Short answer
Incorporate established color-emotion associations into design choices to predictably shape user feelings and brand perception.
- Field
- Classic Design
- Source
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (2025)
- Method
- Systematic Review
- Sample
- 42,266 participants
- Evidence
- Strong effect
Across 128 years of research, consistent associations between specific colors and emotional states have been identified, offering a foundational understanding for designers. This classic design research insight is drawn from a 2025 study published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Using Systematic review with 42,266 participants, researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Incorporate established color-emotion associations into design choices to predictably shape user feelings and brand perception.
Color-Emotion Associations: A Century of Evidence for Design Application
Across 128 years of research, consistent associations between specific colors and emotional states have been identified, offering a foundational understanding for designers.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · 2025
Key Findings
- 01Systematic correspondences exist between all basic color categories and affective dimensions (valence, arousal, power) as well as discrete emotions.
- 02Light colors are generally associated with positive emotions, while dark colors are associated with negative emotions.
- 03Specific colors like red, yellow, and orange are linked to high arousal emotions, while blue and green are associated with low arousal positive emotions.
Application
Design takeaway
Incorporate established color-emotion associations into design choices to predictably shape user feelings and brand perception.
How to apply
When designing a product, interface, or environment, select color palettes that align with the desired emotional outcome, drawing on the identified color-emotion links.
Project actions
- 01When choosing colors for your design project, think about the emotions you want people to feel.
- 02Use this research to justify your color choices based on established psychological links.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Comprehensive review covering a vast historical period.
- +Large aggregate sample size across numerous studies.
Limitations
The research primarily looked at what people *say* they feel about colors, not necessarily how they *actually* feel when experiencing a design.
Reliability & validity
The systematic review approach enhances reliability by aggregating findings from multiple studies. Validity is supported by the consistency of findings across a long period and diverse participant groups, suggesting robust color-emotion links.
Think critically
To what extent do these long-standing color-emotion associations hold true in contemporary, diverse, and digitally mediated contexts?
Design Principles
"Color choice should be a deliberate tool for emotional communication and user experience design."
Understanding these deep-seated color-emotion links is crucial for designers aiming to evoke specific feelings or create particular atmospheres in their products, spaces, or branding. This knowledge allows for more intentional and effective communication of intended emotional responses.
What This Means for Your Design
This study shows that people have felt similar emotions when seeing the same colors for over 100 years, like feeling happy with yellow or sad with black.
How to use in your project
- 1.Reference this study when discussing the rationale behind your color selections in your design project, explaining how they are intended to evoke specific emotions.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
Paragraph starter
The systematic review by Jonauskaitė and Möhr (2025) provides extensive evidence of consistent color-emotion correspondences across 128 years of psychological research. This indicates that specific hues reliably evoke particular affective states, such as light colors being associated with positive emotions and darker colors with negative ones, a finding that directly informs the intentional use of color in design to shape user perception and emotional experience.
Source
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
Do we feel colours? A systematic review of 128 years of psychological research linking colours and emotions
journal · 2025
View sourceQuestions About This Research
- What does the research say about color-emotion associations: a century of evidence for design application?
- Incorporate established color-emotion associations into design choices to predictably shape user feelings and brand perception. Evidence: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (2025).
- Why does "Color-Emotion Associations: A Century of Evidence for Design Application" matter for design?
- Understanding these deep-seated color-emotion links is crucial for designers aiming to evoke specific feelings or create particular atmospheres in their products, spaces, or branding. This knowledge allows for more intentional and effective communication of intended emotional responses.
- How can designers apply this research?
- Incorporate established color-emotion associations into design choices to predictably shape user feelings and brand perception.
- What were the main findings?
- Systematic correspondences exist between all basic color categories and affective dimensions (valence, arousal, power) as well as discrete emotions.. Light colors are generally associated with positive emotions, while dark colors are associated with negative emotions.. Specific colors like red, yellow, and orange are linked to high arousal emotions, while blue and green are associated with low arousal positive emotions.
- What research method was used?
- Systematic Review with 42,266 participants.
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Strong effect, based on a 2025 journal from Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- When designing a product, interface, or environment, select color palettes that align with the desired emotional outcome, drawing on the identified color-emotion links.
- What are the limitations?
- Most studies focused on abstract associations rather than direct experiential impact, and findings may vary across different cultural contexts.