Active orange. This is the color of orange fruit, orange construction cones, and orange pumpkins. Orange evokes feelings of being friendly, fun, playful, childlike, flamboyant, energetic, gregarious, vibrant, social, and welcoming. It encourages movement, implies good cheer, indicates form, promotes joyfulness, releases emotion, and suggests a warm environment.

The active color orange in settings like entertainment venues and cafeterias Photo: Used under license from Shutterstock.com

 

Cultural symbolisms for orange include:

• France: hope & fertility
• China: power
• United States: Halloween, creativity, autumn

Warm colors from this area of the palette include melon, clay, salmon, coral, peach, rust and copper. These colors are appropriately suited to active environments, areas incorporating fun, athletic and sports facilities, cosmetic areas, dancing establishments, dining areas and cafeterias (including restaurants/fast food facilities), energetic atmospheres, entertainment areas, healthcare environments, high energy areas, industrial safety/hazard areas, office areas, passageways and corridors, physical therapy areas, showers and restrooms.

Innovative yellow. Yellow shows up on bright yellow flowers, yellow taxis, and those classic yellow smiley faces. It is attributed with making people feel cheerful, happy, joyful, optimistic, imaginative, inspirational, creative, inquisitive, hopeful, and spiritual. Yellow advocates innovation, denotes a modern attitude, develops enlightenment, encourages spontaneity, expresses caution, indicates intellectualism, implies free spirit, inspires creativity, invites newness, denotes lightness of spirit, offers zest and joyfulness, promotes surprise, radiates warmth, raises alert level, proposes originality, and creates a sense of serendipity.

The innovative color yellow in bright settings such as entry lobbies and urban housing Photo: Used under license from Shutterstock.com

 

Yellow personifies a true variety of symbolism in different cultures:

• India: brides
• Egypt: prosperity
• Western: hope, joy, happiness, hazards, cowardice

Variations within the yellow grouping include ochre, buttercup, cream, gold, ivory, almond and lemon. It is effective in athletic facilities, creative environments, educational areas, fast food locations, healthcare, public areas, office areas, recreation locations, and stairwell areas. It is also an industrial safety color used to invoke caution.