Meaning of Colors: Yellow

Keeping with my research on colors, I am now looking at the different meanings and emotions evoked by each color. I am looking at Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Purple, Orange, and Pink. There is a separate blog post for each color. The reason that I need to research this more is because I have never really noticed the emotional side of colors, I know the stereotypical view of certain colors, but not any real understanding about it, which if I can learn, will help enhance my designs by using every aspect of my design to show my message to my audience.

Yellow 

Meanings of the Color Yellow

Yellow is the brightest, most luminous color of them all. It is the most attention grabbing color there is, the eye is always drawn instantly to yellow on any page.Yellow is the color of happiness, optimism, creativity, sunshine, spring, and enlightenment. In nature, yellow is sunflowers, daffodils, lemons; in the man-made, its Sponge Bob, happy faces, post its, and signs for caution and danger. Though Yellow is usually associated with all things happy, there is a darker emotional connection to Yellow, such as cowardice, betrayal, egoism, and madness. Also as mentioned above, Yellow is used for caution and physical illness/danger. The sources of yellow pigments are toxic metals like cadmium, lead, and chrome. 

       Global Meanings

• Most cultures represent sunshine, happiness and warmth
• Yellow is also highly associated with religion and Deity's, such as Hinduism and Ancient Egypt
• It is also the color for caution all over the world for traffic lights and signs

       This shows that yellow is a universal interpretation of either caution or happiness. Yellow is such a bright, noticeable color which is why it shows caution and happiness. The religion is used for the brightness and power of the color yellow, as well as the peace and calming sense. 

      Unique Meanings of Yellow in Other Cultures

• In Japan, yellow is used to show courage
• In China, to show caution of adult movies, they call them yellow movies
• Oddly enough, in Russia, the colloquial expression for an insane asylum was used to be "yellow house"
• Mexico associates a marigold yellow with death, yet in most cultures in Mexico, death is celebrated not mourned, therefore the brightness might have some influence
• Yellow was also a color for treason during the Inquisition
• During the Middle Ages, European Jews were forced to wear yellow during the Nazi era of persecution

       This talks about cultures that use yellow as a color of caution rather than happiness. It is known around the world as the color of caution, therefore it is one of the few colors that most of the world views the same way. 

Designing with the Color Yellow

Oddly enough, there are no actual dark yellows, there are mustard looking yellows, and deep ochres, but when you mix black and yellow, it turns into a sickly yellow-green color.

The human eye actually processes the color yellow first, it is the first thing noticed and it is where the eye is attracted to the most. That's why cautionary signs and emergency vehicles are often yellow, because people are more likely to notice them first. Noticing yellow in your peripheral vision is 2.5 times faster than it takes to notice red. Just as the way that white reflects light and can actually lighten up an area with just the reflection, yellow can actually do the same thing because it has a high reflectance value. This means that if you paint your walls a bright yellow, it can irritate the eyes because of how bright it will be when the sun reflects against it.

NOTE:

Information and graphics on this page are taken from Color Matters, Basic Color Theory at http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory.