Art has been successfully used to influence emotions and minds for centuries. Visual expression of all types has the ability to impact how we think. Whether you’re visiting a museum or simply staring at an advertisement, art can be a powerful tool in shaping desire.
The Role of Art in Business
The role of art extends itself across all different businesses. From high priced original paintings to the pop art of Andy Warhol’s generation, the power of visual interpretation can be found in offices and grocery stores alike.
One of the most obvious areas in business depicting art’s impact on consumerism is advertising. By using several different visual techniques, art can shape the importance of a product in anyone’s life.
How Does Art Impact Consumerism?
Color, lines, and the suggestion of something unobtainable have all been known to create human want and desire. Since consumerism is based around making people want what somebody else has, art is highly valuable in the process.
What is Color Psychology?
Color psychology is the study of different hues and how they influence human behavior. One study found that people in management positions can effectively use color to increase or decrease appetite. Researchers also found that approximately 90% of immediate judgments made about services or products can potentially be based exclusively on color.
Using color to create emotion may seem straight forward. In some fast-food restaurants, specific colors are used with the intention of getting their customers in and out as fast as possible. Although yellow may make some people happy, it doesn’t necessarily make all people feel happy. Depending on the culture, people in other countries may feel differently about art when it is used for business or marketing.
The Power of Suggestion
Shapes and lines are used just as much as color to sway consumers. In addition to print advertising and paintings, furniture has shaped how we feel about a room or even the people in it. The amount of space given to an area can make somebody feel more or less comfortable.
Office decor has become a lucrative business for interior designers. Every detail inside a room can create a larger story. Conducting a meeting in a room with sloping lounge chairs and floral curtains may have a different feel to it than one with a marble conference table or several mahogany bookcases. Depending on the goals of the individual business, the design of its overall look can greatly impact its success.
Texturing Art
The texture of a piece of art can tell us what to identify with. For instance, car advertisements may depict a different kind of ride when using printed photographs or illustrations. A rocky terrain may suggest what type of driver would choose a Jeep over the smooth road of a luxury convertible. Subtle differences in landscape can project a desired personality into the subconscious.
How Does Art Impact the Corporate World?
The design and artwork in a workplace have the ability to calm employees with stressful jobs. Many workplaces that require a high amount of concentration for long periods of time can feel dreary or tense. By using art in the right way, employees can actually feel more relaxed while working throughout the day.
Paintings of nature scenes can actually lower levels of anger when used in certain settings. For places of business that have a high rate of turnover, art can lead to better work performance, calmer employees, and a less hostile environment.
On a social level, art can spark discussions among colleagues. Art does not have to be controversial to be provocative. Many people feel intense emotions after seeing shapes and colors that don’t necessarily represent a concrete object or landscape. By bonding over the feelings that art can represent, people are more likely to feel closer to one another.
Corporate art buyers often specialize in finding artwork for specific types of environments. In this way, they can match the right tone and mood to what the owner of the space wants to convey.
How to Choose the Right Art
Art is as versatile as personality. Depending on the type of business, art can influence people in a variety of different ways. There is no wrong way to create, buy, or share art, however, the setting does matter.
For highly intense settings, artwork that shows people performing caring acts for each other can actually reduce angry responses. Impressionist paintings are frequently used for their calming effect. Branding, on the other hand, usually requires bright and bold colors that are used to excite the brain rather than relax.
Art has been specifically designed and chosen to sway the emotions of others. This can be a calculated decision based on the artist’s goals or it can come from a deeper subconscious part of the brain. By mixing the two together, an artist spends his time in both business and psychology.
