Yellow… it makes us think of happiness, sunshine, warmth, and brightness. Yellow is a primary colour and can range anywhere from a dark gold to lemon/lime. It is the most luminous of colours and we use it to catch attention, be seen at night, and promote visibility. Insects see yellow to collect pollen therefore yellow is the most common of flowers. It is a very important colour in our daily life, we see if commonly in our food, we recognize school buses and heavy equipment for safety reasons, and objects that are gold are seen as precious.
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers was an array of cheerfulness and delight. Curious George had a friend with a big yellow hat and kids love Sponge Bob. In almost all cultures, yellow can be symbolized in religion, a county’s flag, politics or music. Remember the Beatles Yellow Submarine?
McDonalds, Shell, Nikon, Best Buy, Hertz all use yellow to catch our attention, marketers have known this for years. Yellow stands out the most and stays in our memory the longest. Who can forget the Shell logo? Yellow is often too bright to stand on its own so we see it paired with black, green, or red in ads.
Frankly, I am just happy to see some yellow spring flowers to add the needed sunshine to our wet coast!