Light, color, lines shapes and design affect our senses, our moods, and our emotions.

 

Color can sedate or excite us. It can soothe or annoy us. It can elevate our emotions or depress us. It can bring harmony into our environment or take harmony out of it.

 

Color plays an enormous roll in creating and influencing moods and feelings of places we love to be or don’t want any part of.

 

In our studies of art, our professor shared the following stories with his students;

“In New York, a restaurant owner, who did a booming business, agreed to participate in a color experiment. His restaurant had been yellow and orange with accents of brown. He got most of the early morning coffee drinkers and the breakfast crowd and the place was packed at lunchtime.

 

For the experiment, the décor of the restaurant was changed to monotones of blue. His customers started to complain that the restaurant was too cold. People even started to wear sweaters. The thermostat had been kept at the exact same temperature as it was before.

 

The early morning business begins to drop off. In order to get it back, the owner changed the décor back to its original colors. Business promptly picked up.

 

 

A well to do woman consulted a psychiatrist with much concern over the melancholy listless mood of her five year old daughter habitually displayed. Upon investigation it was discovered that the child seemed to loosen up and become more jovial and uninhibited when away from home, but the mood always returned shortly after returning to their residence.

 

Questioning the Child's mother gave no obvious clues for the Child's behavior. The little girl was an only child and apparently wanted for nothing, but something was wrong. At length the psychiatrist asked to come to their home. When he arrived he asked the little girl where she spent most of her time. He was informed that she spent most of her time playing in her bedroom. He asked to see the bedroom. One look inside the room revealed the problem.

 

The room was filled with dark (and beautiful, I might add) antique furniture. Dark wood floors framed a deep blue, black and brownish plush carpet. The drapery matched the brown tones of the deepest browns in both the carpet and the furniture. The entire room had an atmosphere of one of yesteryear's exclusive funeral parlors.

 

The psychiatrist explained the emotional effects of color and environment to the parents of the child. He told them to strip the room and paint the walls white and paint the wood work bright yellow. He said to add a light and colorful carpet, put up bright yellow and or pastel curtains to match the new carpet and to get bright colored children’s furniture

 

The new décor in the Child's room brought about an equally dramatic reaction in the Child's behavior. Needless to say, the problem was over. The primary reason for the change was color.

 

An airline got a wholesale price on some drab yellow paint. They painted the interior of their planes with this ghastly hue.  On the first flight out after the paint job, an unusually large number of passengers became nauseous. There was a greater demand for bags to contain all of this, than there were available to give out. What sickened the airline is that it happened on all of their flights. They screamed for help.

 

An investigation, which took one brilliant young man only a matter of minutes, revealed the cause to be the new color of ghastly yellow.  The interior of their entire airline was repainted with a new and refreshing color. There was an immediate end to excessive air sickness on their flights.

 

Color is now being used in hospitals for its psychological effects on the patients.

Some prisons use it to help calm inmates. It stands to reason, if color can change a mood or a feeling, we should be aware of the moods and feelings we want to create.

 

 Lines, shapes and design also create psychological and emotional responses. They can be boldly uplifting or over whelming, inspiring or defeating, calm or boring.

 

One of the most memorable examples of this drama, I found to be forty five minutes south of Anchorage Alaska along the Turn again Arm of Cooks Inlet. Exquisite, dramatic and breathtaking scenery left me with fully impressed with the experience and drama created by line, shape, color and design of some of natures finest art work.

 

Along the inlet is an area where the salt water from the sea rose up underneath the roots of majestic trees and killed them, but the trees continue to stand, like a forest of sentinels along the water way. Their sharp detailed silhouettes create an unforgettable contrast against the back drop of the inlets ice blue water. The inlets tides are calmer than those at sea. Soft fog skirts the distant shores and often rises to usher in changes of light and weather. The lines, shapes, color and design create a mood that is unforgettable perfection.

 

In contrast, lays the coast on Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, where turquoise colored ocean waters deposits white topped waves as they break into bubbles on the sand. Where far away islands create soft lavender mounds against a pale blue distance where the ocean meets the sky. The shore line creates a soft curve as it gently turns southward. Even the palm trees have a gentle curve to their trunks. Round cocoa nuts lie beneath the trees. The scene speaks softly of peace, warmth and solitude. It lulls us with its gentle flow.

 

 Few of us give thought to the affects of color and design in our immediate or personal environment. Most of us are just mildly aware that it could be better. All of us can benefit from knowing that we can change and choose the affects we want to influence our surroundings.

 

How art and design affects your feelings is far more important than any other factor. Neither price nor antiquity guarantees to add to peace and tranquility. Your emotions are important. How does it make you feel? Choose what provides the emotional environment you want around you. If you do, you’ll love what you choose and choose what you love.

 

 Artist, Speaker and Writer

 Rebecca Kimbel