I posted this on LinkedIn the other day and it has certainly a lot of arguments. So I thought I would post it here. The link is to my Patreon site but it is free to read (like many of the articles).
The issue is that when you darken a yellow it tends to go either redder or greener which led to my trite title – does dark yellow exist?
The worst of the comments is the person who replied – ‘I would start by reading Itten’. Of course, I have read Itten but I can’t imagine that saying someone should start by reading Itten would be a good answer to any question. 🙂
Anyway, Itten does show a diagram in his book that demonstrates the effect but I don’t think he explains it.
This week we had a three-day colour conference at the University of Leeds. You can see details of it here. This follows on from our successful event in 2019. COVID meant that it took 4 years to host our second conference but hopefully it won’t take so long for the next one. We had so many excellent speakers but one of these was Dimitris Mylonas (pictured) from Northeastern University London, UK who spoke about Colour Naming in Humanity-Centred Design. Dimitris is one of those people whose work I admire but I don’t get much chance to meet him even though we both live in the UK. I particularly like the use of on-line experiments in his research.
Last night I was chilling after the event finished and browsing youtube and I came across this interesting youtube video about the origins of English colour words. It is definitely worth a watch. It includes the idea that some ancient cultures didn’t have a word for blue and that they couldn’t see blue. Although I think it is true that they didn’t have a name for blue I am less convinced that they couldn’t see blue. As evidence for this people often cite Homer’s description of the sea as being wine dark in both the Iliad and Odyssey. If only I had seen this video the day before it would have reminded me to ask Dimitris what he thinks about this. I am sure he would have had something to say.
I don’t like Mondays blue. I do actually like Mondays, unlike The Bangles. But I don’t like blue. In this, I am out of step with the majority of people. Most studies on colour preference show that blue is one of the most preferred colours, irrespective of gender or culture. But, of course, some people don’t like it and I am one of those people.
The graph below is from one of my papers. It shows the per cent of people who selected each of 6 colours when we asked which was their favourite.
When we talk about liking or disliking a colour there are two caveats of course. The first is that there are lots of different blues. You might quite like one blue but not another. Most of the literature – including some of my own papers – not only focus exclusively on hue (as in the graph above) but only look at what we might call the focal colours of these hues. This grossly over simplifies the situation.
The second caveat is that although it is fine to talk about colour preference in an abstract sense, in practical terms you might like a colour in one context but not another. To give a ludicrously simple example: you might like a red car but not a red wedding dress. So we need to talk about context in a professional design scenario.
I am writing this because today I was walking in Leeds and heading towards the university where I work and I was reminded of this interesting blue structure that appeared a few years ago.
To say I don’t like it is an under statement. I think it is horrid. I cringe every time I see it. I generally don’t like blue but this particularly colour of blue is the most horrible.
Sometimes in Leeds I would go to a coffee shop that is associated with Harvey Nichols. They have rebranded it as Rabbit Hole Coffee. Imagine my shock when I saw the horrible blue that they used.
In a design context there is a role for blue and for this sort of blue. It is used quite a lot by Greggs and Tesco.
In these two cases it is a good use of the colour blue. In my opinion it looks cheap. And for Greggs that is fine. They don’t pretend to compete with Harvey Nichols. They want to communicate to their consumers that what they sell is not expensive and that is great. And it also works well for Tesco (although it is a slightly different blue to the blue used by Greggs). Tesco don’t specifically want to communicate that they are cheap but they do want to communicate that they are good value. Definitely not on the pricey side, as we say in the UK.
So even though I don’t like blue personally I can endorse its use by Tesco and Greggs. But the University of Leeds and the Harvey Nichols cafe? I think it is a really poor choice. I would have much preferred the lovely Leeds (legacy) green which you can see on the structure just to the left of the blue tower. Even a lovely red would nice. These are the University of Leeds brand colours, which have a gorgeous dark red,
I’m off to Texas on Monday for Texas Design Week. I will be taking part in two panel discussions – one in Dallas and one in Houston – invited by Harlequin (part of the Sanderson Design Group) with whom I have been collaborating for a colour of years now. Last year I did something similar in Atlanta for Atlanta Design Week so I know what to expect. And we have done have half a dozen or more such panels in the UK over the last 24 months. I will be sharing the platform with designers of course and my role is to bring some findings from the world of colour science to the table. The mix of science and design in the discussions is always a lot of fun.
My relationship with Harlequin started when I was asked to write a white paper about colour and its effect on people at home and in the workplace. You can download that white paper here if you are interested.
Talking about colour in our lighting lab
In the white paper Soojin Lee and I identified two different ways in which colour (and light) can affect us. We referred to them as emotional and physical.
The emotional effect is often caused by associations; we associate certain colours with certain ideas or memories. We might find a blue room relaxing, for example. There is some commonality between people (because we all live in the same world) but at the same time there are differences between individuals. This is the same reason why, for example, blue is a colour liked by lots of people, but that we can find individuals who don’t like blue. I am one of those.
The physical effect is more to do with the direct effect of colour and light on our physiology. For example, we need exposure to lots of light in the morning and we need to avoid such exposure at night, to keep our circadian system in a healthy state and to enjoy good quality sleep. There is evidence that blue light, in particular, is alerting and can keep us awake. Because we all have the same physiology there tend to be fewer individual differences in these effects.
Sometimes these two effects are contradictory and can even occur at the same time. It’s why a blue bedroom (blue-painted wall, blue curtains or blue bed linen) can be relaxing whilst at the same time exposure exposure to bright blue light can be alerting.
So is blue alerting or relaxing? It depends. It doesn’t actually make any sense to ask the question in that abstract way. We should ask whether blue lighting or blue paint, for example, is relaxing – and then we can have a meaningful response.
I am not a fan of colour trends. What I mean by that is that I think sometimes there is an urge to generate new colour schemes twice a year which feels a little forced to me. And it is one of the reasons why we over consumer. This is particularly the case with clothes where – in the UK in particular – we buy clothes far too often. Our consumption of textiles is generally not sustainable.
But that said, I am not saying that there is no such thing as colour trends. Certain colours – and colour combinations – become desirable at certain times and I don’t think the whole thing is artificially generated. I just think the changes are not as rapid as the colour forecasting industry would have us believe.
But I am old enough to remember the 70s and I remember well the desirability of brown and olive green bathroom suites, for example. Nobody would use these colours as the basis of their interior design colour schemes today — would they?
Well, today I read that brown is replacing dark blue as a favoured colour for interiors when a moody dramatic look is the aim. The article in Livingetc suggests that the use of brown – a more muted colour – is more natural in its feel and that sales of brown-hued paint are rising. There are some interesting examples of the use of brown in the online article.
Colours have meanings. By that I mean that when we see colour we are reminded of certain things. There is a symbolism which is related to the field of semiotics. This symbolism is, in my opinion, as important – if not more so – than the aesthetics of colour. At least, I think this is often true in design. And it is for this reason that the internet is awash with infographics and blogs that tell us what the meanings are so that we can use them appropriately. This is the sort of thing that we often see:
There is an element of truth in this sort of infographic of course but it’s far too simplistic. Does it explain, for example, why HSBC use red as their brand colour?
Or the use of red in Baxter’s soup packaging?
Of the use of red in packaging of fruit yoghurt?
I don’t think that infographic explains any of these uses of red. Nevertheless, there is design thinking behind the use of colour in each of these cases. However, it is the sort of thinking that requires a deep knowledge of various cultural ideas including traditions and trends. In fact, it is for this reason that I find the use of colour in design (particularly in packaging) fascinating. It’s Boxing Day and my teenage son is still in bed after an all nighter (don’t ask!). So I thought I would tell you what my thinking is about these three examples of the use of red. I apologise in advance that this will be quite a long blog post. So are you sitting comfortably?
Let’s take the use of red by HSBC first. I often see infographics that state that red is a bad choice for a bank.
And if we look at the logos of banks in the UK this certainly seems to hold some truth.
However, what if we look further afield? To Asia, for example.
It turns out that red is an incredibly popular colour for banks in some parts of the world. And this brings us to the first point which is that the meanings that colours have can often depend upon the cultural background of the viewer (or receiver). Whereas I would argue that in the West the colour most associated with good fortune is green, it is undeniable that it is red in many Asian countries, especially in East Asia. It is therefore not surprising that banks often use red for their branding because which bank doesn’t want consumers to be reminded of good luck and fortune when they are thinking of putting some money in the bank or considering some other financial transaction? So, to understand the HSBC colour, we have to understand that although HSBC is a common sight on UK high streets today, the origins of the bank are in Kong Kong and Shanghai. The clue is the name – the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Interestingly, the shape of the HSBC logo is derived from the cross of St Andrew which turns out to be true of many Hong Kong company flags and logos. You can read more about the history of the HSBC logo here. Understanding that colour meanings in one geographical location might not translate to another location is important to avoid making simple, yet potentially serious, mistakes.
Second, we can turn to the use of red in tins of Baxter’s soup. If we look at the Baxter’s tin of soup the thing that stands out to me first of all is the green of the soup. A number of years ago, when I was developing my thinking around colour meaning whilst working with Seahwa Won who obtained her PhD in this topic and is now an academic in Korea, we developed the term original substance colour to explain the observation that for food packaging in particular, we often see the colour of the actual product being represented in the packaging. So we see orange packaging for orange juice, brown packaging for coffee, etc. This idea is never mentioned in the infographics you can find online. Often, the packaging is transparent so that the colour that you see is the actual colour of the product itself.
In this case the transparent packaging allows the colour of the fruit juice to be seen
In this case, the packaging uses orange; the original substance colour of the product
So with Baxter’s soup we have the original substance colour of the pea soup that dominates and starts the design. So what about the red? Well, there are a few things going on here which is often the case. Often, the colours used in a design work so well together in a number of different ways that you can only admire the ingenuity of the design team. There is the fact that the Baxter’s logo is red. I don’t know how long this has been the case – if anyone knows anything about the history of the Baxter logo please let me know in the comments. But we also have a colour harmony. Opposite hues – red and green, in this case – often work well together aesthetically. But if we have a really bright vivid red and a really bright vivid green next to each other then this can be unsettling. That might not be the intended effect here. It’s very often much nicer to have one of the hues quite bold and then have the other much more muted. This only goes to demonstrate another truism which is that colour harmony is about more than just the relationships between hues.
We have a red-green relationship in both cases but the relationship on the right will be seen as more aesthetically pleasing than the one on the right because of the difference in chroma
Finally, there is the fact that Baxter’s is a Scottish company. I don’t know if the tartan shown on the Baxter’s soup label has any connection with the company but that combination of red and green looks very much like the tartan of the Baxter Clan.
So there you have it, you have original substance colour, colour harmony, and the Scottish symbolism of the tartan to remind you that this is a Scottish heritage company all working together. And the pale green background and the dark red text even gives you excellent contrast for legibility. Very beautiful work in my opinion. The point is that something like this
doesn’t even begin to tell you about why these colours are used on the outside of this tin of soup. These infographics are way too simple; not even at undergraduate level to be honest and they are pretty much useless.
Finally we can look at the yoghurt pot. Again, the red is not used because it represents passion, energy, urgency, excitement, vibrancy or danger. It is simple original substance colour again with the red representing strawberries.
Red can mean so many things: original substance colour in many food packages, good luck and fortune in Asian bank logos, emergency and danger in health and safety equipment, stop when it is a traffic light. Yes, it can also mean passion and urgency and vibrancy. But context is everything.
In my teaching at the University of Leeds I often refer to this advertisement for the mini.
What does the red symbolise in this mini commercial?
The combination of red, white and black is aesthetically pleasing. But there are lots of similar combinations that could have been used. But the red is used symbolically. It is the True Blood mini convertible. Feel the wind in your fangs!! Exclusively for vampires. This is excellent colour design because the colours work with the text and the imagery and are consistent with the messages that are intended. The red symbolises blood. And the combination of red, white and black together in this context, with the other cues, indicate vampires!
I hope you found this interesting. It passed a few hours between one Boxing Day meal and the next for me. Leave a comment if you liked it or disagree with my analysis or if you noticed something that I didn’t. If you liked this post, take a look at my earlier holiday post about Christmas colour symbolism if you didn’t see it. Enter your email in the subscription box below to get updates when I post new stuff.
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It’s that time of year again. No – not Christmas. It’s that time when we get announcements about colour of the year. Pantone – the undisputed heavy weight champion of the world – when it comes to such matters has announced that the colour of 2022 is periwinkle.
Maybe it’s just me, but I cannot get excited by the colour of the year. To be fair, it’s not just plucked from nowhere. Colour of the year, like colour forecasting, is the result of a process that links colour to the cultural trends and values of our time – the zeitgeist, if you will. However, there are two reasons why I can’t get excited.
The first is that it is so trite. Colour forecasting is a little better. But just because Pantone have announced this insipid violet colour is the colour of the year, I am not going to be changing my purchasing habits. I won’t be buying purple trousers, a purple volvo or decorating my house in periwinkle any time soon. It seems to me that colour of the year is just a publicity stunt, a marketing device.
The second is that in terms of colour forecasting generally I fall into the camp of people that believe that it does more harm than good. If we take the textile and apparel industry, as an example, our consumption behaviour is simply unsustainable. As noted in fastcompany, our obsession with colour trends is killing the planet.
To be fair, there is another side of the argument. Those on that side would argue that colour forecasting helps companies to produce products in colours that people want and that reduces waste. However, I just don’t buy it. There is scant evidence that colour forecasting ‘works’ at all and the relentless pushing of the idea that we have to keep buying new stuff to keep up with colour trends is harmful in my opinion. Instead of obsessing with colour of the year we should be buying things in colours that we like. We don’t need people to tell us what is trendy. Just buy what you like and stick with it.
A number of studies have concluded that wearing the colour red make us seem more attractive to other people. However, perhaps surprisingly, this is still an effect that is unclear. Although many studies have reported the effect, others have not found it.
Today I was reading a paper by Lehmann, Elliot and Calin-Jageman who conducted a meta-analysis of published work on this topic in 2018. They analysed a large number of studies to try to come to a definitive conclusion. Overall they found a small but statistically significant effect when men were rating women. The effect was much smaller for women rating men.
Interestingly, the authors could not agree on the conclusions and presented two concluding remarks in the paper. The first and third author concluded that the effect of red on attraction was small, potentially nonexistent. However, the second author concluded that there was a small but reliable effect for both men rating women and women rating men.
This reminds me a little of the work on the effect of colour on blood pressure and heart rate where, again, the literature show contrasting results. In this area I have concluded that there might be an effect but that, if there is, it is probably very small. Measuring very small effects can be difficult because of the problem of needing large sample sizes.
Our current consumption of textiles is not sustainable. Perhaps one solution is better design of clothes to allow easier disassembly which could avoid discarded garments ending up in landfill. According to The Australasian Circular Textile Association 90% of textile waste ends up in landfill which is a shocking statistic. Or perhaps there will be a societal change leading to less emphasis on fast fashion. These are issues that we are exploring at the University of Leeds in our Future Fashion Factory. The Future Fashion Factory is a £5.4 million R&D partnership (led by the University of Leeds but including Huddersfield University and Royal College for Art) exploring and developing new digital and advanced textile technologies to boost the design of high-value creative products. The idea of leasing clothes rather than buying them is also gaining traction. Celebrities have long leased evening wear for red-carpet events. But could leasing become more mainstream?
Maybe the future of fashion is virtual. Perhaps in the future (in the near future actually) we will be able to change our clothes as easily as we change our backgrounds when taking part in video calls. Fashion is important and fulfils a desire that people have to express themselves. But perhaps people will increasingly use virtual environments to express themselves. Fortnite has already hosted several fashion shows and fashion is already an essential component of the hugely successful online game. For our children – the future consumers of this world – buying a virtual garment is as natural as buying a physical garment (and possibly more rewarding). The world of digital fashion was recently discussed in an interesting article in The Guardian by their fashion editor Hannah Marriott.
Our regular team on the Over The Rainbow colour podcast discussed these issues with Caroline Hemingray who leads the MA Fashion Marketing at the University of Leeds. You can listen to the podcast here – https://swestland.podbean.com/
For our sixth episode of our colour podcast we chatted about colour in fashion covering colour forecasting and the future of fashion. We brought in a guest, Caroline Hemingray, who leads the MA in Fashion Marketing at the University of Leeds. It’s mainly for fun – and as an educational resource – but I hope you find it interesting. You can see the podcast here.
