The Trend Curve is all about color forecasting, but our team also pays attention to color psychology. That’s why we took notice of The National Painting Week Color Psychology Study, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Sherwin-Williams. This new study reveals color preferences and perceptions for the home, along with sentiment toward certain colors, using survey data of more than 2,200 Americans and an analysis of public social media posts. Here are the top findings from the study:
Most Americans agree vibrant colors should be used in the home, but neutral colors dominate social media mentions:
- The majority of Americans (58%) agreed that more vibrant colors should be used throughout a home rather than just neutral tones
- Analysis of social media posts shows the colors white (29%) followed by black (16%) are most frequently mentioned in conversations that include colors paired with areas of the home
Blue and black most often selected as a favorite color:
- 62% of Americans chose blue as a favorite color
- 74% of men and 51% of women chose blue as one of their favorite colors
- Black was chosen by 32% of Americans as a favorite color
- 41% of millennials said the color black was a favorite, compared to 28% of Baby boomers
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- Handley Drive
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- Bloomingville
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- Frech Heritage
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Color perceptions: colors affect our mood and evoke different emotions:
- Millennials are more likely than older generations to most associate green with energy (33% vs. 24% of Gen Xers3 and Boomers)
- Baby boomers are more likely than millennials to associate green with calmness (26% vs. 20%)
- 42% of Americans associate yellow with happiness; men are more than twice as likely as women (35% to 17%) to associate yellow with “weakness.”
- The top three emotions Americans associate with red are excitement (49%), energy (45%) and strength (41%)
Americans have plans to paint, and many would pay a professional:
- Nearly 3 in 5 Americans (58%) plan to paint an area of their home in the next 12 months
- Nearly 4 in 5 Americans (79%) would hire a professional to paint areas of their home
- 52% of millennials would rather get professional help choosing paint colors than choosing clothing
Regional differences (color discussions vary by geography):
- When looking at social media posts including areas of the home, mentions of green, pink and red index higher in the Midwest than in other regions
- In the South, blue indexes higher than in other regions
- In the West, men are most likely to mention black and women are most likely to mention red
- Those in the South have a higher likelihood to mention pink near exterior areas of the home
The National Painting Week Color Psychology Study was conducted online within the United States between March 23-27, 2017 among 2,201 adults (aged 18 and over) by Harris Poll on behalf of Sherwin-Williams via its Quick Query omnibus product. Social results were obtained by harvesting 12,089 public geo-tagged social media posts in the U.S. between January 1 – April 13, 2017 where selected colors appear within two words of areas of the home.