9 See unit 5.2 for a more in-depth analysis. Wassily Kandinsky, a precursor in the study of synaesthesia between sound and colour, painted music, thus making it a visual language. See unit 2.2 for more information about the association of colours with logos in particular. ONLINE RESOURCES Music as a form of communication COLOUR AND MUSIC The psychology of colour Colour plays a very important role in visual communication from both a physical and a psychological point of view. Recent scientific studies have shown a close correlation between the characteristics of the basic colours of the electromagnetic spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet) and their use in the field of communication. Moreover, colour has always had a strong symbolic value. All in all, it has the ability to provoke particular emotions in people: warm colours, such as red, yellow, and orange, can arouse a variety of emotions ranging from comfort to warmth to hostility and anger; cool colours, such as green, blue, and purple, instead, often evoke feelings of calm or sadness. For this reason, chromotherapy (or colour therapy) is based on the assumption that colours can impact people s energy and therefore health. In other words, chromotherapy uses colours to cure some mental and physical health conditions. BLACK PURPLE BLUE MYSTERY, POWER, NOTHINGNESS ROYALTY, EXTRAVAGANCE, NOTHINGNESS CALMNESS, TRANQUILITY, SADNESS PINK to arouse: suscitare assumption: supposizione to grab: catturare harvest: raccolto instrumental: strumentale nurturing: accudimento overbearing: oppressivo soothing: rilassante 28 FEMININITY, COMPASSION, TENDERNESS Color GREEN SYMBOLISM & MEANINGS NATURE, GROWTH, ENVY RED ORANGE YELLOW PASSION, DANGER, URGENCY WARMTH, WARNING, ENERGY HAPPINESS, POSITIVITY, CREATIVITY COMMUNICATION AND PSYCHOLOGY Music Music has always played a fundamental role in human communication. The combination of sounds, melodies, and rhythms can convey emotions in an immediate, engaging, direct, and profound way and give origin to a wide range of moods. Soft, delicate music helps with relaxation and distraction; fast and pulsating beats transfer energy; light but rhythmic music can make us happier; a strong and constant rhythm can make us want to move along with the music... However, music can also evoke feelings of fear and anxiety and can even give origin to feelings of suspense and terror. It all depends on the sequence of melodies and sounds that it combines. Colour, music, and marketing Colour and music are therefore instrumental in establishing a brand and representing it: the mental, symbolic, and auditory associations a consumer correlates with them are directly transferred onto the brand, making it more memorable and assigning it distinctive qualities.