THE INFLUENCE OF COLOUR.

Color is everywhere, but how does it affect us? It's already been proven that color can influence our mood, our memory retention, and even the taste of our food. The more we learn, the more we realize the possibilities and benefits of incorporating color knowledge into our daily lives.

Marketing companies claim that people can make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or item within 90 seconds of initial viewing based 62%-90% on the influence of color alone. Superficial? Maybe. True? You decide.

Pantone's research discovered that a yellow background with black type is the best color combo for printed material. Tests showed this combination scored the highest in memory retention and in legibility. It was also the color that the human eye noticed first.

The medical field has also benefited from color research. Although it has been recognized by the AMA for sometime that violet/indigo/purple light corrects jaundice, it was more recently discovered by Washington State University that people can tolerate more pain, recover more quickly from surgery, and use fewer drugs when they are in a room with a lot of greenery.

Evidently, humans aren't the only ones influenced by color. The US Agricultural Research Service Center showed that using red plastic sheeting under tomato and cotton plants produced a 15-20% higher yield than those grown with traditional black or clear plastic and that turnips grown under blue plastic had an improved flavor compared to those grown under green sheets. Also, those grown under the blue plastic revealed a higher concentration of glucocinolates and vitamin C. Interesting…

When it comes to research on the affect of environmental color on the brain, the scientific conclusions become more controversial. Though initial exposure to environmental color influence does seem to generate a given response, experiments have shown it to be short lived. Take for example, the prison cells that were painted pinkish-orange. Initially they did give a response of curbed violence, but when revisited a few weeks later, seemed to have no effect. Researchers believe this is due to the fact that homeostasis takes over and negates the effect. In other words, they adjust to the color influence. In fact, some prisoners appeared to end up in an even more agitated state.

It has been found that blue can decrease the heart rate and have a calming effect, but once again, only in moderation. Overexposure showed to have the opposite effect.

Some color studies have shown that blue/green makes you eat slower while yellow/orange/red makes you eat faster and more. (Ever notice the colors inside a fast food restaurant?)Another study showed that overexposure to yellow can make you irritable.

As far as personality types and their optimal environmental colors, studies have shown that extroverts do better surrounded by brighter colors and monochromatic colors tend to agitate them. The opposite was found true for introverts.

Along the same line, some have concluded that the combination black-red can provoke aggression, black-yellow self-destructive choices, black-green egocentric behavior, and that black-white can precipitate neurotic decisions. (This particular study was done for a large store chain looking to curb shoplifting via color influence by use of interior design.)

MIT's research proved the once disputed importance of color for face recognition by blurring images so the brain would have to rely on solely on color to distinguish identity… a very interesting discovery.

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