Black Garlic & Red bananas

Black cherry tomatoes

Blue rice

Red bananas

Black garlic

Black garlic developed by a japanese researcher and the naturally occurring red banana are yet other foods which are of a colour naturally not associated with that food. People's reactions to food like these range from intrigue to cautiousness, some being to uncomfortable to try them due to just it's colour. Maybe I can try and persuade people somehow to try these food and others like these through packing and persuasion or packaging and promotion.

the purple potato

Developed at Colorado state university the purple potato contains up to 10 times the level of antioxidants and anthocyanin, compared with white potatoes. Relating to colour association, naturally people would never relate purple to the colour of a potato. But in terms of contemporary association people will physiologically link purple to a type of potato. I could possibly Package and promote new foods that are of colours not usually associated with eachother.

Michel Albert-Vanel's Planetary colour system

The planetary colour system designed in 1983 by the Frenchman Michel Albert-Vanel is intended to incorporate the effects of the colour sensations which we encounter each and every day. Colours influence each other, changing with the surroundings in which we see them. The basis of this novel and unorthodox system are the rotating planets which represent Ewald hering's four (psychological) primary colours: yellow (J for jaune), red (R for rouge), green (V for vert) and blue (B for bleu). The secondary colours are represented by orbiting moons.

Colours are not abstract concepts but real sensations, usually experienced not in isolation, but in groups. We not only associate these groups with each other, but perceive them in their entirety. The planetary system introduces new parameters in order to describe the context in which a colour exists. For any individual colour, contrast and material join the usual trio of hue, brightness and saturation. Contrast unites three new scales describing mixtures or groups of colours. One scale again considers hue, extending from monochromatic (without contrast) through to polychromatic (full contrast) colours. The two other scales involve brightness and saturation, and also range from plain to sophisticated colours. The material also brings three scales into the system which range from active (light) to passive (pigments), with the latter extending from transparent through to opaque, and from mat to gloss.

A colour-solid may be constructed by selecting any three scales from this assortment of planetary scales. The system as a whole can be used to locate the colours of complex impressionistic pictures, for example, since an almost infinite number of colour combinations can be defined by it. Despite this huge number, the everyday sensation of colour still centres on a few main colour-groups, and can thus be represented by planets, orbited by numerous small moons. This is a multidimensional colour-space.

Colour Symbolism

RED - Excitement, energy, passion, love, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence, all things intense and passionate

PINK - symbolizes love, romance, and excitement

BEIGE - Beige and ivory symbolize unification. Ivory symbolizes quiet and pleasantness. Beige symbolizes calm and simplicity.

YELLOW - Joy, happiness, betrayal, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, gold, philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard.

BLUE - Peace, tranquility, cold, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, technology, depression, appetite suppressant.

TURQUOISE - Turquoise symbolizes calm. Teal symbolizes sophistication. Aquamarine symbolizes water. Lighter turquoise has a feminine appeal.

PURPLE - Royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning.

LAVENDER - symbolizes femininity, grace and elegance.

ORANGE - Energy, balance, enthusiasm, warmth, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant, demanding of attention.

GREEN - Nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune, vigor.

BROWN - Earth, stability, hearth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, simplicity, and comfort.

GREY - Security, reliability, intelligence, staid, modesty, dignity, maturity, solid, conservative, practical, old age, sadness, boring. Silver symbolizes calm.

WHITE - Reverence, purity, birth, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical.

BLACK - Power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, anonymity, underground, good technical color, mourning, death (Western cultures).

Colour symbolism in Eastern culture

Marriage: White and pink are favorite just as in the western world.
Green: Eternity, family, harmony, health, peace, posterity
Happiness: Red
Helpful: Grey
Wealth: Blue, gold and purple
White: Children, helpful people, marriage,
mourning, peace, purity, travel
Gold: Strength, wealth
Evil or sadness- Just like in the western world- black.

Colour Symbolism - associations

Colour can be separated into two associations; psychological and cultural. Good design requires the knowledge and awareness of how and why colours communicate meaning. Some meanings are obvious such as red, which conveys passion and blood but some are less universal and will only relate to certain audiences and be more complex. Colours in nature are omnipresent and recognised across the world, for example blue will be associated with the sky and a feeling of calmness, another example is the fact that green is the colour of vegetation.

Colour in the context of psychology generates a different level of meaning, this occurs from cultural and contemporary subjects. Because of this colours may differ from their natural associations such as green instead of being natural can be linked to good luck or even extra terrestrials, money or greed, all of which have nothing to do with plants.

I'm feeling a little Blue

The short answer is yes. The colors around us do affect the mood that we have. Red can make us excitable and blue or green pastels can calm us down, but there is more to it than that. While there are general associations with mood when it comes to color, the reaction that an individual person can have can be different than someone else. Just like everything else in life there are people who don’t fit into the ‘norms’ that society has, and the reaction to color is no exception to that. Different hues of color can also affect mood in the sense that a dark blue might have a different feeling than a light blue. It’s believed that a lot of these opinions and feelings about colors start in childhood and that people frame their opinions of color very early in life.

Studying young children and their response to color fits into the molds that researchers have seen with adults and how they react to color as well. Whether children are taught these responses by the way their parents react, however, seems unlikely because color – other than learning the names of the shades – isn’t really a topic of discussion. Most people don’t talk about the way that color makes them feel. They don’t really discuss it, it’s just something that is…and it’s hard to define.

The psychological and physiological changes that come along with it are marked and noticeable, though, and that shows that the body responds to color even if the brain isn’t actively thinking about whether the color makes the person feel a certain way.

The hue, the saturation, and the brightness of the color all have to be evaluated when it comes to what kind of effect color has on mood. For example, purple is considered to be a power color, but lavender is not – it is more mystic, soothing, and spiritual. It would be a good color for a bedroom or a meditation room, but not such a good color for a room where work should get done or where a person needs to feel empowered. Studies have also shown that girls and boys are about the same in their opinions on color, but girls do tend to be more positive about brighter colors and more negative about darker colors, where boys don’t seem to have that same connotation with bright and dark colors.

Colour sells

If you use red to sell your product, you’re probably going to have more success. The same is true with yellow, which is the next best color choice. Advertisers and marketers have known this for many years, but scientists know it, too. The science of color says that reds and yellows make people want to buy things. Their heart rate increases and their pupils dilate just a bit. The colors excite these people. Sometimes an advertiser will use a color simply because it draws attention to a product. Other times color is used because it has a specific association with something the product relates to or something that the advertiser wants the consumer to think of. In the past colors were just chosen almost randomly, but the science of color is something that most companies and advertising firms take very seriously in today’s competitive market.

For companies who are concerned about health, green is a good choice. Because it symbolises nature and makes people think of plants and healthy, growing things and rebirth it only makes sense that these companies would want to use something that would connect with consumers in that way. The science of color isn’t just used for food, though. It can be used for hundreds of different types of products and it all depends on what kind of message the company wants to convey. This science also tells us that we should have no more than three colors per item when it comes to advertising and product packaging, because too many colors are confusing and can send a mixed message that consumers find unappealing. It is important that messages in the advertising industry be clear if products are to sell well.

The science of color can extend to people, too, and the colors that they choose to wear. If a person wears red or purple, he or she exhibits passion and strength and power. Some say that purple (not lavender) is the color of royalty. Yellow indicates a sunny disposition, and people who wear blue or green are usually calmer individuals – and they help make others feel calm, as well. Black and white are often used for elegance, such as men’s formal attire. Not everyone wears a particular color because it makes them feel good, but color is important in many aspects of our lives, and it can make a difference in how we feel and how we relate to our environment and others around us.

Pantone Plus series

A really insightful video into the new pantone plus series, I especially like the 28 colour printer that they use to print the pantone chip books, the only one of its kind in the world.

Were the greeks colour blind?

As seen through the eyes of the Ancient Greeks, color perception is a very different thing than our own color perception. In Homer's writing he often described colour by comparing it to objects for example he described the sea and sheep as the colour of wine he also strangely used 'chloros' (green) as the colour of honey and kyanos (cyan) as the colour of Hectors hair. but was his hair really blue or was his perception of color reflect on himself, his people, and his world. We'll never truly know but other ancient greeks used the same descriptions so is our translation of their language and colour descriptions wrong or were they colour blind. In Ancient Greece vision is shown, to be a very subjective practice and a different process from our own visual process. The importance of vision and color held a different place in the mind of the Ancient Greek, but this is the truth of vision everywhere. Sight is a gift to us, and it is a gift that we choose to use, it is a sense whose effect on us is in part created by ourselves individually. Whether we use it one way or another is simply a cultural or biological difference, and in studying the sight of others we can grow infinitely in our appreciation of our own vision and the strength of our minds over our biological and physiological processes.

Opticks by Isaac newton

Both Isaac Newton and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe were pioneers in colour theory and philosophy. In Newton's 'Opticks' he observed that a narrow beam of light splits into different bands of colour when passed through a glass prism. He used the word Spectrum in the same study to describe his experiments in colour and optics. Originally Newton divided the Spectrum into 7 colours, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet, though other philosophers suggest that Indigo is a shade of Blue or Violet as the human eye is quite insensitive to Indigo's frequencies. What I find most interesting is Newton's hypothesise of light being amade up of particles of different colours (corpuscles) and that each colour moves at a different speed so that when light passes through the prism red is moving faster than violet resulting in violet bending more sharply that red creating a spectrum of colours.

Andy Gilmore

whilst trying to find a designer that used colour to portray a concept i discovered these fun illustrations, visually fun and intelligent.

Colour Theory

A really handy and useful poster that i came across whilst researching colour theory.