Color In Communication Essay

People tend to think of communication as the message which is being communicated. As we know, there are many other variables including tone of voice, credibility, appearance, and nonverbal cues like facial expression and gestures. Another influence on the interpretation of the message is color. It unconsciously evokes an attitude which can help or hurt the communicator and his message, making color a great influence in communication.

I chose to examine color 's effect on communication for several reasons. First, I find it interesting. It helps a person realize what to and not to wear to give a presentation or on a date. Color 's effect on our attitude plays into interior design when painting walls, although it is not exactly communication.

For example, he might wear blue after a crisis as an attempt to calm people down. Before researching this, I knew people have general preconceptions of what the color 's mean. For example, red means love, anger, or "stop" in America. Therefore, would wearing a red shirt in a presentation help or hurt? I knew that red catches attention but it also signals anger so listeners will perk up for the message but if someone disagrees or doesn 't like the message or communicator, he may become very mad or even aggressive. My real questions are this: do school colors communicate something to college students? For example, could students here at Western Kentucky University be more aggressive because the school’s primary color is red? On the other hand, are

Visual communication is communication through visual aids, usually two-dimensional images such as pictures or billboards, but nonverbal cues like gestures also fit this category (BusinessDictionary.com). Red and yellow are frequently used in visual communication for fast food restaurants. According to Haller, the colors stand for speed, which is the principle of those chains. Red arouses and increases hunger and appetite as yellow creates friendliness and happiness, creating the associations between fast food and satisfaction (Haller). The two colors are also warm colors which catch your attention and can be seen from far away. On the other hand, cool colors can decrease appetite, since few foods are naturally blue, green, or purple (Radwan). Again, these colors affect our attitudes. When you see a logo, or sign, you think of the restaurant, and you have a sense of like or dislike, which leads to your decision to go to or avoid the restaurant. It happens in other advertising fields as well. Gilliam and Unruh conducted research on the effects of seeing pink on biological, physical, and cognitive behavior. They found it slows the endocrine system and relaxes muscles, which explains why Pepto Bismol is pink with pink packaging (Khan). If blue is a calming color which reduces heart rate, could there be a link between Walmart’s logo and the fact that people everywhere are calm while shopping as if they have all the time in the world in