How Paint Color Affects You, Part 7: Orange

In our previous blogs we’ve discussed just about every color of the rainbow and how it affects mood. In the first one, we discussed how pink can calm people down. We talked about how red and yellow are great for advertising, how blue and green can relax human by reminding them of nature, and why purple once represented royalty but might best be used as an accent color to avoid having a room appear too cold.

But in the ROY G BIV of the rainbow spectrum, we haven’t yet discussed the O: orange. Today we’re going to take a look at this bright color, what it means, and how it can affect people’s emotions. Who knows, by the end you might even decide that your business needs a commercial painter to handle your orange walls.

It’s Exciting and Happy

Orange is an exciting color that tends to get people’s hearts pumping (just not as much as red). Seeing it actually sends more oxygen to the brain. It’s a warm color, so it can brighten people’s spirits. Tell a kid to paint a sun, and it will almost certainly be…yellow, of course! But orange comes in a close second.

It’s Great For Advertising

Much like red and yellow, orange is used as an attention-grabbing color. It’s probably because there’s not a lot of orange out in nature (poisonous caterpillars and sunsets notwithstanding). So since there’s not a lot of orange in nature, anything that is orange is going to grab a human’s attention as something to pay attention to. Orange can stand out against a bright sky in ways that cooler colors can’t.

That’s why there’s quite a bit of orange used in advertising. It grabs the attention and is used on many call-to-action bubbles.

While you will see food advertised with orange, there don’t seem to be a lot of fast food logos that have gone with orange. Fast food still tends to stick with red and yellow (which, interestingly enough, make orange if you combine them!)

It Can Still Grab Your Attention

Even if you’ve grown numb to the orange that’s in advertising, we bet orange still gets your attention. If you see a  bright orange Mustang driving by, we bet you still take notice, and you might even point out how bright it is to someone else in the car. The same is true for orange dresses. And if you see an orange suit, you know something weird is going down!

When Combined With Blue, You Get Movie Posters

Take a look at this link. Go ahead, it’s pretty awesome. About 10 years ago movie posters started using blue and orange to get the attention of moviegoers, and it hasn’t stopped from there. Avatar, Bourne Identity, Avengers, Transformers, Batman movies…some of the biggest movies of the past 10 years have all relied on blue and orange on their movie posters.

Oh, and it’s not just the posters and advertising; it the movies themselves! Take a look at this article that delves into why movies are using these two color more often.

It’s Got Its Own Fruit…or the Fruit Got It

Which came first, orange (the color) or orange (the fruit)? Obviously, the fruit existed before language was around to name it, but it turns out that the fruit was called an orange and then the color. Kinda. It’s a long story, so take a look at the whole history of it right here.

It’s The Color Most Associated With A Season

We believe that orange is even more closely-associated with fall than green is with spring. With pumpkins being a late-season fruit, orange has become associated with both Thanksgiving and Halloween. Of course, it’s not just the pumpkins that are orange but also the color of the leaves as they’re about to fall off.

Now that you know what orange can do, is it what you need in your commercial paint job? Orange certainly has its place as both a wall color and an accent color, and its continued use in the advertising world means that it’s still effective at getting people’s attention. Our commercial painting contractors are ready to get the job done, so contact us today with questions or to schedule a painting day.