Tasks are red, inspirations are blue

Can a more creative life just be a can of blue paint away?  Can all of the world’s problematic little details be solved on a red desk?

According to a recent study published by the Journal Science, it may be so.

600 people took part in a recent study conducted by researchers a the University of British Columbia to determine if indeed color ( in this case a test administered on a red, blue or neutral colored computer screen ) had any effect on cognitive performance.

The New York Times reports that those asked ” to complete the detailed-orientated task of learning and then later recalling 35 words’ -did so better when the words were presented to them on a red computer screen… while at the same time when asked to perform a creative task- in this case “thinking of as many creative uses as possible for a brick’ the answers deemed more creative was awarded to the group who was presented the question on a-you guessed it- blue computer screen. ( Interestingly it appears as if the ‘neutral’ screen group fared right in the middle both times)

So what gives…why does red help us to memorize and absorb information, while blue frees our minds into creating great ideas ( at least according to these findings).

According to the Times:

Experts say colors may affect cognitive performance because of the moods they engender.

“When you feel that the situation you are in is problematic,” said Norbert Schwarz, a psycology professor at the University of Michigan, “you are more likely to pay attention to detail, which helps you with processing tasks but interferes with creative types of things.”

By contrast, Dr. Schwarz said, “people in a happy mood are more creative and less analytic.”

Many people link red to problematic things, like emergencies or X’s on failing tests, experts say. Such “associations to red — stop, fire, alarm, warning — can be activated without a person’s awareness, and then influence what they are thinking about or doing,” said John A. Bargh, a psychology professor at Yale University. “Blue seems a weaker effect than red, but blue skies, blue water are calm and positive, and so that effect makes sense too.”

Check out the entire article….. it mentions some other really fun color studies ( this cocktail party one that looks at spatial color in design is my personal favorite….Note to self *must remember to tell my brothers to paint their restaurant yellow) that may have you thinking a little bit more about how to use the power of color in your own life… now I’m off to figure out a creative way to stretch my monthly budget  ( sitting out on my blue sunporch using a bright, red pen of course! )

All about the color red

All about the color blue

photo from House Beautiful

danger sign photo from Flickr

Ocean photo from lifeboat.com/images