Hmm… I wonder why I chose to talk about pink next. 🙂 If you don’t already know, I became the aunt of a beautiful little girl last week so I thought it was appropriate to continue our discussion of color with pink.
As you may have guessed, pink is often associated with females. Pink is also considered innocent, sweet, soft, youthful and cheerful. Often associated with baby girls, valentine’s and young love.
Due to its feminine and calming nature, you will see pink used in many spa, health care and cosmetic product logos.
In vivid values (like hot pink and fuschia) pink comes across more similarly to red — passionate, exciting, high energy.
So how do we as artists, use pink to our advantage?
Like Pavlov’s dog, people automatically react to colors. If you want to guide how someone feels about your art, understand the pyschology of color. Use it in a traditional way or buck the trend to grab attention.
Is this a baby girl or boy? At 2 days old, you can’t tell by looking at most babies. People use visual cues, like the color of the clothes, to figure it out. (This is, of course, my adorable new niece, Gillian!)
Pink would be an unusual choice if you are doing an art collection about dinosaurs, trucks or tools. People would expect blues, greens and browns with those themes. But you sure would grab their attention if you chose pink!
Have a sugar & spice & everything nice, super pink-y day!
~Tara
P.S. Of course in recent years, “THINK PINK” has come to be associated with battling breast cancer — I would guess they chose pink to represent both the feminine and healing connotations of the color. Support your favorite charity, walk, donate your art… get involved!
Thanks, this is interesting to learn about. I guess it’s something we know but never thought it out loud. Now to track down your other posts on colors.
Pat
When I was a kid they always painted my room pink with blue trim and unfortunately I came to dislike the color (and the combination) intensely as it was what I was ‘expected’ to like. It became established in my personal color vocabulary as ‘insipid’. So I have to wonder what impact our childhood and social associations have with colors as we grow up.
In oriental cultures the colors and color combinations have different associations. Japanese associate white with death and cobalt blue with summer. Red and white together are for celebrations. I read an interesting book on the subject and will have to look it up again sometime.