This week I have been thinking a lot about the meaning and effects of colour in our lives. Colour is such a fundamental way in which we express ourselves. We see in it everything, literally! From the choice of our clothes, our lunchtime salad and the living room walls. It’s symbolism and meaning is taught to us by our loved ones, society and our culture.
Colour is also such a personal experience. We all have our own favourite colours; people like different colours like they like different foods. Research has shown colour evokes different emotions and feelings with the lighter end of the colour spectrum bringing feelings of happiness and energy (yellow, orange, green and purple) compared to darker colours that are associated with calmness or sadness (blue, brown, black and grey).
Since I help people through the bereavement process, I see a lot of black and dark colours every day. But if you know the Lady Anne team, you might have noticed that we love purple! We do this because in combination with our butterfly logo, it represents change which how we see the bereavement process.
Understanding the effect of colours is very important in helping to understand both the grief and happiness process. So, since it’s a colour I see a lot, I’ve collected some ‘trivia’ about black to share with you.
Did You Know?
- Black carries both negative and positive connotations
- Positive representations include power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, wealth, and style
- Negative representations include mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, depth, sadness, remorse, anger, and mourning
- In combination with white, it symbolises the ending of a chapter with white representing new beginnings
- At its most basic level, colour is a vibration of light. Not everyone sees colour frequency in the same way which is why someone might call the ocean “blue-green” and another might call it “green-blue”
- Black is good for communication! In combination with yellow, it has the greatest visibility compared to other colours, which is why we see it on road signs and in advertising
Hopefully, you learned something new, and when the time comes, you will have better understanding of how to plan a funeral using colours. If you have something to add or an experience to share with the affect of colours then please feel free to share with us - we’d love to hear from you!
