What do you know about the meaning of color?

Here is a table of colors and many of the meanings they tend to evoke. Notice how colors can mean very different things - it is not that the colors themselves have meaning, it is that we have culturally assigned meanings to them. For example, red means warmth because of the color of fire. Likewise, it means anger because of the increased redness of the face when it flushes with blood. Purple symbolizes royalty only because the only purple dye that was available for many centuries was very expensive.

Color	Meaning
RED:	warmth, love, anger, danger, boldness, excitement, speed, strength, determination, desire, courage
ORANGE:	cheerfulness, low cost, affordability, enthusiasm, stimulation, creativity
YELLOW:	attention-grabbing, comfort, liveliness, cowardliness, hunger, optimism, overwhelm, Summer, comfort, liveliness, intellect, happiness, energy
GREEN:	durability, reliability, environmental, luxurious, optimism, well-being, nature, calm, relaxation, Spring, safety, honesty, optimism, harmony, freshness
BLUE:	peace, professionalism, loyalty, reliability, honor, melancholia, boredom, coldness, Winter, depth, stability, professionalism,  honor, trust
PURPLE:	power, royalty, nobility, elegance, sophistication, artificial, luxury, mystery, royalty, elegance, magic
GRAY:	conservatism, traditionalism, intelligence, serious, dull, uninteresting
BROWN:	relaxing, confident, casual, reassuring, nature, earthy, solid, reliable, genuine, Autumn, endurance
BLACK:	Elegance, sophistication, formality, power, strength, illegality, depression, morbidity, night
WHITE:	Cleanliness, purity, newness, virginity, peace, innocence, simplicity, sterility, snow

 Cultural effects

Remember that color can be culturally dependent - for example, although Black is the color of death in many countries, in China the color associated with death is White.

So what?

So use the color in situations where you are trying to persuade. Use shades of brown and green to relax people and say you are environmentally friendly. Use red to kick people into action. And so on.

McDonald's, apparently, use red and yellow because red=fast and yellow=hunger (hence fast food!).

Remember also that meaning is what we create. It does not exist in the color itself and individual meanings may or may not exist in different cultures and individuals.