The Boundless Language of Colour

Can you imagine a yellow Christmas? A brown Halloween? Or a purple St. Patrick’s Day?

Colour is such an intrinsic part of our life that we all have mental associations to events, feelings, places and emotions around it. 

Even our language is full of colour references: ‘She was green with envy’, ‘He saw red’, ‘I was blue out of cold’, etc. 

In truth, we could not imagine a life without colour.

Colour helps us distinguish our surroundings.

Regardless of our age or where we may live, all of us see about the same colours in all things around us. The grass is green, the sea is blue, milk is white. 

From the day we’re born, colour is part of our daily experience as much as sound, touch or smell, providing us with subtle - and sometimes not so subtle - messages of the world around us.

The human eye can see only a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum around us, a scope ranging from 780 to 380 nanometers. Everything beyond these wavelengths are invisible radio, micro, radar and infrared waves, or ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma and cosmic rays. 

And yet, even in this narrow scope, the human eye can perceive and distinguish millions of colours, probably the largest range of any animal on the planet.

Colour as a frequence acts in nature as a communication code, and the ability of the human eye to perceive them evolved in order to help us distinguish more clearly all the elements around us, and as a natural protection against the dangers posed by our environment. 

For instance, bright red in nature is usually a warning, orange is an invitation, gray or brown in a fruit indicates that it’s not good to eat, etc. 

Indeed, the ability to perceive colour evolved as a survival mechanism to spark our appetite and make sure we would find edible food.

However, we can’t be sure that we all see the exact same shade and hue of the same colour, since our perceptions vary depending on factors such as age, genetics and nutrition. 

But usually we can all agree that a pink rose is pink and not purple or brown.

The most basic colour theory, frequently learned at school, divides the colours in primary (red, yellow and blue), and secondary (orange, green and violet). 

A second theory, divides colours in ‘warm’ (red, orange, yellow, etc.), and ‘cold’ (blue, green, etc.) with some neutral colours (violet, beige, gray, white, black).

Based on these two theories, visual artists frequently use a colour wheel in order to find quickly the most appropriate colour combinations for their works. 

Given the large array of possibilities, the colour wheel is a useful decision tool to gain time.

 
However, there are greens which can be considered ‘warm’, and warm colours that make us think in cooler hues. 

Moreover, the addition of two contrasting tones often changes our perception of both, and even of the dimensions of the objects that carry them, depending on the vibration of each tone. 

Op-Art and Kinetic Art are based on these principles in order to achieve interesting visual effects in the viewer.

John Aslanidis, "Sonic Sub-Fragment #31" (2013)

Colour plays such a fundamental role in our perception of the world, that a particular hue may spark memories of a time or event past, and may even influence our moods and our decisions.

Since ancient times, colour has been associated to feelings and emotions, even our energy points. 

One of the oldest holistic theories in Hinduism is the ‘Theory of Chakras’. This theory stipulates that each zone of our body (chakra) corresponds to a specific colour, sound and energy, and can be used to heal us and restore our natural balance.

For centuries, knights and kings resorted to colourful standards to identify themselves and their dominions, making wordless statements of their wealth, honour, pedigree, etc. 

This tradition has been carried on up to this day, with colours used in national flags, standards and other ensigns to convey messages and ideas such as Peace (White), Sea (Blue), Blood (Red), Wealth (Yellow), etc.　

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was one the pioneers in establishing clear principles of a psychological theory for colour. 

His main interests were the meaning of colours and their properties, in order to be applied as psychotherapeutic tools. 

Based on their studies, a list of emotions and ideas associated to each colour was established, and remains largely unchanged up to this day:

Red - Life, excitement, strength, fury, violence, love, celebration.
Orange - Sociability, positivism, success, joy.
Yellow - Optimism, energy, warmth, happiness, wealth, splendour.
Green - Nature, freshness, health, ecology, quality.
Blue - Serenity, security, competitiveness, confidence, loyalty.
Purple - Ambition, spirituality, wisdom, royalty, opulence, imagination.
Brown - Earthiness, tradition, austerity, discipline, stability, inflexibility.
Pink - Femininity, sweetness, sensuality, instability.
Black - Severity, experience, professionalism, mystery, luxury, masculinity, bereavement.
White - Peace, serenity, innocence, purity.
Gray/Beige - Passivity, neutrality.

However, new studies have shown that these perceptions may vary depending on culture and age group. 

For instance, orange is considered a colour of mysticism in India, and yellow is usually associated with jealousy in Germany but royalty in China.

Purple is associated to luxury and royalty

Also, the intensity of the hue also plays an important role in our response to colour. 

While a room painted in pale blue may make us feel serene, a deeper blue may make us feel depressed, and a dark blue will probably make us feel gloom and uneasy.

This theory has been implemented in public spaces where it’s important to generate specific feelings and behaviors in groups of users. 

Thus, cafeterias in warm tones invite exchange, increase appetite and help good digestion. Hospital rooms and hallways in pastel hues provide a greater sensation of serenity and protection to patients and their relatives. Classrooms in blue or green hues calm the students and allow them to concentrate better.

Although colour alone may not be the only determinant factor to influence our mood, at the subconscious level it has a profound impact. 

For instance, it’s easier to feel happy surrounded by bright colours than in a place where black or gray dominates.

For decades, advertising professionals have profited from these studies for creation of their ads. 

Although still not entirely proven, it’s assumed that colours influence the behaviour of the consumer and make a product more attractive for its consumption.

Colours in packaging affect our choice of purchase

According to marketing studies, the consumer chooses a product based on its packing (colour, shape and volume) within the first 90 seconds of being exposed to it. 

Given that colour is the first element registered by the brain, the importance of its correct choice is fundamental. 

A package design in red, blue and white will send a totally different message to the consumer and will have a totally different reception than the same package in orange, yellow and green, even while retaining the same volume and design details.

Colour carries such a defining importance in branding, marketing and the sales of products that in 1995 the US Supreme Court determined that a single colour could function as a trademark brand.

However, even before then, companies were investing in colour management for their products. 

Colour Management Agencies, such as Pantone and PPG create and organize colours in standardized palettes, making sure that each one is precisely in the exact same hue whether in one on a billion printouts. 

They also act as ‘colour police’, disabling the use of registered colours for non-registered users or products without usage license.

Colour is so natural to most of us that we take it for granted. But what about people who can’t see them? 

Colour blindness affects a 0,8% of the population and may impair the vision of two colours (usually red and green, or blue and yellow) or, more rarely, all of them. 

Most people with this condition adjust so that they can live normal lives, and currently there are even apps that can help them visualize colours.

And what about people who see colours that are not there?

Synesthesia is not an illness but a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sense elicits an automatic and involuntary sensation in another. 

Thus, when reading, people with colour synesthesia (one of the many forms of synesthesia) will see colours in letters, numbers or words. These colours change from person to person, but remain the same for each word or character, wherever it may appear in a text

And what about the ‘Black Hole’ of all colours?

In 2014, Surrey NanoSystems presented ‘Vantablack’, a coating that absorbed 99,96% of light. It soon became known as the ‘blackest black’ possible, one so dark that it changes the visual dimensions of objects, rendering them completely flat. 

However, the Vantablack is not a colour or a paint, but a new material altogether created by billions of nanotubes that trap light and transform it into heat. 

Created for use in astronomy (as inside coating for telescopes), its uses beyond this area are limited; for instance, it can’t be used in clothes because it irritates skin. But in 2016 it was used by the Swiss watch company MCT as a face coating for a limited edition luxury watch.

The subject of colours is as vast as the hues and shades we can perceive. 

Studying it make us appreciate even more the ability of the human eye to perceive so many different tonalities, giving us pleasure in the simple act of seeing the world around us, reminding us what a privilege it is to enjoy the miracle of vision.

Sources: Wikipedia, CNN.