The meaning of the color pink.

Pink often falls on opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. Learn what meanings it has and how you can best use pinks in your designs.

Did you know that once upon a time, pink was a boyish, masculine color? This goes to show how much the meanings of colors can change over time. It also demonstrates how important color choices are for a designer — not many people today would think of a pink design as “manly”.

In this article, we’ll look at the meaning of pink and what kind of emotions it can inspire when used in design projects.

The color of opposites.

Once a color for boys, today pink is mainly associated with feminine traits. Soft and pastel pinks inspire feelings of kindness and compassion. Pink is a nurturing, playful, and nostalgic color that takes people back to their childhoods.

That said, pink is a color of opposites since it can make us think of both innocence and burning passion. Bright and hot pinks are associated with love, romance, and even lust. Intense pinks create a sense of urgency. Because it has white mixed into it, though, pink doesn’t inspire the same kind of aggressive action as red.

In addition to red, pink shares a trait with yellow — it’s associated with childishness and immaturity. Due to its modern, feminine associations, pink can also unfairly make people think something is too emotional and timid.

Shade matters with pink.

Since pink has so many different meanings, you must carefully consider which shade to use in your designs. Soft pinks can make for good main choices in a color scheme when you want to calm your audience and create a sense of warmth.

On the other hand, hot pinks are best used as accent or spot colors to catch people’s attention and inspire them to action. Discover more design tips that can help you improve your graphic projects.

Start creating eye-catching, pink designs. Find out what you can make — from logos and icons to illustrations and poster art — with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.