Psychology behind Colours

Colour is a powerful communication tool that can be used to signal action, influence mood and cause psychological reactions. Colour can also be deeply personal and are often rooted to our own experience or culture. While Perceptions of colour are somewhat subjective, there are some colour effects that have universal meaning. The psychology of colour changes with lighter or darker shades of the colours below are often associated with much different meanings. And remember for the World Wide Web, and different cultures have differing views on the meaning of colour. Below is a quick overview of the meaning of basic colours.

Black is authoritative and powerful; because black can evoke strong emotions too much can be overwhelming. A classic colour for clothing possibly because it makes the wearer appear thinner and more sophisticated. How the colour black affects us physically and mentally; 1. Feeling inconspicuous, 2.  A restful emptiness 3. Mysterious evoking a sense of potential and possibility.

WHITE projects purity, cleanliness, and neutrality. Doctors don white coats, brides traditionally were white gowns and a white picket fence surrounds a safe and happy home. How the colour white affects us mentally and physically: 1. Aids mental clarity 2. Encourages us to clear clutter or obstacles 3. Evokes purification of thoughts or actions 4. enables fresh beginnings

BLUE is the overwhelming "favourite colour." Blue is seen as trustworthy, dependable and committed. The colour of sky and the ocean, blue is perceived as a constant in our lives. Electric or brilliant blues become dynamic and dramatic, an engaging colour that expresses exhilaration. How the colour blue affects us physically and mentally 1.Calming and sedate 2.Cooling 3.Aids intuition

GREEN occupies more space in the spectrum visible to the human eye and is second only to blue as a favourite colour. Green is considered the colour of peace and ecology. How the colour green affects us physically and mentally; 1.Soothing 2.Relaxing mentally as well as physically 3. Helps alleviate depression, nervousness and anxiety 4. Offers a sense of renewal, self-control and harmony

YELLOW shines with optimism, enlightenment, and happiness. Shades of golden yellow carry the promise of a positive future. Yellow will advance from surrounding colours and instil optimism and energy, as well as spark creative thoughts. How the colour yellow affects us mentally and physically 1. Mentally stimulating 2. Stimulates the nervous system 3. Activates memory 4. Encourages communication

RED has more personal associations than any other colour. Recognized as a stimulant red is inherently exciting and the amount of red is directly related to the level of energy perceived. Red draws attention and a keen use of red as an accent can immediately focus attention on a particular element. How the colour red affects us mentally and physically 1. Increases enthusiasm 2. Stimulates energy 3. Encourages action and confidence 4.  A sense of protection from fears and anxiety

BROWN says stability, reliability, and approachability. It is the colour of our earth and is associated with all things natural or organic. How the colour brown affects us physically and mentally 1. Feeling of wholesomeness 2. Stability  3.Connection with the earth 4.  Offers a sense orderliness

GRAY is timeless, practical, and solid. A longstanding favourite suit colour, grey can mix well with any colour. Although well like and often worn, people rarely name grey as a favourite color possibly because Gray also is associated with loss or depression. How the colour grey affects us physically and mentally 1. Unsettling 2. Expectant.

Communicating the Social Way – Redefined:

Move around a coffee shop, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find people who don’t have their heads down using their cell phones to text, Tweet, or update their Facebook statuses—all while sharing a coffee with others at their table. Social media’s effect on our ability to interact and communicate is visible throughout all areas of society, so what does this mean for interpersonal communication?

Personal interaction is and has always been an important function of the human experience. Prior to the technological revolution and creation of personal computers and cell phones, relationships were typically developed and maintained by means of face-to-face interaction and verbal or written communication. Social media certainly affects how we engage with one another across ages. There has been a paradigm shift in the way we communicate; “We’d rather e-mail than meet; we’d rather text than talk on the phone. While emails and text messaging are a very convenient way to communicate, we are losing the personal touch as it relates to human interaction. Emails lack emotion and therefore can often be misinterpreted. Text messages resort to acronyms to avoid losing precious space in the limited character box. With technology, anyone can hide behind the text, the e-mail, the Facebook post or the tweet, projecting any image they want and create an illusion of their choice. They can be whoever they want to be.

Everyone is losing the personal touch that they use to get when having a face-to-face conversation. Studies show that only 7% of communication is based on the written or verbal word. A whopping 93% is based on nonverbal body language. Every relevant metric shows that we are interacting at breakneck speed and frequency through social media. But are we really communicating? With 93% of our communication context stripped away, we are now attempting to forge relationships and make decisions based on phrases, abbreviations, Snippets, Emoticons. Which may or may not be accurate representations of the truth.

Indeed, it’s only when we can hear a tone of voice or look into someone’s eyes that we’re able to know when “I’m fine” doesn't mean they’re fine at all…or when “I’m in” doesn't mean they’re bought in at all. With all the powerful social technologies at our fingertips, we are more connected – and potentially more disconnected – than ever before. 

Psychology of Online Shopping

I happened to read an article that said Indians have started to go online for shopping products more than ever before. The cost conscious Indian customer has started to evaluate offers and deals and is waiting for coupons to be used while shopping on the internet. The conservative Indian buyer has moved from booking tickets online and checking account balances to e commerce.

 The significance on social media has been so huge that customers gain confidence to try out buying online. With reviews about product and usage experiences, customers have started to venture into buying online. This has helped the online retailers’ to manipulate with colours, price points and time distortions to get us buying. Psychology plays its part on how customers react to your website content and its products. In order to keep up appearances of the website considerations such as colour, imagery, pricing need to be carefully planned. Green and Blue colours have major impact on online purchases. Studies show that product images set against green background trigger sensitivity to price; products set against blue background evoke a sense of ‘Comfort’.

For an effective online presence, you must evoke emotion, trigger a reaction and excite your visitors enough so that they not only return but they tell others about their experience in your store or website. So if your business isn't treating its online presence seriously, then you're sending the wrong message to your customers.

Social Networking - Future

I was conversing to one of my best friends about the difficulty over a profile i was sourcing for my company and he came up with a suggestion of why not post it on orkut though it sounded strange, i was for it and was helped by that strange piece of advice . How much Internet and social networking sites have occuiped us made me scribble this blog. Popular social networking sites, including MySpace, Orkut and Facebook, are changing the human fabric of the Internet, given their youthful user base -- they are unusually vulnerable to the next 'new new' thing. As quickly as users flock to one trendy Internet site, they can just as quickly move on to another, with no advance warning.A social network service focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software. Most social network services are primarily web based and provide a collection of various ways for users to interact, such as chat,messaging,email,video,voice chat,file sharing, blogging, discussion groups and so on. Social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact base.Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world.
In general, social networking allow users to create a profile for themselves. Users can upload a picture of themselves and can often be "friends" with other users. In most social networking services, both users must confirm that they are friends before they are linked. On large social networking services, there have been growing concerns about users giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information , allowing a profile to be produced on an individual's behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken. Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data - information having been altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to 3rd parties.
No matter how their future takes shape, these types of networks are ingrained in Internet society. "They're here to stay. The idea of joining online communities and being able to participate in them is not going to disappear."
If you are yet join a community get going now.

World Cup – The Count Down Begins

The countdown for the world cup has begun. In a few days from now the event would unfurl itself. Everyone would be speaking cricket for the next two months. From Board rooms to bus stands, from the kitchen to cafeteria, from the educated to the layman everyone would be commenting about cricket. Afterall it can’t get any bigger than the World Cup .The team since the time Greg Chappell had taken over as coach of the Indian team has been subjected to lot of criticism. I believe that whatever experimentation that we had carried out in the last year or two would reap us a positive result. The entire nation awaits to see the men in blue in action. Team India this time around is poised to win the cup. Of the few years of cricket that I have been following the current team that has landed in the Caribbean island is the best in terms of batting and bowling. The earlier teams too were good but the top players failed to perform in the big matches. This time around the selection has been on merit and players had been made to bend their backs to secure a birth for the flight to West Indies. Players like Saurav , Shewag, Yuvaraj, Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan have all got to sweat hard to earn their place in the team. Hope this would make them and others in the team realize the result of complacency and make them perform. This would set as a precedent for the millions of youth in this country who are playing at various levels to understand the pressure and not be complacement of their game. The players have been selected and the stage it set for them to perform as a die hard Indian fan my wishes to all the players of the Indian team. Our men have the talent and potential to lift the cup. To strengthen it they need a little bit of luck too. Join me in wishing the Indian team to World Cup the very best of Luck……..

Dabbawalas' Connecting people Differently…

The Dabbawalas are in the news again though this time not for shaking hands with Prince Charles but for embracing Airtel the telecom Major. I am sure they would have bagged this for their sheer efficiency in delivery. This time around when the reach the doorsteps of different household it would be for handing out Airtel pre-paid cards and post paid connections. With their ability to move to remote places, Airtel is set for a deeper penetration of the market, which is a major dream for other telecom majors.

Reading the newspaper today I was amused by the facts that these guys would be able to do for Airtel. I believe they have reach of about two lakh household and its believed that if each ‘dabbawala’ carries one and sell one they may end up adding four lakh new connections to Airtel. For each connection the ‘dabbawala’ makes he would be richer by Rs. 250. Sounds interesting isn’t it,

As a business students myself, what impressed me about the news item that I read today that forced me to write this blog is simple, When major telecom’s are breaking their head in the board room as how to expand the markets here we see Airtel roping the dabbawalas who would do much better than any other marketing strategy one can adopt. The ‘dabbawalas’ are identified for their honest, down- to-earth and gentlemanly nature. A true quality, which any business to be successful should possess. It might sound very fundamental but looking at their success it only goes to prove that if you are strong in your basics you are bound to succeed. A lesson to learn.

Would look forward for your forthright view on this.

Is Media Increasingly Becoming a Menance

The presence of news channels that broadcast news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These news channels, desperate for news stories that can bring in advertisements and sponsorships, convert news events into some kind of soap opera broadcast round the clock. And in their search for exclusive stories and bytes to fill up yawning time, everything is news, whether it is Saddam's execution illegal, vengeful, Rang De Basanti to be featured at Cannes, release of a movie Guru, to Ash Abhi engagement, Nagma performing pooja for Ganguly’s comeback to Shewag being dropped from the team, Chappell being discussed in the parliament to sreeshanth love for dance; is the media creating a hype in everything it captures through the lens. As a television viewer, I feel the credibility is lost in the process, dramatizing every issue is fast becoming a fad. Events like rescue of a child to kidnapping of children all get hyped. The medium can make and break personalities, for instance the Jessica Lal case was taken up due to the intervention of the media on the lop side it also has portrayed the forest brigand Verappan to modern day Robin hood. News is captured in such way to appeal to an audience instead of substance there is more of sleaze. Is the media doing its role, as it should be or is it that it is failing in its role. Friends please come forward with your forthright views on this issue.