THE COLOUR YELLOW
MEANING
The colour yellow represents happiness, optimism, freshness, and creativity. It is associated with sunshine and spring offering hope, positivity, energy and fun.
It can also be associated with caution, irrationality, sickness and jealousy.
Being the lightest hue of the spectrum, the colour psychology of yellow is uplifting and illuminating.
HISTORY
Alongside red, yellow is one of the oldest colours in art history. Yellow is present in some of the oldest paintings dating back to ancient Egypt and ancient Rome—it can even be found as far back as prehistoric times featured in cave paintings. Yellow ochre is one of the oldest pigments in existence. Cave paintings over 17,000 years old use this pigment, which was made from the natural ochre mineral. An artificial substitute for yellow ochre was found in the 1920s, and it is still used today.
The yellow sun has been worshipped by countless religions with numerous sun gods wearing yellow as representations of it. Its associations with sunlight means that yellow is often seen as a warm colour, accounting for the connotations with happiness and optimism.
In religious paintings, yellow is typically the colour Judas wears—in Christianity it symbolises deceit. It is possible that this negative root is the reason the colour also symbolises cowardice: an example of this is the American expression, ‘yellow-belly’. In Christianity, the colour also grew to represent outsiders of faith. During the Renaissance Jewish people were marked with the colour yellow. This was brought back in the times of Nazi Germany, when Jews were marked with a yellow star.
Van Gogh is known for using multiple vibrant colours in his art and he used yellow most of all. Yellow is thought of as a very bright colour, and it is often used to emphasise certain aspects of a work of art. During Picasso’s blue period, while blue was the colour he predominantly used, the painter incorporated yellow as a contrast and highlight for faces and significant objects. Renoir would use yellow to add shine and definition to hair, or to bring out the most important element of a painting.
Outside of the art world, yellow stands out as a colour, hence why it is often used as a key colour of emergency vehicles and taxis.
Traditionally, yellow ribbons were worn as a sign of hope as women waited for their men to come home from war. Today, yellow ribbons are still used to welcome homes loved ones.
In different cultures yellow has different meanings. In Egypt yellow was worn to signify the dead. In Japan, yellow stands for courage. In India, yellow is the colour of the merchants. In China and many Asian countries, it is seen as the colour of happiness, glory, harmony, and wisdom.
Despite being the colour most associated with optimism and happiness, yellow is not a very popular colour. In a 2000 survey, only six percent of respondents said their favourite colour is yellow, compared to the 45 percent whose favourite colour is blue.
PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating is one of Pantone’s colours of the year for 2021 highlighting strength and positivity. It is a story of colour that encapsulates deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the promise of something sunny and friendly.
YELLOW AND BRANDING
In corporate branding, yellow is seen as fun, energetic, young, and attention-grabbing, especially when used as a contrast colour. Still, it’s relatively uncommon compared to the use of other primary colours.
It has associations of fun, speed, children’s products, and low cost. Yellow is also effective as a secondary or highlight colour and is associated with optimism, warmth, and clarity.