Turquoise, specifically Pantone® 15-5519, has been crowned Color of the Year for 2010. If it makes you feel like slipping on your sarong and sipping a Coconut Willie by the pool…well, then you are a very strange young man. But on trend, apparently.

Pantone, the global authority on color and color standards for the design industry, says that Turquoise (which they inexplicably capitalize every time they mention it) “evokes thoughts of soothing tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of well-being.” It’s also the color of a ’55 Ford Station Wagon I once had that was actually the cause of many of my everyday  troubles but we’ll let that pass. » Read the rest of this entry «

Smart marketers know that color has a strong effect on emotional response. Specific colors have the ability to raise our blood pressure beyond our conscious control, increase our pulse rate, breathing and adrenaline—or to calm us down, pacify us.

Color psychologists cite an increasing number of studies linking colors to specific responses. One study found that weight lifters have more powerful performances in blue rooms, and another found that babies cry more frequently in yellow rooms. Packaging and signage in reds and orange can stimulate appetite and seem to markedly increase impulse purchases.

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