Black Colour Psychology and Meaning
- Associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.
- A mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown (black holes).
- Usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humor, ‘black death’).
- Denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color.
- The symbol of grief.
Black is a color that has many different connotations. It can be seen as threatening or as mournful, but, like all colors it has positive and negative aspects.
Mystery
The first association black has is with mystery, the unknown and the hidden. Black is a color linked to secret knowledge and even has a lot of association with magic or esoteric ideas. On a more practical scale, black is the color that hides. It can be used to hide feelings, to separate oneself from the world, even to hide weight, as it is a slimming color.
Power
Black is linked to power. It’s an intimidating color that shows that the person wearing is setting themselves apart from others. It’s a color that indicates strength and discipline. Black doesn’t usually express many emotions, rather, it conceals them, giving the person in black an air of superiority.
Elegance
This is a color that is considered to be quite elegant and simple at the same time. A black outfit can be seen as more fancy than a colorful one. It’s a color used for special occasions.
Evil
Black is certainly a color linked with evil. It is often used to show that someone is the villain in shows and films, and it is the stereotypical color that people who are lonely or antisocial wear.
Mourning
In the Western culture, black is the color related to death and mourning. Black is seen as a grim color that reflects the severity of a loss and the pain people are feeling. It’s a very serious color that expresses grief.
Positive and Negative Aspects of Black
Black is a color to be used with caution, as it’s positive aspects often are closely linked to it’s negative aspects. Black suggests power, elegance and style, but also intimidation, aloofness and limited emotion. It is a color often linked with the idea of evil. Black is related to mystery and concealment. It is also a serious colour traditionally used to show one’s grief.
Meaning
Effects Of Black
- Formal, dignified and sophisticated: As in the little black dress and the formal dinner suit.
- Aloof: sets itself aside from others with its heavy and intense energy. Keeps others at arm’s length.
- Depressing: Black can close us to the positive aspect of life, forcing us to look at our disappointments and the black or negative aspect of our life. It can create a fear of the future.
- Pessimistic: Too much black encourages us to look at the negative side of life.
Positive Traits
- Positive keywords include protection and comfort, strong, contained, formal, sophisticated, seductive, mysterious, endings & beginnings.
Negative Traits
- include aloof, depressing and pessimistic, secretive and withholding, conservative and serious, power and control, sadness and negativity.
If favourite colour
- You may be looking for protection from any negativity that surrounds you.
- You may wish to create an aura of mystery and intrigue, as in the sexy black negligee.
- You may be going through a stage of self-denial, not allowing pleasure and joy into your life.
- You hold things inside and are not good at sharing yourself with others, possibly out of fear.
- You are methodical in your work, making sure everything is completed as required.
Deepest Need
- to have power and control in order to protect your emotional insecurities.
If disliked colour
- You are a light-hearted and easy going person – not so serious, conservative and formal.
- You may feel that it is a depressing colour, especially if you have a happy, extroverted and optimistic outlook on life.
- You are not into power and control – you have a gentle disposition and black is too intimidated for you
- You are practical and down-to-earth and wish to be seen as overly sophisticated.
- You may have a fear of the dark from your childhood that you can’t shift.
- You may have been dominated and intimidated during your early years and black brings back those feelings.
