Emotions and Colour

In order for our tree to display emotions into color, we need to explore the psychological effects of color - the emotions that they represent or emit when we look at them.

After doing some research online, I encountered the chart below that clearly ties colors and emotions together.

According to the chapter on Color Theory and Emotion, although no hard evidence exists to confirm that color affects emotion or mood, many experts in a variety of disciplines argue that colors do influence individuals' moods, emotions, and even behaviors. Each color is said to produce a different effect in individuals.

Most of us know that blue and sadness represent each other, just how anger/danger and red relate. However, looking at this chart it is interesting to see the many variety and intensity of emotions, and the colors they tie to.

For example, the emotion afraid is represented as yellow. However, unsure is light yellow and terrified is dark yellow. This patterns occurs throughout different emotions. Low-intensity emotions are lighter shades, and high intensity emotions are their darker counterpart. As designers, I think it is a handy idea to have a one these charts near our work station.

In regards to the mood tree, instead of emitting colours with the purpose of invoking emotions in individuals, the tree will be doing the exact opposite. It will act as a reflection of the moods of the citizens in the city. Although it will be natural for individuals to experience either negative or postive effect due to the colors displayed on the tree, our hope is that each person becomes an active part of the interactive experience with the tree, and that they are encouraged to to reflect on how they feel and empathize with other citizens.