The Common Conception on the Symbolism of Color

Every color has its own meaning and what it stands for, but every person and culture puts on a different meaning depending on the color. One color could mean one thing in one country and something totally different in another, whereas some colors carry out the same meaning throughout many different cultures. This essay will talk about color symbolism between the Western world, Eastern world, and emotions.

The Eastern and Western Hemispheres seem to take different meanings to different colors. If someone in the United States looked at the color red, they would most likely say that it’s a more aggressive color. Whereas someone in Japan would say that it represents happiness. In some eastern countries, red was thought to ward off diseases so many people were seen wearing red clothing or wearing some type of jewelry. Going further into the color red, it symbolizes multiple different meanings ranging from passion, war, power, life, health, vigor, anger, and love. Red has other meanings as well that can be depicted in the western world and that meaning is ‘Stop’. Throughout history we’ve used red to convey the word stop which can be seen in our Traffic Lights and Danger/ Do Not Enter Signs of today. Another way red is symbolized is through emotions. When someone gets angry, it can often be described as “seeing red”, this also raises a person’s heartbeat and breathing.

Blue is another color that has many different meanings between the western and eastern cultures. In the western world, blue symbolizes Democracy, authority, tranquility, and sadness. Eastern cultures have some different meanings for blue which include relaxation, healing, and strength. When it comes to emotion, light blue associates itself with health, depth, stability and faith, and a dark blue represents knowledge, power, integrity, and trust. Blue is also said to symbolize loyalty in job interviews. Unlike blue, green may be a close relative, but they mean different things.

A relatively similar color to blue is green which is neutral. Green is a more restful color which makes sense because green is more associated with nature. Some things that green symbolizes are nature, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, fertility, and envy. This color is also used in traffic lights more so to tell drivers that its safe for them to drive after others have driven. In the Western world, green is often associated with jealousy, money, progression, and environmental awareness. In the East, green mainly represents fertility, money, youth, and infidelity. When it comes to emotions, green represents envy and jealousy whereas a light green represents sickness and inexperience. Green is also said to be the easiest color on the eyes which can help improve your vision.

Yellow is a cheerful color that can capture your attention quickly. It’s supposed to be an optimistic color but more often, people will get upset when in a yellow room. In western countries, yellow symbolizes happiness, cheerfulness, optimism, warmth, joy, and caution. In some eastern countries, yellow represents envy and good luck.

White isn’t exactly called a color, but a shade. It is mainly associated with purity, innocence, space, neutrality, light, and truth. When it comes to China and other Eastern countries, white is more so associated with mourning, death, unhappiness, and misfortune unlike in the United States where its traditional in weddings. If you have ever watched a movie or a TV show where a character is shown raising a white flag, it signifies a truce or in some cases surrender.

Black is another shade that isn’t classified as a color either. Western countries signify black with sorrow, gloom, and death along with evil, fear, and darkness. In the Eastern countries, black is for young boys and can symbolize health and prosperity. The Japanese see black as mysterious and feminine energy, whereas in India it to, symbolizes evil, rebellion, and death like the United States. This is the usual color that Emos and Goths wear simply because of what black symbolizes, although you do not need to wear black to be Goth. I guess just simply listening to Goth music puts you in the Goth category.

Finally, orange is a nice warm color that usually represents Autumn, the season of death. Western countries associate orange with the harvest time in the fall. Other western countries see orange as sacred and auspicious. In eastern countries, it mostly represents courage, good health, love, happiness, humility, and good luck. Going into emotions, this color gives off the feeling of enthusiasm, fascination, creativity, determination, success, and encouragement.

In conclusion, every color represents something different than that of another. Many cultures all around the world have different meanings tied to specific colors which then impacts our interpretation of each color. Red in western countries symbolizes passion, war, health the means to stop, and so on. Whereas in eastern countries, it symbolizes happiness and if worn, was thought to ward off diseases. Blue is a light relaxing color that symbolizes sadness, tranquility, authority, and democracy in the western countries. Eastern countries tend to see blue as healing, calm, and relaxing instead of what western countries depict its meaning as.