What is Color?
A modern representation of the original Color Wheel design: An organized pattern of colors and their respective hues; portraying the relationship between primary, secondary and tertiary color pairings [1].
However, aside from the literal aspect of what we see, colors possess many different meanings and can evoke different emotions, as a result of historic and cultural influence. Therefore, color plays a very important role in communication. Ultimately, the values we assign to colors affect our understanding of others, ourselves, and events in the world around us.
According to Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics, “color can sway thinking, change actions and cause reactions [2]. Color can attract any individual’s attention or change their mood. It can cause irritation or soothe your eyes” [2].
Understanding color is vital to understanding how we interpret the world and communicate within it. From a young age we learn to communicate different messages through the use of color. For example, we learn to associate blue with sadness and red with danger. However, the meanings of colors can vary due to cultural norms, personal experiences, and history.
Therefore, how we understand color and their associated meanings and emotions, affects the way we perceive and interpret events in our everyday lives; and ultimately, the world around us. It is important to understand this effect in order to properly communicate and understand differences.
To first understand the power of color, we must know how to interpret its literal aspect. According to the Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics, color has four major aspects, “Hue, Saturation, Value and Temperature” [2].
Each of these aspects are dependent on the color wheel, a circular representation of color sectors which depict the relationship between colors. Hue represents the “actual color in the color wheel” [2]. Saturation describes the colors intensity; and value describes how light or dark a color is within its shade. Temperature represents warmth or coolness. Colors such as blue, green and violet appear cool, and colors such as red, orange and yellow appear warm [2].
What Do We Associate With Color?
When incorporating these different aspects of a color, we assign different meanings, emotions and values to colors.
Red can represent fire, blood, danger, power, whereas a lighter shade of red can represent joy and love and a dark shade of red can reflect anger [3]. A saturated yellow can reflect joy or cowardice and a duller yellow, sickness or caution [3]. Green can take on the meaning of nature, growth and money, whereas a dark green can represent jealousy [3]. We associate blue with healing, protection, truth and confidence [3]. Purple with royalty, power, wealth and romance and dark purple with frustration or sadness. White can mean goodness, innocence and purity and black can mean elegance, formality, fear, mystery and evil [3].
It is important to understand these meanings and values, but most importantly, we must first understand the context of the colors in order to properly communicate and interpret their intended use.
Due to these many different values and meanings alone, color can spark a lot of discussion in paintings and other works of art. Why a painter or artist chose to use certain colors, and the location of that use, plays a very important role in the image’s overall message.
Color and Seeing the World and Others
Our understanding of color effects how we perceive the world and how we understand others within it; more specifically, cultures and personalities.
The different values and meanings associated with colors can be very different to many people, depending on personal experience, history, and culture.
Jan van Eyck – Portrait Of Giovanni Arnolfini And His Wife, 1434 [2].
Today, white is considered an appropriate color for a wedding gown. However in China, white symbolizes mourning, and therefore, would not be an appropriate color [4]. Comparably, in India a white wedding gown is also inappropriate, as it means that a bride invites widowhood and unhappiness [4]. Similarly, the different values and meanings behind colors are reflected in everyday styles of dress.
Our understanding of personalities and cultures can be influenced by color. For example one who wears very vibrant colored clothing may be perceived as outgoing or carefree, whereas one who wears muted colors may seem more reserved or shy. Specific colors can represent different aspects of personality.
For example wearing red can show aggression, intensity, and/or boldness [5]. Grey can represent sophistication, and/or confidence; and yellow, humorous and/or flippant [5]. Similarly, when one travels to different cities and countries, different colors are more appropriate to wear; a concept which may be influenced by history.
“Indigo, murex purple, saffron, kermes, and brazilwood—dyes known for their beauty and durability—were tropical or oriental, derived from materials that could not thrive in typical European climates” [6]. Many dyes were developed in Asia and the Middle East, while Europe had limited access to the same quality dyes [6]. As a result, some argue that “the black coats and dark clothing worn by natives today may also help foster a sense of community and belonging similar to that promoted by European powers seeking to stop the advancement of the East” [6].
Color vs. Non-color
Our understanding of images in color versus black and white also affects the way we interpret events and the world around us. As images of color can evoke different emotions and moods, so can black and white images. However, do the same emotions and meanings translate from black and white to color?
In order to test the power of colorizing, Visual News curated images of historic events and translated them to color. As a result “Colorizing old black and white photographs” were found to bring “historic events into present life” [7]. “No longer are those distant times shrouded in the gray hues our eyes associate with the past. Instead, with the right amount of colorization, people and places seem like part of the living world again” [7]. Images in black and white often evoke perceptions and interpretation of the past; whereas, images in color seem to evoke perceptions and interpretations of modern day. Therefore, color affects our perception of time and our understanding of history.
However, do black and white images provide more room for interpretation? Does color block our imagination and bias us? Is it possible to see more to a picture when it is not in color? These questions relate to color’s connection with ‘seeing in scale.’ Does color force us to focus on the details and miss the big picture? Does color tell us what to believe and what to see? Or are we unable to see the big picture without color?
A study was conducted at Ohio State University to see how images affect consumer interest. The same products were shown in both color and black and white, and consumer’s reactions to the different images were measured. According to the assistant professor of marketing, Xiaoyan Deng, “Color images help us notice details” [8]. She says “when you need to visualize ambiguous, uncertain future events, you want to get away from all those details, to construct that future event in your mind in a meaningful way. Seeing in black and white allows you to construct that event” [8].
Color and Truth/Ethics
How we see and interpret different colors also affects how we perceive truth. Therefore, color relates the concept “seeing is believing.”
’The Dress Phenomenon’ is a perfect example of this. The photograph of ‘The Dress’ went viral on social media as many argued whether the true colors were gold and white or blue and black. The visual trick had people so adamant about the colors they interpreted, as people tend to believe what they see. In order to understand the controversy, “at least in part, it’s because some of our brains are confused by the original image’s washed-out, bluish lighting. Our visual systems intuitively know to filter out normal backgrounds and lighting in order to see the “true” color of an object — a concept called color constancy” [9]. This then provokes the discussion of tweaking colors and the ethics behind enhancing photographs.
With technology today, we have the options to crop, super-impose, change colors, and filter our world. Therefore, how ethical is it to enhance photographs? In news? In general? Especially now that we know colors reflect meaning and portray many messages.
Overall, color plays a very important role in the way we communicate. Due to the different meanings and values society and culture has given to colors, color has the power to influence our emotions, moods and ultimately our overall understanding of the world around us.
Color and The Media
“Of all the forms of non-verbal communication, the most instantaneous method of conveying messages and meaning through visual cues is color” [10]. Color has the ability to symbolize, recall information, or create emotion regarding a specific event or concept. Therefore, “your color palette choices can dramatically affect the story and the reader’s experience when consuming a story package” [10].
When presenting a story for the news it is critical that we think carefully about the color choices we make and the photographs we choose to include; as these colors have the potential to bias and influence the information. Just as colorful images and text can affect a story, a similar affect is created by images and text in black and white. A reader or viewer’s experience is completely different when a story is told in color versus black and white.
As mentioned earlier, images in black and white often evoke emotions and perceptions of the past; whereas images of color tend to evoke perceptions of modern day. Therefore, it is important that when including images in a news story, we think of how others may perceive these photographs; depending on our choice to use color or not. The many interpretations and perceptions created by color stress the importance for using photograph captions. Providing context for images can help to clear up confusion or misinterpretations influenced by color.
Another important concept to consider when analyzing color in the news, is how colors affect one’s perception of the truth. Again, with the many editing tools available today, we now have many options to crop, super-impose, and change the lighting and colors of images; ultimately, filtering our world. Therefore, it is important to always remain ethical when editing photographs for the news. Now that we understand the different values assigned to colors and the many messages colors can convey, it is important to make sure that when editing a photograph we are staying truthful to the original scene.
Overall, it is important to consider all of these different facets influenced by color when creating news stories and packages, as the large and diverse audience of the media will have different experiences with the information if not provided the proper context.
Related Topics:
- Seeing the world
- Seeing at scale
- Seeing others
- Seeing ourselves
Work Cited:
[1] Crayola. (2015). “Color-What is Color?” Crayola. Retrieved March 22, 2015. (http://www.crayola.com/for-educators/resources-landing/articles/color-what-is-color.aspx).
[2] Abir Aich. (2012). “Colors: Importance in Visual Communication.” Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics. Retrieved March 3, 2015. (http://www.maacindia.com/blog/index.php/colors-importance-in-visual-communication/).
[3] ALISTAIRKB. (2014). “The Different Connotations of Colours.” WordPress. Retrieved February 3, 2015. (https://akbrodie.wordpress.com/2014/11/16/the-different-connotations-of-colours/).
[4] Color Matters. (2015). “Color and Culture Matter.” Color Matters. Retrieved March 21, 2015. (http://www.colormatters.com/color-symbolism/color-and-culture-matters). For a very different view of what is happening in the double portrait see Koster, Margaret L. “The Arnolfini double portrait: a simple solution.” The Free Library 01 September 2003. https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Arnolfini+double+portrait%3A+a+simple+solution.-a0109131988
[5] The Huffington Post Canada. (2012). “Clothes And Personality: What Your Favourite Colour Says About You (INFOGRAPHIC).” The Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved February 27, 2015. (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/09/28/clothing-colour-personality-_n_1924156.html).
[6] Anthropology in Practice. (2011). “Reflections of Gotham: Why Do New Yorkers Wear So Much Black?” Anthropology in Practice. (http://www.anthropologyinpractice.com/2011/04/reflections-of-gotham-why-do-new.html).
[7] Benjamin Starr. (2015). “Black and White Photos Wiped into Color.” Visual News. Retrieved February 3, 2015. (http://www.visualnews.com/2015/01/black-white-photos-wiped-color/).
[8] Pam Frost Gorder. (2015). “Look, something shiny! How color images can influence consumers: Study hints at how the brain construes color objects versus black and white.” Ohio State University. Retrieved February 27, 2015. (http://news.osu.edu/news/2015/03/10/look-something-shiny!-how-color-images-can-influence-consumers/).
[9] Dan Diamond. (2015). “Why Your Brain Thinks That Blue Dress Looks White.” Forbes. Retrieved February 27, 2015. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2015/02/27/the-science-behind-why-that-blue-dress-looks-white/).
[10] Miranda Mulligan. (2013). “Color Theory and Mapping.” Data Driven Journalism. Retrieved April 21, 2015. (http://datadrivenjournalism.net/resources/colour_theory_and_mapping).
Additional Resources:
1. Hodge, Susie. (2010). How To Survive Modern Art. 16.
The author Susie Hodge, discusses the many controversies and misunderstandings when interpreting modern art. With all the images published in full color, the author provides a “guide” to its readers on how to understand works of modern art. The book covers a wide range of modern art history from Impressionism to the Harlem Renaissance, and from Cézanne to Postmodernism. Furthermore, Hodge more deeply explains the concept of color in modern art, how it is used to influence certain emotions and messages within each work, and on a larger scale, how it distinguishes and identifies each time period.
2. DK Publishing. (2013). Beginnings: Masters of Color. Art that Changed the World, 290-297.
DK Publishing provides an in depth history of major art styles and their transformative art movements. In a very visual context, the authors provide a timeline of each movement, indicating the major events and cultural aspects of the time periods. More specifically, the authors provide an in-depth section of the book dedicated to color’s “artistic influence.” It further explains the different styles and movements of modern art influenced by the use of color, as well as explains the background and inspirations of the artists for creating these styles. Ultimately, this section teaches why artists tend to use specific colors, as each color possesses different meanings and values; which in turn influences how others interpret their work in relation to the world.
3. Phaidon Press. (1999). The 20th Century Art Book.
Phaidon Press presents a visual summary of 500 artists of the 20th century, detailing their artistic styles and most influential works. Twentieth century art includes a variety of colorful art forms, and with the background and history of each artist, the authors explain the many influences of color when creating art; as well as the many influences colorful artistic works have on interpretations of the world. The authors also draw connections between each artist and their styles, comparing the historic and cultural influences on their work.
4. Klinker, G.J., Shafer, S.A. & Kanade, T. (1990). A Physical Approach to Color Image Understanding. International Journal of Computer Vision,4: 7-38.
The authors/researchers, G. Klinker, Steven Shafer, and Takeo Kanade, present a single, calculated approach to understanding color images. The experiment uses the theory, the Dichromatic Reflection Model, to divide the image in order to analyze and understand the many “intensity or color variations in the image,” and their affect on the interpretation of the image overall. The authors provide a step-by-step process of the experiment and its findings, yielded by an analysis of two image reflections: “an image of just the highlights, and the original image with the highlights removed.” The results show a calculated and specific method allowing for the understanding of “physical descriptions of the reflection processes occurring in the scene,” basically how the camera captures the image; similar to how our eyes do.
5. Houston, N. (2015). Creating Color-Blind Accessible Figures. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The author, Natalie Houston, explains the many variations in which people understand and distinguish between colors. The article goes on to explain the many vision deficiencies associated with color (color-blindness) and how these medical conditions can affect one’s ability to understand certain concepts. In order to communicate with individuals possessing these conditions, the article describes a universal design for color, for individuals to use when creating presentations. Houston explicitly details the aspects of color communication in which people with vision deficiencies have difficulty recognizing. It then goes on to further discuss specifically how one can alter presentations to fill the gaps of this communication. For example “using thick lines and larger chart objects when possible,” and using “sufficient contrast between text or object and the background.”
6. Simpson, C. (1998). Reviewed Work: Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction by John Gage. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 56 (1): 80-82.
The reviewer, Carl Simpson, shares his opinion on the book Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction by John Gage. The author describes his complaint about the philosophers and scholars who write about art without the proper background or analysis of particular aspects of its influence; specifically, color. Although unsatisfied with the way the author presents the information, Simpson explains the author’s intention to shed light on the little attention we give to the theory of color. Simpson states the authors claim in the book, “Colour is almost everybody’s business but it has rarely been treated in a unified way.” Simpson goes on to explain the book’s explanation of color language, symbols, etc. The book addresses the early Greek approaches to understanding color, as well as the current understandings of color through its physical and psychological aspects. The book also touched upon the relation between color, history, and culture.
7. Brédart S., Cornet A., & Rakic, J.M. (2014). Recognition Memory for Colored and Black-and-White Scenes in Normal and Color Deficient Observers (Dichromats). PLoS ONE 9(5): e98757.
The authors/researchers, Serge Brédart, Alyssa Cornet, and Jean-Marie Rakic, present a study in which color deficient and normal vision test subjects were evaluated to determine their memory recognition for color and black and white natural scenes. The subjects were presented with a series of images, an equal number shown in color and black and white. The subjects were then presented another series of images, mixed with new images. The subjects were asked to recall whether they had seen the images previously or not at all. The subjects were to then indicate their level of confidence in their responses. The study yielded that both groups “indicated that accuracy, response discrimination, response bias and confidence ratings were higher for colored than for black-and-white images.” However, overall, the actual memory recognition was not higher for colored images than those in black and white. The study did find however, that for those with normal vision, color was most often the indicator for memory response. Therefore, the study demonstrated how color or lack their of influences our perceptions and recognitions of specific events or images.
Photograph Credit:
[1] Colour Wheel. http://noblack.be/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/colour_wheel.jpg
[2] Giovanni Arolfiniand His Bride. Jan Van Eyck. 1434. http://www.colormatters.com/color-symbolism/color-and-culture-matters
Let There Be Sight 