Global color associations of the color orange

Help me, I'm in love with orange!
 

Global color associations of the color orange

Question:
I'm the head of the publications department of a Dutch company, in Rotterdam. The main colour of our logo is orange, understandably a colour that is not unpopular in Holland. Our housestyle is mainly based on this colour. On our correspondence and also on our quay cranes and parts of our buildings, the colour orange is very prominently displayed. We are presently considering to expand our activities to a more international level. In the short term, this means establishing container terminals in Germany and Italy. On the longer term, we might consider to start up new business in other countries as well, both in and outside of Europe. This brings me to the question I'd like to put to all of you. Are there any countries in the world where the colour orange has a negative connotation, in such a way that it would be unadvisable for us to use the colour orange? If you are not able to give me an answer to this question, would you be so kind to give me the name or e-mail address of an institution or person that might be able to help me on this subject? I'd be very thankful if you could help me and I hope to hear from you soon!

Ro
. . . I just unearthed some interesting marketing info about the color Orange and thought I'd pass it along . . . When the powdered clothes detergent Tide was created in the 1950s, consumer psychologist Louis Cheskin's decided to make the product white and the packaging a bold orange. . . .Evidently orange was chosen to convey the message of powerfully clean . . . . "This is a great example of how high contrast between product and packaging can convey a more effective emotional message," reports Nan Powell, research director for Cheskin & Masten/Image Net, the research firm founded by Cheskin. . . ."The white powder alone suggests cleanliness," she explains further, "but the addition of the bright orange Tide package conveys power and strength." . . . -- RO (http://www.msro.com/ro)

In the event that you are still searching for information about the color Orange and how it is perceived in other cultures, I'd like to direct you to author Norine Dresser, whose books include MULTICULTURAL MANNERS: NEW RULES OF ETIQUETTE FOR A CHANGING SOCIETY published by John Wiley & Sons in 1996. . . A longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and a unviersity educator, Norine has acquired a wealth of information about the do's and don'ts of successful business and social interaction upon in her book noted above . . . On a personal note, I interviewed Noreen about a year ago for an internet "Chat" on folklore, and those who participated were mightily . . Good luck with your business' expansion plans . . . please let us know what transpires regarding that Orange logo! -- RO LOGRIPPO http://www.msro.com/ro

Roy G BIv
Another excellent resource is Global Color Clues and Taboos by the author of the Color Matters web site.
 

David
Rob, It is very observant to consider how your company's color orange translates into other countries and multi-environments. However I caution you on considering other color alternatives all and all. Orange has obviously become a trademark color for your company and further built "brand integrity". The same branding that many of my company's clients have been fortunate to gain. Color can be stronger than your icon or logo. Prime examples Kodak (yellow), Coca Cola (red/ white),and BP (green). Also, we've taught our clients to retain memorable silhouettes/ icons. For example the red batwing design of Levi's, the kinetic flag of Microsoft/Window's. Move cautiously in how you make considerations to color, altering your brand color (even the slightest value or intensity change) may lose some of the integrity that your company has put many years in building. Best of luck, David.

Rob
David, Thanks very much for your remarks. I quite agree with your vision on the use of colour. Our main colour is orange, our secundary coulours are dark grey, light grey and white. By using these colours very consequently, we try to avoid having to stick logos on all sorts of things, like container handling equipment and buildings. And it works: the combination of colours (and, of course, the consequent use of typefaces) creates a very recognizable identity, that we like to refer to as 'the ECT-feel'. Besides: suggesting to change the colours at our site in Rotterdam would most certainly main the end of my carreer: as Europe's largest container terminal, we're using hundreds of gigantic (over 100 metres high) quay cranes, straddle carriers, terminal tractors and other kinds of equipment - and they're all painted in these 'housestyle' colours. So, at least for our Rotterdam operation, the question whether or not orange is the right colour' is simply not important anymore. But for the new, international activities, where we start from scratch, it might be important to reconsider that question... Bye, Rob

HELP ME I'M IN LOVE WITH ORANGE!!!!

Question:
I don't really understand it. For the past 3 years, I have been in LOVE with the color purple, and all of a sudden, I threw out all of my purple clothes, and invested in a whole wardrobe of ORANGE clothes. I am in LOVE with orange now. How can my color taste change so fast, and why can't I stay away from the color I hated most three years ago? Emily Traeger (16yrs)

monica ortega
Humans tend to equilibrium, maybe too many years with a purple ambiance just saturated your senses, and in a unconcious manner your inner beign is in search of balance. On the other hand, I agree with the rest, orange is more cheerful, purple invites melancholy. Stick to life!!!

gabyl
purple is a color associated with adolescence. orange is a color associated with happiness. this color preference might signify a change in your life perspectives. a loss of a previous pressure and hightened energy.

Brent Roden
I think Roy is on the right track in all but one extreme. That one extreme would be a toxin healing of a polluted environment at your young age(as if 16 is young!!). It is always possible that a highly sensitive person of your age could be physically healing from a pollutive culture or a healing of the psyche, such as from a break up with a friend of long duration. What is also important to note is that you have moved from a color mixture of red/blue to one of red/yellow. Have you been looking toward the future more, recently? Are you choosing to be more alluring in your femininity? Do you find the color orange attractive on men?

Roy G Biv
There could be several reasons for this. First, of all orange and yellow based greens are very "in " colors in the US right now. You could be very influenced by contemporary fashion fads. Secondly, it could be that you look fantastics in orange. It's a very cheerful color that looks great on people with dark hair, dark eyes....also auburn redheads. Finally, there could be a physiological basis. Although it's not part of mainstream Western medicine, there are theories that suggest that you may become "hungry" for colors that may heal any imbalances that you might have. Orange is known to stimulate the elimination of toxins from the body. This is probably not the case since you are young, but it's part of the answer to any color craving question.

The Use of Green in Movies and Books
Great Expectations (Dickents) and Dubliners (Joyce)

The Effects of Green on Taste and the Body

The Use of Green in Movies and Books

Great Expectations (Dickents)

Question:
I recently saw the new movie version of the Dickens' classic novel Great Expectations. The one thing that stood out in my mind after seeing this film was the overwhelming use of green. Everything in this movie seemed to be green, the clothing, the buildings, the decor, everything. I found myself contemplating why the director used the color green, what did it have to do with the story, why in the world green? I did a little research and found the green is a symbol of fertility and that it has recently come to be associated with state of heightened sexuality(sex was ever-present in the movie). Green, is also said to have great healing powers. Learning all these things gave a little deeper meaning to the film. It was at this point that I found out the reason that the director used the color green so much in his movie was that Green is his favorite color. The movie has no meaning to me any more. Gail

Sam
Green, as we all know, represents fertility and is also the dominant color of nature. What is also natural (emotionally) but less obvious is that green is also an extremely calming color. Green is the peaceful color of the color wheel, and represents tranquility.

dmccoy
Gail, what a disappointment to think the director was being brilliant in using a relationship with color to the movie plot, then not really. However, your research seems to have paid off. In addition to the healing powers of green (like many colors) it is thought to relate specifically to the throat and vocal cords. Also, if you're looking for a movie with relationship between color , emotion, and plot you might want to try a Peter Greenaway film (i.e.: The Cook, the Thief, the Wife and Her Lover). Happy viewing.

Mac
DMcCoy, Green? ....."it is thought to relate specifically to the throat and vocal cords: ... Who thought that? Hmmm, say DMc, where did that come from? Why would green be associated with those organs? I peeked in a chromo-homo-sapien book I have, but it didn't say 'green'. So the Greenway film is good? Do they have it at Blockbuster? or is it hard to find a copy? :-) Mac

dmccoy
Mac,Sorry, don't think you'll find a Greenaway film cataloged in Blockbuster's inventory. But, I could be wrong. Sometimes I'm a little green on these topics, but I try. Re: resouce on throat and vocal, Antonio Torrice's study on children's early development/relationships to color. Kinda cool. David.

Dubliners (Joyce)

Question :
I recall someone saying once that the color green in the Dubliners referred to homosexuality in some way. Does anyone recall this or have any information on an associate with the color green and homosexuality? Lee

Amber Bravo:
It is a possibility that the symbolism of green was misinterpreted and lead someone to believe that green symbolized homosexuality. I believe the story, "The Encounter" might have been the reason. Two young boys meet a man who is described with a lot of green imagery. He is a pederast. It is implied that he performs a rather disturbing act in front of the boys, and maybe that is why someone told you it symbolized homosexuality. However green is used throughout the Dubliners and I believe that it symbolizes the decay of society and piety in Dublin during this time period.

The effects of green on taste and the body

Skalabrin
Green is a very good color around food except sweets. People will alway underrate sweets in the presence of green unless it has a mint or lime flavor. If you frost cup cakes with various colors, green will be the last chosen, unless you have some frosted blue and those one will be the very last chosen. Meat in grocery or butcher stores is almost always surrounded with green because of the afterimage. The redness of the meat will look more intense which we associate with being fresh, and bacterial free. Using the afterimage of green (red) is used in many other industries such as hospitals (surgical green gowns). Green, especially in plants, is very good in kindergarten and elementary classrooms. Green tends to make humans feel secure and nurtured; it is good color in stressful away-from-home situations. Green yellow that is low on the value scale is not a good color in situations where motion sickness can occur because of association. Boat, rail, and air food industries are very careful about using this color around food. Also, you will not (or should not) see this color in the interiors of passenger trains, planes and boats. Hope this helps! Elizabeth

Why is the Virgin Mary usually portrayed wearing the color blue?

Why blues appear vibrant and glowing in dimly lit spaces

What is the meaning of blue?

Why is the Virgin Mary usually portrayed wearing the color blue?

Embi:
It reflects calm and tranquility, and purity

Jim Wick:
What a superb question,! You may be interested to know that the great English poet and Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins, wrote a poem entitled "The Blessed Virgin Compared to The Air That We Breathe". One section of this poem compares the air's blueness to the Virgin's transparent acceptance of God's will: Blue be it. This blue heaven -- the seven, or seven times seven, hued sunbeam shall transmit per fect, not alter it. So God was God of old. A Mother came to mould .... Perhaps Hopkins was latching onto something theologically revealing by comparing Mary to the color blue.

You see, color psychologists will tell you that of red, blue, yellow and green, blue is the one hue that is both "heteronomous" (passive and allowing of others to perform an action) and "concentric" (looking inward). Mary's response to the guardian angel when it was announced that she was to bear the Divine Lord was heteronomous: "let it be done to me according to thy Word". Her nature was concentric, too. She found meaning not so much from going out of herself to receive the Lord (then she would wear yellow) but from humbling her own soul: "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior!" Perhaps the art historians are correct about the shading of the clothes and the light rods, but perhaps there is a theological explanation, too. Hope this helps. Jim Wick/ Wauwatosa, WI

Chris Willard
Good question... During the High Renaissance, the period I suspect you are thinking of, strict conventions existed for the colors of the Virgin and of the Saints as you seem to imply. Perhaps one reason was so viewers, who often could not read, might identify the principles of the religious scenes. Patrons would not only specify the type of scene they wanted but would often specify certain colors (although local sensibilities of color could override greater conventions). The deep ultramarine was the costliest pigment and the richer you were the more of this you would specify in your contract with the artist. It made sense, evidently to put the brightest and best pigment on the major figure, the Virgin. She is often cloaked in a brilliant red too. When Christ was clad, it was usually in one or both of these hues too.

It is interesting to not not all artists followed this convention. Duccio for example often labeled who was who in the scene, thus avoiding recognition based upon color. Other conventions show St. Francis in browns, St. Peter in yellow ochre, Simon in vermilion. There were a limited number of colors available to Renaissance painters and to make the robes of all the personages in a painting both brilliant and separate (for one couldn't have the robe of the Madonna blending into that of a Saint) was often a tricky maneuver, especially when each wore a robe and a cloak.

Bianca:
My personal opinion is that we often do not take into account the lighting under which these paintings of the Virgin in blue were originally seen. I think the spectrum of light was probably on the blue side in the darkish, naturally lit buildings, and it's possible blue was chosen because it did not recede to the extent it does under modern incandescent and fluorescent lighting. It is actually the red which recedes more. Opens for discussion lots of interesting theological possibilities.

Jupe:
You made some good poins but I disagree with the statement that blue would recede more under incandescent (warm) lighting.
 

Why blues appear vibrant and glowing in dimly lit spaces

Christopher Willard:
It is a known fact, discovered by the researcher Purkinje, that in dim lighting as the rods come into play the red cones become less active. The color range we see shifts toward the violet/blue end of the spectrum. Because of this, the reds in dim light often appear grey while blues suddenly take on an ethereal brightness. It's now known as the Purkinje effect. What is interesting is how in dimly lit apses of churches, the blues do appear vibrant and glowing. Did the Renaissance artists know this and willfully paint in blues for this effect? I've never seen any source material to this but I'm interested if any art historians recall anything. As for blue and red receding...my students find that it all depends upon context as to which colors recede and which advance, thus finding the stereotypical rules are very often broken.

What is the meaning of blue?

LKPete
Yipes! Where to start? Where to stop? Let me dive into my files. Off the top of my head, I can tell you that in the Swedish version of the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl's hood is blue, and she isn't saved from the wolf by a woodsman but eaten by the wolf instead. The end. This may go a long way in explaining Ingmar Berman... More later. Oh, the expression "blue stocking" originates in Venice (Italy, not California) because of the hosiery worn by aristocrats. Boston brahmins got tagged with this in the 19th century. And, of course, the centuries' long controversy over why the word "blue" never once appears in either the Iliad or the Odyssey. This has been ascribed to Homer's blindness, that the ancient Greeks didn't see color the way "we" (18th century Brits) do, or that (and my favorite guess) that the stories were hundreds of years old by the time Homer got around to writing them down, and that perhaps in the Greece of Ulyssey's day a specific word for blue hadn't been deemed necessary. According to Berlin & Kay, blue is the last of the basic colors to be given a name. Simply referring to something as "sky colored" or "sea colored" seemed perfectly adequate. At least until the concept of acid-washed jeans came along. All for now (really).