Phillip Stutts agrees he might look great in a pink shirt and possibly would wear one, but there’s something about the color that stops him cold when he sees it on all the walls in a woman’s boudoir. “It’s a red flag for me,” said the 29-year-old construction project manager from Abingdon.
Colors have been known to have a psychological effect that make people feel a multitude of emotions. For Stutts, part of whose job is being sensitive to color distinctions, the particular placement of pink sends him signals he should be on guard in that relationship — or stay away.
Not all psychologists buy into the belief colors affect behavior or a particular use of it has deep meaning. But visual merchandisers, whose job it is to create buying-appeal for everything from apples to zebra-print rugs, are the sales-floor psychologists who say color moves people.
“Color evokes memories and feelings” said Dayle Duncan Bennett, a former visual merchandiser at Neiman Marcus who now works as a designer at Hallmark’s corporate headquarters in Kansas City. In stores, “We use colors along with type and shapes to manipulate the mood and to get people to do something.” The “something” is to buy, and it works.
After working with scores of clients over the year, designer David Reiersen recognizes the impact of color on the people in that space and that all colors can have both a positive and negative effect.
“Color is all around us. It is so highly personal. Any color that represents food colors would be good in a dining room or living room” because it makes you want to eat and be sociable.
Although Reiersen says he is puzzled by Stutt’s reaction to the pink walls, when working with clients, “I’m not going to recommend a pink color except for children who are all about color and movement.”
Real or imagined, color experts say some research shows that the mood-altering effects of color may only be a temporary experience.
A room’s color might trigger feelings of anxiety or calm but the effect will wear off once you leave the space.
Editor’s note: Beyond the warning signs of pink paint in a relationship, Stutt’s next alarm is set off by a collection of stuffed animals on the bed.
