospitals, especially doctors, nurses, and dentists. Some cultures viewed white as the color of royalty or of dieties. Angels are typically depicted as wearing white. In early Westerns the good guy wore white while the bad guy wore black.

White is the color that represents purity, neutrality, sterility and youth. White is often associated with cleanliness or sterility. White is also associated with neutrality and peace — hence a white flag for surrender or parley. For the same reason it is a neutral color that will continue to be the preferred backdrop on websites and the "color" behind the color. In Western tradition the bride wears white, a custom dating back to Ancient Greece. There, the temple that was dedicated to the goddess Athena was made of white marble. It led to the linking of the color to virginity

(Japanese Funeral)

Cultural Examples:
Japan: White carnation symbolizes death
Eastern: Funerals
Western: Brides, angels, good guys, hospitals, doctors, peace (white dove)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallowtail/2415962783/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_symbolism_and_psychology#White

http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm

http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/white.htm

Green

Green is the color of nature, fertility, life. Grass green is the most restful color. Green symbolizes self-respect and well being. Green is the color of balance. It also means learning, growth and harmony. Green is a safe color, if you don't know what color to use anywhere use green.
Green is favored by well balanced people. Green symbolizes the master healer and the life force. It often symbolizes money. It was believed green was healing for the eyes. Egyptians wore green eyeliner. Green eyeshades are still used. You should eat raw green foods for good health. Friday is the day of green. Green jade is a sacred stone of Asia.

Green is the national color of Ireland and is strongly associated with that country. Green also has close associations with Islam. Because of all the green in nature the color is reminiscent of Spring. Coupled with red it's a Christmas color.

Cultural Examples:

China: Green hats indicate a man's wife is cheating on him, exorcism
India: Islam
Ireland: Symbol of the entire country
Western: Spring, new birth, go, Saint Patrick's Day, Christmas (with red)

http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/green.htm
http://www.crystal-cure.com/green.html

Yellow

For years yellow ribbons were worn as a sign of hope as women waited from their men to come marching home from war. Today, they are still used to welcome home loved ones. Its use for hazard signs creates an association between yellow and danger, although not quite as dangerous as red.Yellow is for mourning in Egypt and actors of the Middle Ages wore yellow to signify the dead. Yet yellow has also represented courage (Japan), merchants (India), and peace.

Yellow stimulates mental activity, generates muscle energy and attracts attention - it is the colour most visible to the human eye. Thus yellow objects move to the forefront. Students who study in yellow rooms do better in exams. Cheerful yellow can be used to promote food especially in combination with other fruit and vegetable tones, children's and leisure products and is best used as a highlight. With overuse, yellow can be disturbing and promote anxiety. Babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow against black denotes a warning ... the sting of the bee.

Cultural Examples:

China: Nourishing
Egypt: Color of mourning
Japan: Courage
India: Merchants
Western: Hope, hazards, coward
Buddhism : wisdom

Feng Shui : Yang, Earth, auspicious, sunbeams, warmth, motion

http://www.sibagraphics.com/colour.php

Red

Red is the warmest of all colors. Red is the color most chosen by extroverts and one of the top picks of males. On the negative side red can mean temper or anger. In China, red is the color of prosperity and joy. Brides wear red and front doors are often painted red. Red is Tuesday's color. Red roses symbolize passionate love. Ruby rings should be worn on the left hand. Red is the color of Mars. This planet is known as the God of War.

In some cultures, red denotes purity, joy,and celebration. Red is the color of happiness and prosperity in China and may be used to attract good luck.
Red is often the color worn by brides in the East while it is the color of mourning in South Africa. In Russia the Bolsheviks used a red flag when they overthrew the Tsar, thus red became associated with communism. Many national flags use red. The red Ruby is the traditional Fortieth Wedding Anniversary gift.

Cultural Examples:
China: Good luck, celebration, summoning
Cherokees: Success, triumph
India: Purity
South Africa: Color of mourning
Russia: Bolsheviks and Communism
Eastern: Worn by brides
Western: Excitement, danger, love, passion, stop, Christmas (with green)

http://www.crystal-cure.com/red.html
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/red.htm
http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm