There’s absolutely no denying that colour dominates our everyday lives. From the red traffic light that tells us to stop our car to the red sweet that tells us that it is strawberry-flavoured, if colours don’t appeal directly to our conscious minds, then at least they communicate with our subconscious ones. In fact, research conducted by CCICOLOR (the Institute for Color Research) has revealed that people make a subconscious judgement about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of introduction, and that up to 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone.

In scientific terms, colour is simply a form of light, with different wavelengths and frequencies. The retinas in our eyes have three types of cone-shaped colour receptors, which can only detect red, blue, and green, the additive primaries. But our incredibly clever brains can mix and match these three colours, creating 7,000,000 visible shades and tints. Some of which appeal to us more than others.

What does your favourite colour say about you?
Colours have more of an influence on our personalities than we might think. This is why they are increasingly being used by psychologists and other officials to determine a patient’s or future employee’s character. One of these tests is based on decades of research by Dr Max Lüscher, a nineteenth-century psychotherapist who studied how colour affects human behaviour. The theory is that each colour evokes an emotional response in humans, and the level of emotion detected in that response describes the respondent’s personality. (Having done the test myself, I found out that I am apparently someone who detests mediocrity, and who is greatly impressed by the unique, the original. I am inclined to ask though: isn’t everyone?)

Colours do have an impact on our very character, though. To prove this, Dr Alexander Schauss, director of the American Institute for Biosocial Research, conducted a study of the influence of colour on particularly angry inmates of a prison. Applying a shade of pink most similar to bubble gum to a cell’s walls, Schauss noted a significant decrease in violent behaviour among inmates in that particular cell.

“Even if a person tries to be angry or aggressive in the presence of pink, he can’t,” Schauss explains. “The heart muscles can’t race fast enough.” Of course, once away from the pink walls the inmates went back to their old ways, but you get the point: a colour can change the entire personality of a building, and not just its aesthetic value. For example, you might want to consider appealing to a colour specialist before painting your office wall yellow – it’s the most visually fatiguing colour, and can decrease the productivity of your company rather than boost spirits.

You are the colour you buy
Colour affects our everyday purchases, too. Have you noticed, for example, that there are more silver cars on the road than most other colours? US experts from the Power Information Network suggest that roughly a quarter of all new cars sold are silver, and if you take a look at the website of any volume car manufacturer, you’ll find that there are upwards of five different shades of silver available for each car. Automotive paint supplier Dupont explains this trend with the increasing role of technology in cars: kitted out with everything from satellite navigation systems and iPod docking ports to Bluetooth mobile phone connectivity, cars are now a technological purchase as much as an automotive one. As such, we’re unconsciously drawn to the greyer end of the spectrum, with all of its high tech and high quality connotations.  

A study conducted by the University of Loyola has also proven that colour increases brand recognition by up to 80%, a fact that is largely taken into consideration where food is concerned, as marketers take advantage of the connections we make between a colour and the impression it has on us to create a food’s packaging. McDonald’s, Burger King, Coca Cola... all have studied the colours that make people hungry or thirsty, and have coloured their brands accordingly. The colour red, for example, has been proven to provoke an increase in adrenaline that makes the heart beat faster and gets consumers excited about what is on offer. We choose products not only on their commercial appeal, but also on their emotional appeal, of which colour plays a great part.

Colour can also put us off a food: as a natural warning and indicator of poisonous food, blue is an appetite suppressant, and as such, is used in many diets to put dieters off eating (see sidebar: Colour me bad). In fact the colour of food has a huge impact on its actual taste, too. Try eating a blue egg, or a purple banana, for example. As Dr Gary Blumenthal, president of International Food Strategies, explains: “a food’s colour impacts the neurons in our bodies’ hypothalamus, which explains, for example, why eating in the dark is a much less enjoyable experience than when a dish’s colours are in full view.”

The healthy choice
Aside from aesthetic, commercial and behavioural benefits, colour can play a very important role in our lives in terms of our health, too. Not only do pastel yellows, greens, and blues soothe and help patients to heal, but colours can also help us recognize which kind of medicine we are taking. Until the middle of the 20th century, all of the pills on the market were round and white, making distinguishing between each one quite difficult. Then, in 1975, “softgel” capsule technology allowed medicines to become more colourful, helping consumers see which is prescriptive and which is non-prescriptive. It also helps people who take a lot of medicine, especially elderly people, not get confused as to which tablet they need to take: colour in medicine not only creates more emotional appeal, but crucially, it helps reduce medical errors.

Little black dress
Nowhere is colour more important, though, than in fashion. In a world where last night’s catwalk show is already “so last season”, and where a regular trendsetter’s mantra is “today’s sensation is tomorrow’s blank stare”, there is a real need for novelty and variety. And the easiest variable of an item of clothing? Its colour.

Any number of things can influence the next big colour trend in fashion, from a dominating global “green” message that warrants a return to organic, raw materials (best represented by muted, raw tones), to the current financial climate’s inclination towards “depression grey”. Of course, if this season’s doesn’t suit, consumers can rest easy in the knowledge that the next hot colour is just around the corner. And then, when in doubt, there is one colour that will always be a sure bet: thanks to its slimming properties, its discretion and its ease of combination with other colours, black will always, always be in the collections, on the catwalks and on the shelves.

So what’s the colour of things to come? It’s a safe bet that silver cars are going to remain popular in the future, that the little black dress will always be, well, black, and that magnolia will still be the colour of choice for inoffensive office walls. But even though there’s not a single colour to ensure success, one thing is for sure: in any situation, colour always plays a very big part of the creation process.


Colour me bad
Some colours give you a migraine, others put you off your food, but used in the right context, they can also have the exact opposite effect. Take a look at what happens when bad colours turn good...

Got the blues?
Other than blueberries, there is almost no naturally blue food, and in fact the colour blue is traditionally a signal that a food is poisonous. Our bodies have therefore been conditioned not to enjoy blue foods, so much so that some diets recommend eating on a blue plate to suppress the dieter’s appetite. Why then, did M&Ms decide to release a blue version of its round little candy? Much as Heinz created green ketchup following a strong demand from its child consumers, the blue M&M was created after a 1993 vote among fans to decide whether to introduce a new pink, purple, or blue version of the sweet. Whether there is an actual difference in flavour between the various colours, though, remains a question of opinion...

Let the sunshine in
Visually, yellow is the worst offender of the entire colour spectrum, because it is the most fatiguing. It reflects more light than any other colour, resulting in excessive stimulation of the eyes. But a particular shade of yellow, lemon yellow, is also said to make people look much younger than they actually are. That’s because this bright colour is associated with active, dynamic emotions, and so, when worn on clothes, this usually off-putting colour is made attractive by its liveliness.

Seeing red
Red, a colour that stimulates and provokes rushes of adrenalin, is also assimilated with being angry: ever heard the expression “seeing red”? But, as Animalens, a company specialised in contact lenses for animals (yes, you read that right, contact lenses for animals), found out, chickens wearing red-tinted contact lenses actually don’t fight as much as those who aren’t wearing lenses. They also eat less and produce more. Plus, their decreased aggressiveness makes them less likely to peck at each other. Perhaps because they can’t actually see anything?