Want to appear more approachable? The surprising color to wear is orange. |
Meeting new people is never easy, especially when it comes to making friends as an adult. From engaging conversations to body language, a lot goes into nailing a good first impression.
And thanks to color psychology, your wardrobe also matters. Specifically, the colors you choose to wear can also impact how people perceive you.
“Research in color psychology consistently shows that colors influence first impressions, emotional responses, and social perception,” therapist Sonia Panchyshyn tells Upworthy.
Krista Walker, LCSW, J.D., and clinical director at The Ohana, adds “Research has found that people tend to form quick impressions based on color and other visual cues. The brain tends to associate certain colors with environmental or emotional cues.”
The color that conveys approachability
If you want to appear more approachable to others, there is one color you should try wearing: orange.
“Warm tones like orange are often associated with friendliness, energy, and openness, which can make someone appear more approachable,” says Panchyshyn.
A 2025 review on colors and emotion confirmed that light colors are associated with more positive emotions than dark colors. Orange was specifically linked with “positive, high arousal emotions.”
@masha.kaptilina Part 6 | Orange Lovers, is this correct?? 🍊🧡 Comment what colour I should do next?? #psychology #psychologyofcolours #orange #fyp #foryoupage Psychology Colour Psychology Orange Personality Test Psychology Test ♬ original sound – Masha Kaptilina
Part 6 | Orange Lovers, is this correct?? 🍊🧡 Comment what colour I should do next?? #psychology #psychologyofcolours #orange #fyp #foryoupage Psychology Colour Psychology Orange Personality Test Psychology Test ♬ original sound – Masha Kaptilina
In another study, orange was correlated with increased energy and attention levels.
“Orange tends to communicate friendliness, warmth and energy. It’s associated with social connection. This can make a person appear more inviting,” says Walker.
Additional colors for approachability
If orange just isn’t your color, there are a couple more hues worth trying.
As communication expert Vanessa Van Edwards previously shared, she chose to wear blue to come off as more “confident, knowledgeable and calm” for her viral TED Talk, which she notes helped her feel “more calm and more calm to the audience.”
Walker also tells Upworthy, “Blue is connected with emotional safety and trust. This may make the person seem more approachable.”
Green is also an approachable color to try.
“So much research shows that green reminds us of a lush spring. So, if you want to be seen as fresh and new, try green,” says Edwards.
Susan Albers, PsyD, a psychologist for Cleveland Clinic, also explained, “Studies on the psychology of the color green indicate that it tends to trigger a sense of calmness and relaxation. This is because green is the dominant color in nature.”
According to Edwards, if you want to be seen as “high energy,” try red.
“When people are passionate, when they’re feeling excited, they often blush. So red is the most high-energy color,” she shares.
Color analyst and founder of Your Color Style Jen Thoden explained that “blushing” colors (light pinks) give an “approachable, friendly vibe.”
She explains that in professional settings when you may be wearing a navy suit (“which can be unapproachable, maybe a little bit more serious, a little bit more authoritative”), pairing it with a light pink can help you appear “a little friendlier and soften the look.”
And as a reminder, clothing color is not the only factor that contributes to approachability.
“Other things to seem more approachable besides color include eye contact, a genuine smile, and relaxed shoulders,” Walker tells Upworthy. “Overall, people are generally more approachable when they feel confident and comfortable compared to what color they are wearing.”
While a bottle of bubbles might seem out of place in a hospital setting, you might be surprised to learn that, for thousands of children around the world born with cleft lip and palate, they can be a helpful tool in comprehensive cleft care. Lilia, who was born with cleft lip and palate in 2020, is one of the many patients who received this care.
As a toddler, Lilia underwent two surgeries to treat cleft lip and palate with Operation Smile’s surgical program in Puebla, Mexico. Because of Operation Smile’s comprehensive care, it wasn’t long before her personality transformed: Lilia went from a quiet and withdrawn toddler to an exuberant, curious explorer, babbling, expressing herself with a variety of sounds, and engaging with others like any child her age.
Lilia is now a healthy five-year-old, with the same cheerful attitude and boundless energy. Her progress is the result of care at every level, from surgery to speech therapy to ongoing support at home—but it’s also evidence that small, sustained interventions throughout it all can make a meaningful difference.
Cleft Conditions: A Global Problem
Since 1982, Operation Smile has provided cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to more than 500,000 patients worldwide with the help of generous volunteers and donors. Cleft conditions are congenital conditions, meaning they are present at birth. With cleft lip and palate, the lip or the roof of the mouth do not form fully during fetal development. Cleft conditions put children at risk for malnutrition and poor weight gain, since their facial structure can make feeding challenging. But cleft conditions can have an enormous social impact as well: Common difficulties with speech can leave kids socially isolated and unable to meet the same developmental milestones as their peers.
Surgery is a vital step in treating cleft conditions, but it’s also just one part of a much larger solution. Organizations like Operation Smile emphasize the importance of multi-disciplinary teams that provide comprehensive, long-term care to patients across many years. This approach, which includes oral care, speech therapy, nutritional support, and psychosocial care, not only aids in physical recovery from surgery but also helps children develop the skills and confidence to eat easily, speak clearly, and engage in everyday life. This ensures that each patient receives the full range of support they need to thrive.
A Playful (and Powerful) Solution
Throughout a patient’s care, simple tools like bubbles can play a meaningful role from start to finish.
Immediately before surgery, children are often in a new and unfamiliar environment far from home, some of them experiencing a hospital setting for the first time. When care providers or loved ones blow bubbles, it’s a simple yet effective technique: Not only are the children soothed and distracted, the bubbles also help create a sense of joy and playfulness that eases their anxiety.
In speech therapy, bubbles can take on an even more important role. Blowing bubbles requires controlled airflow, as well as the ability to form a rounded “O” shape with the lips, which are skills that children with cleft conditions may struggle to develop. Practicing these skills with bubbles allows children to gently strengthen their facial muscles, improve breath control, and support the motor skills needed for speech development. Beyond that, blowing bubbles can help kids connect with their parents or providers in a way that’s playful, comforting, and accessible even for very young patients.
Finally, bubbles often follow patients with cleft conditions home in the “smile bags” that each patient receives when the surgical procedure is finished. Smile bags, which help continue speech therapy outside of the hospital setting, can contain language enrichment booklets, a mirror, oxygen tubing, and bubbles. While regular practice with motor skills can help with physical recovery, small acts of play help as well, giving kids space to simply enjoy themselves and join in on what peers are able to do.
Bubbles at Home and Beyond
Today, because of Operation Smile’s dedication to comprehensive cleft care, Lilia is now able to make friends and speak clearly, all things that could have been difficult or impossible before. Instead of a childhood defined by limitation, Lilia—and others around the world—can look forward to a childhood filled with joy, learning, discovery, friends, and new possibilities.
CTA: Lilia’s life was changed for the better with the care she received through Operation Smile. Find out how you can make an impact in other children’s lives by visiting operationsmile.org today.
When we see someone dealing with the loss of a loved one or some other major life crisis, it’s instinctual for many of us to ask how we can help. Often, the conversation looks something like this:
Us: I am SO sorry you’re going through this. What can I do to help?
Person in crisis: I honestly don’t know right now.
Us: Okay…well…you let me know if you need anything, anything at all.
Person in crisis: Okay, thank you.
Us: I mean it. Don’t hesitate to ask. I’m happy to help with whatever you need.
And then…crickets. The person never reaches out to take you up on the offer.
Was it that they didn’t really need any help, this person going through a major life crisis? Unlikely. As sincere as our offer may have been, the problem may be that we didn’t really offer them what they actually needed.
One of those needs is to not have to make decisions. Another is to not have to directly ask for help.
When a person is in a state of crisis, they can feel like they’re drowning. They might be disoriented and fatigued, and doing anything other than keeping their head above water long enough to breathe can feel like too much.
If someone is drowning, you don’t ask them what you can do to help or wait for them to ask. You just take action.
Six things you can actually do right now
Here are some specific ways you can take action to help someone who you know needs help but isn’t able or willing to ask for it:
It may be tempting to ask if you can make them a meal and wait for them to say yes or no, but don’t. Simply ask if they or anyone in their household has any dietary restrictions, and then start shopping and cooking.
Meals that can be popped in the refrigerator or freezer and then directly into the oven or microwave are going to be your best bets. Include cooking or reheating instructions if it’s not obvious. Disposable aluminum trays are great for homemade freezer-to-oven meals and can be found at just about any grocery store. Casseroles. Stir-fried rices. Soups. Comfort foods.
If you don’t cook, you can buy them gift cards to local restaurants that deliver, or give them a DoorDash or Uber Eats gift certificate (large enough to cover the delivery, service fees and tip as well, which combined can be as much as a meal sometimes).
If you want to make it a community-wide effort and no one else has done so yet, set up a “meal train,” where different people sign up for different days to bring meals to spread out the food help over time. There are several free websites you can use for this purpose, including Give In Kind, Meal Train, and Take Them a Meal. These sites make it super easy for anyone with the personalized link to sign up for a meal.
2. Clean their kitchen........