The colour green and its meaning tend to be associated as a colour that brings a sense of wellbeing and balance to our lives. It is a colour that is evident in nature and allows a balanced view of things and then allow things to grow.
In this post, I will look in-depth at the meaning of green, how different shades have different meanings to us and when we should consider using the power of green in our branding.
Green and its meaning in the colour of the heart chakra – inner peace & love
Why am I talking about chakras and what is a chakra? A chakra is what is known as an energy wheel that helps make up our spiritual aura ( that can be seen by the use of special cameras) of seven colours. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple and gold/white. It is believed to relate to how we think and how we experience the world, how people see us, as well as our physical and mental health.
Each chakra has a purpose beyond its colour and the heart is believed to be the chakra of inner peace, communication, emotional balance and love.
It is believed to relate to how we build relationships with others, acceptance of self and differences in others, personal values and ethics and following one unique path in life. This is the essence of green in our spiritual being which gives us an inclination of when we might choose to use the colour when communicating a brand message, one that relates to moral understanding, compassion and or bringing peace to its users.
If we consider a business that already uses green successfully in their branding we can see how the chakras purpose plays a part in the selection of the colour. Starbucks, a famous coffee outlet uses the colour green in relation to how the chakra works. It is in my belief that they use the colour green to give a psychological impression that sitting in one of their fine cafes will bring a sense of wellbeing, balance and peace whilst sipping on one of their beloved coffees, clever considering that caffeine drinks actually make you more anxious and out of balance rather than more at peace.
The famous pharmaceutical logo uses the colour green to help represent bringing your body back into wellbeing, or back into balance and equilibrium.
The colour green in nature
The colour green in nature is the dominant colour of nature and usually, after a walk in the countryside, brings us back into a sense of balance. Notice the next time you go for a walk in the country or a park when you are stressed or worried about something how it makes you feel and notice how your mind goes from one of tension to one of peace.
Green is also symbolic of growth in nature, a seed that starts off brown grows a shoot that then eventually turns into a leaf in order for it to start absorbing the rays of the sun to allow it to grow even larger so green can be representative of this characteristic of plants. Why are leaves green though? rit-mcsl explains
That’s because of the stuff leaves are made of and how it plays with the light from the sun. One sort of stuff in the leaves is called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the main part of the leaf that makes them so good for nature. The chlorophyll takes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and uses water and energy from sunlight to create sugar. That sugar is food for the tree and for animals (like us) that eat the leaves or make yummy things like maple syrup from the tree sap.
The bad side of the colour green
Green can often be seen as possessive, materialistic and greedy particularly with the relation to money.
Also as it is a colour of compassion and reasoning it can promote a sense that you are a do-gooder and people sometimes, unfortunately, can get a little jealous or envious of those characteristics causing others to be ‘green with envy.
The colour green and its cultural representation in different countries
Culturally speaking the colour green has vast differences depending upon where you are from. For the western world, it can mean that you are lucky ( like the Irish), environmentally conscious and the symbol of progress and in turn, particularly in the USA money due to its currency being of green ink.
In the East, green is also seen as the colour of nature and new life but when thought about in a negative sense it can be representative of cheating on your other half. Likewise green is negative in many Latin American countries representing none other than death (oo-er!) so be cautious if marketing to South Americans.
Green is a very good colour for the middle east as it is closely associated with Islam, good luck, wealth and strength.
How green can affect our mood
Green as already discussed, helps us to bring a sense of calm to our hectic lives, it brings stability when there was anxiety and the ability and strength to cope with adversity and a deeper sense of understanding of all things taking a more balanced view on situations and matters.
Shades of green and its meaning
Although all that I have spoken about here is a holistic view of green, green has many different variants of its colour combining it with the pigments of other colours. This website by empowering yourself with colour psychology explains some of the shades of green and their psychological meaning in more depth.
With the colour green, you should use it for a brand that sells natural products, compassionate or humanist services, a company that focuses on bringing balance to disorder, a business that brings wealth to its users both in materialistic and spiritual form or a sense of hope to people that require some guidance to grow.
I hope this brief article about the colour green has been useful, do you have any other points that you think may be useful to someone thinking about using green in their design work? If you need support with your branding or web design maybe check out our design services here.