Boring and Blandness of Dakota
Negative Colors
The color beige brings negative emotions, can evoke feelings of sadness, gloom, and even boredom. https://www.namhpac.org/7-sad-colors-at-home-that-affect-your-mental-state/. Beige blends in. It is supposed to be a color that seems familiar. Because the color beige has a neutral tone, it has been able to cause under stimulation and can bore many people. It can also cause people to be anxious. https://www.colorsexplained.com/color-beige-meaning-of-the-color-beige/. Blandness of colors is also a big problem for depression. Gray and blue tend to be more on the low mood spectrum. The color gray can be referred to as a dispassionate color. https://psychcentral.com/depression/decreased-perception-of-color-in-depression#the-connection.
Positive Colors
Certain colors have positive influences as well. Red is a color that is mainly associated with energy, strength, power, and determination. Studies show that the color’s warm and vibrant hue gives us more energy and improves confidence. https://www.colorpsychology.org/red/.
Green tends to be an analytical, calm, and logical color. The color evokes a feeling of abundance and is associated with the feeling of peace and security having its associations with nature. One study found that people with a “high need for achievement” more consistently chose the color. https://www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-green-2795817.
Blue is a color relating to calmness, serenity, and confidence. It represents rest and causes the body to produce chemicals that are calming and release feelings of tranquility. Overall, the color brings a lot of peace and is proven to help reduce anxiety and aggression. https://www.supercolor.com/blog/the-meaning-of-the-color-blue/. and https://www.beautyheaven.com.au/health-wellness/blue-colour-psychology-schwarzkopf/.
Brown is described as a natural, down-to-earth, and conventional color. The color evokes honesty, comfort, wisdom and suppresses emotions, creating a safe haven from the stress of the outside world. https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-brown.html. and https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-brown-2795816\.
Orange tends to evoke sociable, optimistic, and cheerful emotions. It is the color of the uninhibited and helps restore balance to our physical energies. It radiates warmth and energy and is even said to increase oxygen in the brain, stimulating mental activity and creativity. https://www.colorpsychology.org/orange/ and https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/color-psychology-orange/.
Yellow increases mental capacity and unclogs mental blocks. It produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. The color represents and is associated with joy, alertness, happiness, and insightfulness. It is the opposite of beige but when overused it is said to have a disturbing effect. https://www.colorpsychology.org/yellow/.
Pink is the gentlest color out of all. It can be linked to positive aspects of traditional femininity like nurture and kindness and ties into innocence. It is also a color that has a calming and optimistic effect on people since it’s not as aggressive as red, but rather suggests safety and vulnerability if not overused. https://www.colorpsychology.org/pink/.
The color Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. It symbolizes power, nobility, ambition whilst also conveying wisdom, dignity, independence, and creativity. It calms and stimulates our bodies, putting us in the right place for introspection and focused insight. https://www.colorpsychology.org/pink/ and https://www.sensationalcolor.com/meaning-of-purple/.
Ways we can fix the school
Showing up to a place you already don’t want to be and combining that with the drab walls and lack of color makes students not enjoy school even more than they already do. Having faded murals and beige walls everywhere else is a combination for a depressing school environment. To fix this, a solution would be to give the art club kids, who have an affinity for painting, the space to do as they please. Including more colors around the school that evoke positive emotions would benefit students greatly and make the school a better and more comfortable environment. As shown in the photos, beige and grey are very common colors used around our school and tend to evoke feelings of sadness and boredom. Inputting brighter colors within our classrooms and the halls would make for an energetic and fun school environment. Landscaping around our school such as flowers, whether fake or not, could be used to help brighten the exterior.
Exposure to sunlight is beneficial to mental health and cognitive function.
Given that most of the school year takes place during the cold winter months, students are at high risk for Seasonal Affective Disorder. The mental health of students should be a top priority at Dakota, and ensuring students are in an environment with sunlight exposure during the day can help combat the seasonal causes of depression, low serotonin levels, and cognitive deficits. Having more natural light or better lighting in the school will ultimately create a more productive and stimulating work environment for happier students. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728098/
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Alexa Profka is a Junior at Dakota. This is her third year as a part of The Dakota Planet. Alexa is very passionate about reading and writing, and...
This is Whitney's first year publishing for the Dakota Planet. Her interests are music, reading, watching tv, and hanging out with friends. Her vision...
Arabella Brong is a senior at Dakota High School. It is her second year on the Dakota Planet, she is also a member of Dakota's marching band and winter...
Krystyna Kijewski is a senior at Dakota High School and this is her first year at the Dakota Planet. She is involved in the Dakota CTC, and Women Empowerment...
