Color Trends

Paint Your Walls to Change Your Mood, and the Science to Prove It

Posted on February 15, 2019

It’s reported that pink lessens aggression, blue gives tranquility, and white gives a clinical cleanliness. It’s time to paint your walls to change your mood, and here’s the science to prove it does.

A paint company in Australia partnered with a VR company and a team of psychologists with some neuroscientists to explore what colors do to moods. at the walls.

Google Daydream virtual reality headsets were given to 745 volunteers. They were programmed to show five paint colors in three types of rooms. After viewing each room, the subjects were asked how they felt, with emotions like excited, cheerful and tense being options. Intensity was noted with a five point scale.

The images shown to volunteers through VR created a more realistic outcome than showing images of rooms painted than images of rooms in the colors. By being immersed in the virtual reality versions, users could feel more real emotions.

The results

Pastel green, blue and purple were linked to participants feeling calm while brights like yellow, pink and orange were noted to make those feel excited. For awhile, it was trendy to go darker with your wall colors, but the experiment found those rooms made users feel down and sad.

Not all dark made participants sad, an accent wall or particularly vibrant dark color did not negatively affect moods. A room you are not in as much could be a good option for a darker color that is not impactful on feelings.

The researchers behind the study found that the paint colors affect not only home moods, but moods in retail and restaurant spaces too.

So what do colors each accentuate?

Green is Productivity.

Planning on redoing your office? Go for a green to encourage more work and lessen eye strain.

Orange to stimulate.

Orange is a good combination of red’s passion and yellow’s joy. Research says orange increases oxygen to the brain and helps energize and move brain activity along.

Red for passion.

Red will get your heart racing and serotonin flowing.

Blue for stability.

Calm your nerves with a blue colored wall. It will also help keep things stable and serene.

Black aggressive.

It was found in the National Hockey League through research that black jerseys were seen as more aggressive. Shortly after the 2003 study, the NHL mandated a rule that uniforms must be white. Thinking of colors for a boardroom, or closing room, go black.

Blue or Green to create efficiency.

Offices have been known to utilize blue or green to keep employees calm and reduce anxiety. The colors lower heart rates while encouraging production of work.

Gray for passive feelings.

Gray tends to make people feel passive, which on the surface can sound appealing. It also makes those in it feel uninvolved and creates a lack of energy. Choose gray wisely. Get the passivity from gray by pairing it with another color and its benefits.