How Does The Color Pink Make You Feel?

by Taylor Slattery | August 11, 2023

The Meaning of the Color Pink

Have you ever taken the time to examine what the color Pink means or makes you feel inside? Ultimately, the answer to that question will depend on where in the world you were born and the sorts of cultures you were exposed to while growing up, along with other meanings that are associated with the color pink.

Although there are some marked distinctions between the East and West when it comes to color associations and their perceived masculinity or femininity, for both, these connotations are often rooted in places where these colors are observed in nature.

For example, pink is a color commonly found in flowers. In the West, the image of a pink rose is associated with romance, which carries a certain feeling of softness. In the East, pink flowers such as Sakura represent change, signaling the transition from winter to spring, inspiring feelings of growth and reflection.

The Influence of Marketing

As the West began to industrialize and mass-produce products, trendy colors were selected to appeal to larger audiences. Pastel colors were popular at the time and manufacturers found success producing products like home goods and clothing in various desaturated hues. The nature of early mass production prevented manufacturers from producing products in wide varieties.

To make their products easier and cheaper to produce, companies established conventions that would appeal to the widest audience possible, and used marketing to reinforce the ideas that underpinned these decisions. This is how the color pink came to be associated with baby girls, and blue with baby boys. 

Another example of the effect marketing has had on the cultural perceptions of color is Valentine’s Day. Due to its connection to flowers, the color pink became associated with romance and femininity. Marketers leveraged these connections to boost sales for things like greeting cards and chocolates, by convincing consumers that the giving of gifts is how to express one’s love. Over time, the color and its connotations have become ingrained in the cultural notion of romance.

A Deeper Story To Tell

While part of our reaction to the color pink may stem from cultural conditioning, there are some characteristics of the color that transcend culture. Pink has a strong connotation with youth. From the rosy red cheeks of a child, the pink pads of a puppy’s paw, to the soft pink of an unripe strawberry, pink also evokes a feeling of youthfulness and innocence.

The way our brain processes information is complex, as are the feelings that can arise when we see a color that may connect to our past experiences. While some of these patterns are the result of marketing or concepts unique to our culture or region of the world, some are simply the result of where we’ve seen them in nature. It’s important to understand this as these cultural connotations and conventions are changing all the time and there’s no inherent truth when it comes to the characteristics we attribute to color.

If you’d like to gain more expertise on how to properly utilize Pink within your creative works, then Sessions College has you covered. Hosting a variety of useful applications to graphic design, photography, digital media and more, learning Color Theory couldn’t be any easier or more convenient thanks to their exceptional team of industry-leading faculty and self-paced, 100% online course curriculum.

Taylor is the Managing Editor of Notes on Design. Taylor is a graphic designer, illustrator, and Design Lead at Weirdsleep.

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