Color Designs & Emotions

Jewelry is an express and extension of the person. We’ve discussed in other posts that what we wear reflects who we are or want to be; rather it is professional and classy, sassy and casual or even flirty and wild. Designing jewelry is like being on the cutting edge of a ‘finished look’ to someone’s outfit. But it is more than that, it also an expansion of the designer and artist that created the jewelry; created from their imagination relaying on skill and experience to shape gemstones, wire, chain, silver, gold, copper, glass and crystals and anything else that they can get their hands on into something unique – an expansion of the artist or designer personality connecting with their clients and customers.

Which leads me to an interesting article I found online at the Sessions Online School of Design; I’m reprinting excerpts because of the value of the information and the use of yet another tool for everyone to use.

Using Colors to Connect with Your Audience

“Color creates audience responses by stimulating emotions and communicating on levels other than reason and intellect. It can excite, impress, entertain and persuade, but color can also create instant negative associations. It’s a good idea to be aware of how the majority of people respond to color and use this information in your choice of colors. Use the guidelines in the chart below to help you choose the colors that are most appropriate for the message you want to get across in work.

Color Chart (suggested meanings) The chart below represents several meaning for color. Each color may represent another emotion to you. Use your best judgment when dealing with color and make sure to get feedback on the colors you use.

Red
Aggressive, strong & heavy
Blue
Comfort, loyalty & security
Yellow
Caution, Spring & brightness
Green
Money, health, food & nature
Brown
Nature, aged, & eccentric
Orange
Warmth, excitement, & energy
Pink
Soft, healthy, childlike & feminine
Purple
Royalty, sophistication & religion
Black
Dramatic, classy & serious
Gray
Business, cold & distinctive
White
Clean, pure & simple

Most colors go well together with members of the same "family". Warm colors for instant, such as red, brown, orange and yellow look better together in combination warm colors; cool colors like blue, green, gray and white with cool colored families. Using color families generally makes for a more appealing presentation and makes the presentation come across as ‘complete’ rather than ‘mixed’.

Contrast is fun and can be used effectively to accent and draw attention to such things as pendants or focal beads. In general, keep the contrast low. Too much contrast makes your work look obscure and uneven, avoid the extremes.”

All good advice when designing at any level or anything, not just jewelry. Try mixing some of the colors together to get an eye for what ‘emotions’ your jewelry pieces might be saying. This is just another tool one can use in order to reach out to their audience, clients and customers.

Excerpts from Sessions Online School of Design