Hue,saturation, lightness,and building exterior preference: An empirical study in Turkey comparing architects' and nonarchitects' evaluative and cognitive judgments

This study investigated architects' and nonarchitects' evaluative and cognitive judgments of color on building exteriors. Thirty architects and 30 high school teachers living in Izmir, Turkey participated in the study. The experiment had two phases. First, participants viewed eight images, in which the color of a building exterior was manipulated with hues selected from HSB (hue, saturation, and brightness) color space. Participants were then asked to rate each image on 7‐point semantic differential scales measuring preference (like–dislike), arousal (arousing–sleepy), naturalness (natural–artificial), and relaxation (relaxing–distressing). Second, participants viewed the same building in nine saturation and lightness levels for each hue and picked the most preferred lightness and saturation level for each hue. Findings showed that for a building exterior: (1) yellow and blue were the most liked colors, (2) some hues were rated as more arousing, more natural, and more relaxing over the others, (3) gender had an effect on color preference and semantic ratings of naturalness and relaxation, (4) architects and nonarchitects differed in their color preference and semantic ratings of arousal and naturalness, and (5) full bright and moderate to low saturated colors and full saturated and moderate to high bright colors were preferred more. The results have practical implications for architects and urban designers. A successful coloration of a building exterior may increase its use frequency and economical value. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 33, 395–405, 2008     

Effects of hue,saturation, and brightness on color preference in social networks: Gender‐based color preference on the social networking site Twitter

Account information for over 1 million Twitter users was downloaded and analyzed to determine color preference. Blues were found to be the most preferred color, whereas greens were least preferred. Distinct gender‐specific differences were found. Males preferred blues to a greater extent than females, whereas females preferred magentas to a much greater extent than males. Males preferred darker colors to a greater extent than women. Density plots within hue, saturation, and brightness space summarize the distribution of color choices and illustrate color preferences for both males and females. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 38, 196–202, 2013.     

Gender difference in color preference across cultures: An archetypal pattern modulated by a female cultural stereotype

A gender difference in color preference among British participants has been repeatedly reported, in which both males and females show a preference for blue‐green colors, while females express an additional preference for pink‐purple colors. To investigate the robustness of gender difference in color preference in a different culture, we tested 81 young adult Indians from a school of design and compared them to 80 young British students in Psychology. The 35‐item International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) and Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) questionnaires were also administered to explore possible links between personality traits, gender schemata, and color preferences. Results confirmed a gender difference in both cultures; participants collectively expressed a preference for cool over warm colors, while in addition females showed a preference for pink colors, with a warm bias for Indian females and a cool bias for British females. While these results extend gender difference to Indian culture and support the universality of an underlying pattern they also reveal a culture‐specific contribution essentially observed in females. In British participants, color preference was correlated exclusively with BSRI scores in females and overwhelmingly with IPIP scores in males; this gender‐specific pattern of correlation was not replicated in the Indian sample. Results point to an archetypal pattern of gender difference in color preference with a remarkable cross‐cultural similarity in men and a subtle but significant cultural difference in women whose origin is yet to be explained.     

Age effects on colour emotion,preference, and harmony

Two psychophysical experiments were carried out to investigate whether or not colour emotion responses would change with the advance of the viewer's age. Two forms of stimuli were used: 30 single colours (for Experiment 1) and 190 colour pairs (for Experiment 2). Four word pairs, warm/cool, heavy/light, active/passive, and like/dislike, were used to assess colour emotion and preference in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, harmonious/disharmonious was also used in addition to the four scales for Experiment 1. A total of 72 Taiwanese observers participated, including 40 (20 young and 20 older) for Experiment 1 and 32 (16 young and 16 older) for Experiment 2. The experimental results show that for single colours, all colour samples were rated as less active, less liked, and cooler for older observers than for young observers. For colour combinations, light colour pairs were rated as less active and cooler for older observers than for young observers; achromatic colour pairs and those consisting of colours in similar chroma were rated as cooler, less liked and less harmonious for older observers than for young observers. The findings may challenge a number of existing theories, including the adaptation mechanism for retaining consistent perception of colour appearance across the lifespan, the modeling of colour emotion based on relative colour appearance values, and the additive approach to prediction of colour‐combination emotion. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011     

Experimental determination of the laws of color harmony. Part 4: Color preference and the color harmony content

In 1956, we decided at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics to start a large‐scale experiment on color harmony. The experiments and the processing of the experimental results have been completed in 2006. These experiments, described in this article, form a study of how much are people, participating in the experiment, influenced by their own personal color preference in judging the harmony content of a composition. These experiments have utilized the results of former (1958–1969) color preference experiments and the system of color preference indexes, which were developed by the generalization of those results. Within the framework of these experiments, conducted between 1998 and 2006 there were 24 compositions, shown to the participants, at first one by one, then in pairs and at last in groups of six. They had to assess the harmony content of the compositions and award a score on a scale between 0 and 10. Each composition possessed a specific amount of harmony content according to the rules of color space, based on the Coloroid harmony threshold and verified by former experiments. In these experiments the number of elementary observations were 135 568. The people participating in the experiment were approximately equal number of men and women, from the age group between 10 and 70 years. During processing, by using the color preference numerical indexing system, we compared the results of those experiments with the color preference of a similar age group, by using color compositions, identical to the ones used in the present experiment. We have found that the sensation of the color harmony and its intensity have a strong relation to how the observers relate to colors and also their color preferences. The sensation of color harmony is also influenced by the gender and the age of the observer. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 34, 210–224, 2009     

Comparative studies on color preference in Japan and other Asian regions,with special emphasis on the preference for white

The results of three surveys are presented. The first survey was carried out in four large cities in Japan, and the findings were analyzed by factor analysis and cluster analysis. The second survey was carried out in Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan to determine color preference in the two countries, focusing on the preference for white. The last survey compared color preference in Taipei and Tokyo, also with emphasis on the preference for white. In these successive studies on color preference in Japan and other Asian cities, the subjects were mainly asked to choose from a color chart the three colors they liked most and the three they liked least, and to state the reasons for their choices. The results of Survey 1 showed that color preference could be influenced by differences in age, sex, and geographical region. Also factor analysis and cluster analysis indicated some relation between color preference and the subjects' life styles. Dual scaling analysis of the results of Surveys 2 and 3 indicated that each Asian area has unique color preference tendencies and that there are statistically significant differences in the frequency of selection of colors of certain hues and tones. However, a high preference for white was common to all areas, along with preferences for some other colors. These results thus demonstrated a common strong preference for white in three neighboring Asian areas. The reasons given for the choices suggested that besides the factors of age and sex, associative images based on environmental and cultural aspects may be an important factor influencing color preference. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Differences in attributes between color difference and color appearance (chroma and hue) for near‐neutral colors

Chroma‐step perception and its corresponding color difference in the same hue direction are the different attributes on color perception. The differences between them are different for different hues. Hue‐appearance step and its corresponding color difference along the same hue circle also have completely different concepts. The causes of the above two facts are clarified. The information based on various experiments and theoretical considerations are given for supporting the facts. In addition, it is clarified that the relationship on color‐appearance step and color difference has completely different characteristics between the quantitative (chroma) and the qualitative (hue) attributes of object colors. The importance of chromatic strength (CS) on hue is clarified in each of the three color attributes hue, value, and chroma. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 30, 42–52, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20073     

Crosscultural comparison of color terms and preference of persimmon‐dyed fabric,Galchon

This crosscultural study was aimed at correlating color emotions and preference for persimmon‐dyed cotton fabrics known as Galchon. Cotton fabrics were dyed with persimmon powder, in a range of shades, and in some cases were also iron mordanted. Textile and fashion students from Jeju National University in Korea and North Carolina State University (NCSU) in USA participated in the visual assessment of dyed samples and were asked to scale their visual experience and state their emotion and preference for the terms “Bright,” “Heavy,” “Soft,” “Strong,” “Deep,” and “Like.” Korean observers used “Strong” for iron‐mordanted Galchon, and American observers did not associate “Bright” or “Deep” with weakly dyed fabrics. In addition to the subjective terms described, the color preference for samples was quantified using their CIE colorimetric attributes. For Korean observers, the results indicate a correlation between L^* and “Bright,” whereas for Americans a stronger correlation was obtained against “Soft.” American observers' results also show a relationship between C^* and the term “Warm,” especially for dyeings of Galchon at high concentrations. It was also found that iron mordanting affected responses from both groups but only influenced the color preference of Korean observers. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 592–604, 2015     

Separate processing of chromatic and achromatic contrast in color constancy

In a preceding study we measured human color constancy in experimental conditions in which simulated illuminants and surface colors were varied in the chromatic domain only. Both illumination level and sample reflectance were fixed in that study. In the present study we focus on the achromatic dimension, both with respect to luminance contrast (Experiment 1) and overall illumination (Experiment 2). Sample‐to‐background contrast was varied over a two log unit range that covered both luminance decrements and increments. Illumination level was varied either for the short‐wave‐sensitive (S) cones only or for all three cone types simultaneously. Data predictions on the basis of a cone‐specific response function, derived in our preceding study, indicate that this model has difficulty in accommodating the results obtained with varying luminance contrast. However, a modified version of the response function, incorporating separate processing of color and luminance contrast, correctly predicts the data from both the present and the previous study. We also show that over a limited stimulus range our earlier response function is mathematically equivalent to Jameson and Hurvich's model of brightness contrast. The latter model, cast into a trichromatic format, performs equally well or better than our original response function, but is less accurate than our modified model. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 30, 172–185, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20105     

Similarities and differences between male and female novice designers on color‐concept associations for warnings,action required,and signs and equipment status messages

This research examined the male and female novice designers toward color associations for the concepts used for ‘warnings’, ‘action required’, and ‘signs and equipment status’ through a questionnaire‐based study. A total of 178 Hong Kong Chinese final year undergraduate design students (89 males and 89 females) participated in the study. The test used required the participants to indicate their choice of one of nine colors to associations with each of 38 concepts in a color‐concept table, so that any one color could be associated with any one of the concepts. For both male and female groups of novice designers, chi‐square tests revealed a strong color association for each concept tested in this study (P < .05). The results showed males and females agreed on some color‐concept association stereotypes which were therefore gender neutral. The male and female novice designers had the same color associations and similar levels of stereotype strengths for 21 concepts. The nine strongest and therefore most useful color‐concept association stereotypes for both male and female novice designers were: red‐danger, red‐fire, red‐hot, red‐stop, red‐emergency, red‐error, blue‐cold, blue‐male, and green‐exit. However, the male and female novice designers had different color association stereotypes for the standby (green vs. yellow), emergency exit (green vs. red), and toxic (purple vs. black) concepts, and the strengths of the 14 remaining associations for both groups were not at equivalent levels. Overall, it is anticipated that the findings of this study will act as a useful reference for novice designers and other design practitioners to optimize color coding in the design of ‘warnings’, ‘action required’, and ‘signs and equipment status’ messages.     

Comprehensive color solutions: CAM16, CAT16, and CAM16‐UCS

The CIECAM02 color‐appearance model enjoys popularity in scientific research and industrial applications since it was recommended by the CIE in 2002. However, it has been found that computational failures can occur in certain cases such as during the image processing of cross‐media color reproduction applications. Some proposals have been developed to repair the CIECAM02 model. However, all the proposals developed have the same structure as the original CIECAM02 model and solve the problems concerned at the expense of losing accuracy of predicted visual data compared with the original model. In this article, the structure of the CIECAM02 model is changed and the color and luminance adaptations to the illuminant are completed in the same space rather than in two different spaces, as in the original CIECAM02 model. It has been found that the new model (named CAM16) not only overcomes the previous problems, but also the performance in predicting the visual results is as good as if not better than that of the original CIECAM02 model. Furthermore the new CAM16 model is simpler than the original CIECAM02 model. In addition, if considering only chromatic adaptation, a new transformation, CAT16, is proposed to replace the previous CAT02 transformation. Finally, the new CAM16‐UCS uniform color space is proposed to replace the previous CAM02‐UCS space. A new complete solution for color‐appearance prediction and color‐difference evaluation can now be offered.     

α‐Linolenic acid metabolism in adult humans: the effects of gender and age on conversion to longer‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids

This review summarises and evaluates current knowledge of α‐linolenic acid (αLNA) metabolism in adult humans. The principal biological role of αLNA appears to be as a precursor for the synthesis of longer‐chain n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Stable isotope tracer studies indicate that conversion of αLNA to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) occurs but is limited in men and that further transformation to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is very low. A lower proportion of αLNA is used for β‐oxidation in women compared with men, while the fractional conversion to the longer‐chain n‐3 PUFA is greater, possibly due to the regulatory effects of oestrogen. Increasing αLNA intake for a period of weeks results in an increase in the proportion of EPA in plasma lipids, circulating cells and breast milk, but there is no increase in DHA, which may even decline in some pools at high αLNA intakes. Overall, αLNA appears to be a limited source of longer‐chain n‐3 PUFA in man, and so adequate intakes of preformed long‐chain n‐3 PUFA, in particular DHA, may be important for maintaining optimal tissue function. The capacity to up‐regulate αLNA transformation in women may be important for meeting the demands of the foetus and neonate for DHA.     

Colour,contrast and gestalt theories of perception: The impact in contemporary visual communications design

Visual communications design, which generally relates to design projects with specific communication objectives, includes most forms of graphic and digital design that have a commercial or an educational purpose. The effectiveness of such design projects rests on how well the embedded communications objectives are met from the perspective of the target audience. In advertising as in education, various post‐campaign evaluation techniques are used to measure effectiveness. The challenge for designers is to create designs that are aesthetically appropriate and visually engaging for the target audience, but which are also functionally‐legible and support the encoding of communication messages so that these are effectively decoded as intended. This is particularly important given that the effectiveness of visual communications is not guaranteed in the visually‐cluttered environment of the 21st century. Of the design elements available to the designer of visual communications, colour and contrast play key roles in visual perception, and the strategic use of these can contribute to the effectiveness of visual communications design. Examining the roles that colour and contrast within the context of Gestalt theories of perception provides additional insight into the ways in which these design elements can be harnessed to improve the effectiveness of visual communications design. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 85–92, 2015     

A study of color differences in women's ready‐to‐wear collections from world fashion cities: Intensive study of the Fall/Winter 2010 collections from New York,London, Milan,and Paris

The purpose of this study is to analyze the color differences in the four fashion collections from New York, London, Milan, and Paris while focusing on 2010 Fall and Winter women's ready‐to‐wear collections. The colors of the fashion collections were collected from American Vogue's website www.style.com and analyzed by using the ISCC –NBS color system which is made up of 10 basic hues of pink, red, orange, brown, yellow, olive, yellow green, green, blue, and purple, and three neutral categories of white, gray, and black. In addition to these 13 categories, yellowish pink, gold, and silver categories were classified. For analysis, one‐way ANOVA, the Scheffe test and the t‐test were adopted. The result of analysis showed that there was a statistical difference in purple compared with the other colors examined. The London collection showed the highest ratio of use in purple, whereas the Milan collection contrarily showed the lowest ratio of use in purple. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 38, 463–468, 2013