THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF COLOR are a major concern in designing educational environments. Teachers often make use of colors to command attention or create a situation that encourages learning. The Bourges (1997) system of color is an excellent tool to determine which colors have which effects. This article strives to give advice on the effective use of colors in classroom environments. The visuals will provide examples for color implementation.

According to the Bourges system red colors are associated with strong emotions, like love, anger and passion. They are also noticed first and therefore primarily used to draw attention to something. Yellows are also used to command attention and serve often as warning colors. They are very stimulating for the observer. Greens on the other hand are more calming and relaxing. Blue is also a very calm but very cold color. It generates the illusion of distance and is thus often used as a background color.

To illustrate the psychological power of color consider the role colors play as carriers of warnings. Red and yellow are the colors mostly associated with danger and are often used to convey a credible threat, as for example in the color coding scheme for Terrorist Threats of the Department of Homeland Security.

Another example would be a Stop sign, like the one in the picture on the left. 

Drag the cursor over the image to see the effect of a different color.

The intense crimson red demands the attention of the bypasser and conveys the threat of the traffic in the upcoming intersection. Watch how this effect gets lost as the color of the Stop sign changes upon dragging your cursor over the picture. This is an example of how manipulative colors are to our perception of our environment.

In regard to classroom environments the choice of color can influence the students performance and behavior in class (Thompson, 2003). It has been shown that colors might be used differently for different age groups and classrooms. Elementary school children profit from bright colors, such as warm tones of white and creams, which keep their attention up without distracting them too much.

Examine the effects of the background color, as you drag the cursor over the picture.

The white also emphasizes any artwork the students put up themselves. Middle and High school students might be more attracted by more subtle colors, such as light greens and blues, since they often view brighter colors as immature.

The picture on the right shows a classroom with a warm white, which helps students to keep their attention up. Examine the effect of the walls changing color as you drag your cursor over the picture. The article by Sheri Thompson on the use of color in classroom environments on the School Planning and Management webpage provides more information.

Teachers have always, consciously or not, used colors to influence the learning outcomes of their students. Consider for example the famous red ink used to correct papers. It definitely draws attention to the mistakes made by the student, but it also creates an atmosphere of threat.

But it might actually make students feal anxious about the mistakes they make and thus be counterproductive to enhancing their learning outcomes. Teachers might consider using a color like violet or purple instead. In the Bourges system they are very reflective colors, yet less threatening than red, since they are in between red and blue.
Intructors who want to draw attention to themselves should try to do so by using color. 

Drag the cursor over the image and watch the teacher become less visible.

According to Tufte (1990) one of the main principles of using color is to contrast the color of items that need attention with the color of the background. This priciple of contrast can be a usefull tool for teachers who want to focus the attention of their students on their person. The picture on the left shows an instructor dressing up in bright colors contrasting the background. Watch what happens as the color of the shirt changes upon dragging your cursor over the picture.

For more information see also these other articles on color in the EET:

The psychology of color
Principles of using color
Setting the mood with color

Dennis Tietz, Graduate Student

Tietz, D. (2005). Color in education.