The calmness of pastels

Paskelbta: 2018-03-27

I‘ve always admired applied arts. They make simple everyday things more playful and special. Even though there aren‘t many artistic details in my activities, creativity shadows me in every step. Hand-making and packing “Good Night“ products brings me joy and fulfilment. I often wonder why I choose pastel colors for the bedroom textiles? Maybe those grey tones are a sign of Nordic style? I feel like at the end of the day my light blue shaded bedding is waiting to drown me into the night’s serenity. 

Many of us go through life inertially. Drowned in self realization whirlpool, we stop noticing the momentsworth freezing in time. I am not talking about the deep meaning, but only about everyday taste, smell, sound… And color.

All our senses are well researched and known: we all have eyes, which send the signals to our brain and gives “orders” to organs to produce hormones, which widely affect the brain, and the brain… they’re ALL in a vicious circle! However, there still are many intangible signals, and there are tons of hidden secrets and treasures in human’s minds. Suddenly comes the realization - psychologists and philosophers just cannot explain every aspect of our spectacular minds. So listening to my own intuition comes to be wonderful adventure.

In psychology, there is an opinion that the impact of colors for people is overrated. One of the main arguments is that the meaning of colors differentiate in every culture. For example, the white color in Western countries symbolizes purity, while in some Southern or Eastern countries it is perceived as the color of mourning. One more interesting fact: tasks written in red, are frequently associated with failures and lessens motivation, so the quality of accomplished tasks is lower. I would be curious to know how would we react if the traffic lights turned upside down, teachers would use a green color for marking mistakes and all warning signs were green? This contemplation emphasizes not any physical impact, but the obvious cultural effect of colors. Moreover, even the nature provides us with a lot of obvious information about the effect of colors. The natural processes that happen in nature tell us, that red color equals danger and green means it is safe.  

However, children’s sensitivity to colors is much higher than adult’s. Kids do not have pre-determined opinion and their reactions aren’t influenced by culture. This implements a very individual perception of colors. Interesting fact - newborns only separate black and white. Until the fourth month the first color that babies notice is red (supposedly, it is an easiest color to comprehend). Later on, babies start to see yellow color and when they turn six months old they perceive colors like adults.

Did you know that due to genes and a different number of chromosomes, men and women see red color differently? That is why women can interpret red and distinguish different shades of it, while men just see red. Well, but it is not a surprise at all, knowing the fact that colors are just the result of our brain’s activity.

So what are those brains of ours doing? As it turns out, lighter colors are more attractive to us than the darker ones. My intuition deeply agrees with this fact. I feel that light and pastel colors are soft, more subtle and nicer to touch.

If you haven’t had enough of interesting facts, here’s one more fun fact from the recent studies, in which the participants were students. There were two groups of colours examined - three brights and three pales red, blue, yellow. The point of the research was to learn how colors affect studying, emotions and heart rate. This researched revealed that studying surrounded by bright colors brings much higher results. Heart rate of participants was influenced by the red and yellow colors. The best emotional condition was exposed to pale color palette. Also regardless of the intensity, blue shade caused the biggest impact on the students’ relaxation and calmness.

I cannot imagine the world without all those everyday colors. Although, when giving my body into the arms of night’s rest, I give my priority to light, pastel colors. Pastel bed sheets accompanies me every night to calm and sweet dreams. It is hard to resist to this peaceful night’s invitation…

With love,
“Good Night” Daina