As a design led jewellery brand, we at Zayah spend a lot of time looking at colours, and being immersed in colours, thinking about colours. Colours tend to communicate emotions and sentiments and we thought you would find it interesting to be reminded of what different colours mean. So the next time you are drawn to a particular colour, perhaps there is something there that you didn’t realise was causing the attraction!
Colour jargon!
A quick reminder of some terms about colour, particularly hue, tint, tone and shade.
The three primary colours are red, yellow and blue.
Secondary colours are formed by combining two primary colours – orange, violet and green.
Tertiary colours are formed when you mix a primary with its nearest secondary.
Hue refers to one of the 12 colours in the set of the brightest and purest colours seen on a colour wheel.
When white is added to any hue, the result is a tint.
A shade is the result of adding black to any hue, whereas tone is the colour you get by adding white and black to any hue.
Got it?!
Popular Colours
Red
This is a high energy colour and with fire and blood being red, this colour often signifies danger but also can mean strength, passion and war. It is very high visibility and a reason it’s used on warning signs but is also known to raise blood pressure (and not just for bulls!)
Yellow
The colour of sunshine, associated with joy, energy and intelligence. It is a cheerful and warming colour although men have been known to believe this is a colour for children alone.
It’s also associated with people who are professionally or personally strong networkers and communicators.
Blue
This is the colour of the sky and sea and is mean to represent depth and stability. Pale blue because this is the colour of the sky is seen to represent the colour of heaven as well. This is seen as a calming colour and also associated with sincerity and devotion.
Green
This is the colour of nature and the colour most strongly tied with
healing and a sense of safety. It also represents freshness and fertility. Dark green is associated with money and ambition, greed and jealousy. Olive green on the other hand is associated with peace.
Orange
This combines red and yellow, and has the best of both in terms of characteristics and associations.
Orange is supposed to be linked to strength and happiness, and meant to promote enthusiasm, a sense of welcome warmth and creativity.
It’s one of our favourite colours at Zayah!
Violet
Violet has been for long associated with royalty by combining the stability of blue and the energy of red. This is the colour often associated with luxury, wealth and extravagance.
White
This is believed to be the colour of perfection and associated with innocence and purity. White is also associated with cleanliness and safety.
Black
This is the colour associated with the unknown (hence black holes!), death and evil. Black is believed to represent power and seen as a symbol of grief in some cultures. Black is also associated with elegance, dignity and prestige (Black tie events) and black clothes tend to make a person look thinner.
So what colours do you choose???