Symbiosis between Design and Emotion

Since the 20th century, emotion has emerged as a crucial object of study, on a par with reason. Despite being omnipresent in relationships and interaction with the environment, in today's society there seems to be difficulty in recognizing and expressing emotions, known as alexithymia. Color, crucial in art and design, has been the subject of interest in its relationship with emotion. This study aims to analyze this relationship, using a sample of 248 UBI students, aged over 18 and of Portuguese nationality, to: (i) explore the relationship between colors and emotions; (ii) verify consistency with Plutchik's model; (iii) analyze differences between individuals with low and high alexithymia scores (TAS-20). From the results obtained, around 43.1% of the participants scored at the extremes of the TAS-20 (13.7% Low, 29.4% High). The majority correctly identified the colors, with the exception of Magenta (80.2% identified as Pink). No relationship emerged in this study between the colors and the emotions Anticipation, Anger and Sadness. Regardless of TAS-20 scores, the color-emotion association differs from Plutchik's model, suggesting the influence of sociocultural and learning factors.