Choosing and living with colours can be a very personal matter and enjoyment or dislike of colours is very much a matter of personal taste. Not withstanding the fact that some people are actually colour blind and unable to distinguish between certain colours, there is an emotional response to colours affecting the way that they are perceived. For example, red, orange and yellow are warm stimulating colours, whereas blue, green and violet are cool and relaxing.

Colours have many associations which are commonly experienced and can create a mood or atmosphere in spaces which can affect people’s health and well-being, sometimes at both ends of the emotional scale. In westernised cultures colours have the following associations.

Red with health and well-being, with vitality, activity, the ‘flame’ of human spirit, yet also with anger, tension, warning and fire. A red light means ‘stop’! Seeing red means being rather annoyed. ‘In the pink’ means feeling well; tickled pink means happy, looking through rose coloured spectacles means being unrealistic. Red letter day, red carpet, paint the town red are associated with celebrations; a red herring is a false trail.

Yellow with the cheerfulness of the sun, a warm glow of contentment and yet also as a signal of danger and as a description of a coward. ‘As good as gold’ means being well-behaved.

Green with the calmness of nature and growth, the soothing refuge of the theatre ‘green room’, and yet of also being unwell, inexperienced or green with envy. Green is used to discuss ecology and concern for the environment, energy conservation and sustainability. Yet it is also associated with money and a green light for ‘go’ and ‘greener pastures’ are always somewhere else.

Blue with the calmness or tranquillity of the sea and the sky. Blue relaxes the central nervous system and is good for healing yet ‘out of the blue’ means unexpected and blue language is vulgar. A ‘true blue’ is a real friend, and yet blue also means sadness and longing; ‘The Blues’ is a form of emotional music associated with hard times.

White with purity and cleanliness, yet also of being frightened, ‘as white as a sheet’ and the white flag of surrender. A white elephant is spectacularly unwanted and a whitewash is a total defeat.

Grey with safety and security, but also non-involvement, concealment or doubt. Grey matter is brains and intellect, but ashen means illness or fear.

Black with power and elegance, and yet also with death. Black suggests nothingness, extinction, the end. Blackmail, black list, black sheep, black market are all unfriendly or unpleasant terms.

Purple and violet with mysticism, sensitive intimacy, charm, royalty and opulence. A purple patch means a successful period, purple haze is a state of confusion, purple prose is exaggeration.

Brown with roots, hearth and family security.

Silver with sleekness, elegance, modern, distinguished. Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth is a putdown.

Also, how about marooned, bloody, crimson, bronzed, gingerly, honey, jaundiced, mustard, plum, rusty and sanguine which are all regularly used words based on colours.

The generally accepted theory for colour co-ordination comes from the work of AH Munsell, an American art teacher, who had the idea of linking the colours of the rainbow into a circle. The Munsell colour wheel has ten colours around its circumference, but further variations can be added in equal percentage steps as one colour shifts towards the next. The Dulux Colour Dimensions Circle includes 40 colours in the same overall format and is an excellent graphic representation of the association of colours. The typical colour wheel has some interesting properties (see image).