ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE

The first question is how do we know that? How do we see different colours? The second question is why should we care? Apart from brightening the world, does colour really matter in our daily lives?

How Do We See Colour?

We are able to perceive and differentiate colour because of rods and cones, specialised cells in the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye. There are about 120 million rods and about 6 to 7 million cones in the human eye. The rods perceive images in black, white and shades of grey, while the cones are sensitive to colour. Not all the cones are alike, and they respond differently to different wave lengths of colour. When light from an object enters the eye and reaches the retina, combinations of the cones are stimulated depending on the wave length of the light. A signal is sent along the optic nerve to the visual centre of the brain where the information is processed and the colour perceived.

Why Colour Matters

The process does not end there! The interpretation of colour is dependent on, among other things, personal experience, emotions, cultural and religious factors. It informs choices we make, how we feel, how we decorate our homes, and how we react to certain situations. It even plays a role in our language and how we express ourselves, for example we feel blue, see red in anger, are green with envy. Colour plays a pivotal role in our daily visual experiences, from stopping at a red traffic light to judging whether the fruit we are buying is ripe or not, from deciding what to wear each day to a sense of national identity in the flag of our country.

Certain colours and colour relationships can be eye irritants, while other colours and colour combinations are soothing. The appropriate use of colour can maximise productivity, minimise visual fatigue, and relax the whole body.

Research shows that colour helps us process visual scenes more efficiently than black and white does, and psychologists report that colour images are remembered better than those in monochrome. It stands to reason then that colour enhances learning, and can improve reading and comprehension, particularly in children who have difficulty in these areas.

Colour and Marketing

Without being consciously aware of it, we buy certain products based on colour. This is painstakingly researched by specialists in marketing, whose job it is to ensure that products catch the shopper's eye and convey information within the short time frame in which buying decisions are made. Colour increases brand recognition; for example, without needing to read the name, we know the difference between Coke and Pepsi. People respond to colour adverts more often than they do to the same adverts in black and white.

Colour and Taste

Our sense of taste is often fooled by our sense of sight! While the taste buds on the tongue play an essential role in determining taste, our eyes send signals to the brain before the taste buds get the chance, and this can predetermine how we will experience what we are about to eat. Colour is often the first element noticed in the appearance of a food product. Humans begin to associate certain colours with various types of foods from birth, and equate these colours to certain tastes and flavours throughout life. For example, we may expect yellow pudding to have a banana or lemon flavour, and red jelly beans to taste like cherry or cinnamon. If the colour of a food product does not match our expectations, we may perceive its flavour differently.

Colour and Emotion

Whether we all perceive or appreciate colours in the same way or not doesn't change the universal emotional responses we have to them, because we respond to the different wave lengths of the various colours.

How do colours influence people? White and grey are associated with feelings of calm, balance, purity, cleanliness, and safety. Too much grey may lead to feelings of depression. Yellow and orange are colours that promote optimism and cheerfulness. Orange is thought to stimulate mental activity. Darker shades of yellow often lead to the negative interpretation of a "yellow belly" or coward. Red creates a sense of urgency and youthfulness, and is associated with physically stimulating the body, raising blood pressure, and encouraging appetite. It is often used in flags to convey a sense of a country's strength. Green stands for health, peacefulness, nature and growth. Being a relaxing colour, green has been shown to stimulate harmony in the brain and encourages a balance leading to decisiveness. Combining the stability of blue and the energy of red, wisdom and imagination are linked to purple, which is commonly associated with royalty, quality and respect. Blue is associated with peace, tranquility, strength and reliability, and is believed to stimulate productivity. Because there are no blue foods in nature, blue is thought to suppress the appetite. Black symbolises luxury, authority, power, stability, and strength, but also has connotations of fear and evil. We speak of "blackmail", a "black list" or a "black hole".

Symbolism of Colour

Colours are imbued with great symbolic power, which often dates back many centuries to beliefs and practices of ancient cultures.

Red implies life force, health and passion. In many ancient cultures garnets or red clothing were worn to enhance health and ward off disease. In a wide range of cultures, white symbolises purity and innocence, and white robes and garments are worn to convey spiritual and/or sexual purity. Even in movies, white is used to portray good; a perfect example is the cowboy with the white hat in Westerns! Many ancient cultures believed that black was the colour of mystery, particularly the mystery of death, about which people were "in the dark". Purple's status as the colour of royalty and wealth stems from the rarity and cost of the dye originally used to produce it. Because only wealthy rulers could afford to buy and wear fabrics dyed with purple, it became associated with the imperial classes of Rome, Egypt and Persia. Purple also came to represent spirituality and holiness, because the ancient emperors, kings and queens who wore it were often considered to be gods or descendants of the gods. The primary association of the colour blue for most of recorded history was with truth, a meaning that exists today in the phrase "true blue."

This was because blue is the colour of a calm and clear sky, and it is calm reflection that leads to truth. Today, though, blue can convey sadness, and having "the blues" may relate to tears and rain; in Greek mythology, Zeus made it rain when he was sad. For obvious reasons, the colour green represents nature and the environment; more abstractly, it symbolises wisdom, which has ancient roots. There is a flipside to green in the "green-eyed monster", its association with jealousy which was believed to be the opposite of celestial selfless wisdom. In ancient cultures, such as Egypt and China, where gods were associated with the sun, yellow was the highest and noblest of colours.

In spite of all the universal beliefs and interpretations, colour is a private sensation, a personal reaction governed by each person's unique preferences and experiences.