Free Guide to Color Symbolism for Powerful Creative Projects

Learn how you can use color theory and psychology to evoke emotions in your viewer with this visual PDF guide

A lot of us connect with color, making it an incredibly powerful tool in any creative project. How you mix and match hues can be used to build a visual language that evokes various emotions—which means understanding how to use color will have a strong impact on what you create.

In her Domestika course, mixed-media artist Nneka Jones (@artyouhungry) emphasizes that when using color, “it’s not only important to pay attention to the color itself, but how it will make your viewer feel.” For her signature embroidered portraits, she intentionally chooses colors to tell stories full of feeling.

To help you better understand how to unlock the power of color in your projects, here Nneka shares her free guide to color symbolism.

What’s in the resource?

In this downloadable guide, you will learn about how colors are connected to psychology, what they symbolize and, in turn, how they impact emotions.

Nneka’s shares a color symbolism chart that breaks down colors according to different meanings they’re associated with, such as purples with richness and luxury and yellows with friendliness and warmth.

She also outlines the positive and negative emotions associated with each color on the chart. For example, while yellow is associated with sunshine and confidence, on the “negative” side it’s also associated with hazard and cowardice.

Finally, you’ll learn about the different impacts of warm and cool colors, and how you can combine and contrast colors for different effects—with visual examples to inspire your own projects.

Download the Free Guide to Color Symbolism and Emotions

After clicking the download button, you’ll find a PDF file titled Free Guide to Color Symbolism and Emotions, by Nneka Jones in the Downloads folder on your computer.

Sign up for Nneka’s course, Realistic Embroidered Portraiture: Tell Stories with Color. Through the course, you’ll learn how to apply a painterly approach to color and stitching to develop portraits with a meaningful message.

Discover more resources to improve your color theory

1. Learn the basics of color theory with the experts in our free eBook: A Beginner's Guide to Color Theory.

2. From WALL·E to Peppa Pig, discover how animators use color to tap into our subconscious and tell stories.
https://www.domestika.org/en/blog/10559-free-guide-to-color-symbolism-for-powerful-creative-projects/edit#6
3. Check out Domestika's online color theory courses to learn about using colors for striking interior design ideas, photography, textile projects, and much more.