1) The color pink has been shown to calm violent prisoners by lowering heart rate and reducing feelings of anger and anxiety. However, these effects are only short-term. 2) Color plays an important role in marketing and branding. Research shows over 90% of people rely on visual factors like color when purchasing products, and color can increase brand recognition by up to 80%. 3) Color boosts memory formation - scenes with color are remembered better than black and white scenes. Color "tags" visual information, helping the brain process and store images more efficiently.

1. The Power of
Color
GPHS Art 1

2. Color Matters!
Color affects you physically
Color impacts marketing
Color increases brand recognition
Color boosts memory
Color engages participation
Color attracts attention

3. The Power of Colors
Baker Miller pink- a color that's close to the bubble gum
pink background color of this web page ( R:255, G:145,
B:175) . Also known as: drunk tank pink," this color is used
to calm violent prisoners in jails. Dr. Alexander Schauss,
Ph.D., director of the American Institute for Biosocial
Research in Tacoma Washington, was the first to report the
suppression of angry, antagonistic, and anxiety ridden
behavior among prisoners: "Even if a person tries to be
angry or aggressive in the presence of pink, he can't. The
heart muscles can’t race fast enough. It’s a tranquilizing
color that saps your energy. Even the color-blind are
tranquilized by pink rooms." (1) In spite of these powerful
effects, there is substantial evidence that these reactions
are short term. Once the body returns to a state of
equilibrium, a prisoner may regress to an even more
agitated state.
1. Morton Walker, The Power of Color, (New York, Avery Publishing Group, 1991), pp. 50-52

4. This room at the US Naval Correctional Facility in Seattle, Washington, was the first to be painted
Baker-Miller pink (a.k.a. Schauss pink). Full spectrum fluorescent lights ensured that the color was not
distorted.
Courtesy Alexander Schauss.

5. Pink for peace? For one juvenile detention facility in Florida, it's
worth a shot. According to a research paper published in 1981,
Baker-Miller pink, a shade which is "kind of like Pepto-Bismol, only
deeper," was found to lower heart rate, pulse, and respiration.

6. The status of pink football locker rooms today:
University of Hawaii associate head coach saw
visitor locker rooms at Iowa and Colorado State
painted pink in the belief that the color made
players passive. Now the WAC has a rule that a
visiting team's locker room can not be painted
a different color than the home team's.In other
words, it can be pink, black or any color of the rainbow, as long as both
locker rooms are the same color.
Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin 10/24/99

7. Color and Marketing
Research conducted by the secretariat of the Seoul International Color Expo 2004 :
92.6 percent said that they put most importance on visual
factors when purchasing products. Only 5.6 percent said that the
physical feel via the sense of touch was most important. Hearing and
smell each drew 0.9 percent.
Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person,
environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that
between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color
alone.
Source: CCICOLOR - Institute for Color Research
Research by the Henley Centre suggests 73% of purchasing decisions are
now made in-store. Consequently, catching the shopper's eye and
conveying information effectively are critical to successful
sales.

8. Color and Marketing
Research conducted by the secretariat of the Seoul International Color
Expo 2004 :
92.6 percent said that they put most importance
on visual factors when purchasing products. Only 5.6
percent said that the physical feel via the sense of touch was most
important. Hearing and smell each drew 0.9 percent.
Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a
person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of
initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that
assessment is based on color alone.
Source: CCICOLOR - Institute for Color Research
Research by the Henley Centre suggests 73% of purchasing
decisions are now made in-store. Consequently,
catching the shopper's eye and conveying information
effectively are critical to successful sales.

9. Color and Brand Identity
1. Color increases brand recognition by up to 80
percent
University of Loyola, Maryland study
2. Heinz
Color influences brand identity in a variety of ways.
Consider Heinz Blastin' Green ketchup. More than 10 million bottles were sold in
the first seven months following its introduction. The result: $23 million in sales
attributable to Heinz green ketchup [the highest sales increase in the brand's
history]. All because of a simple color change.
3. Apple Computer
Apple brought color into a marketplace where color
had not been seen before. By introducing the colorful iMacs,
Apple was the first to say, "It doesn't have to be beige". The iMacs reinvigorated
a brand that had suffered $1.8 billion of losses in two years. (And now we have
the colorful iPods.)

11. Color Increases Memory
Psychologists have documented that "living color" does
more than appeal to the senses. It also boosts memory for
scenes in the natural world.
By hanging an extra "tag" of data on visual scenes, color
helps us to process and store images more
efficiently than colorless (black and white) scenes,
and to remember them better, too.
Source: The findings were reported in the May 2002 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning,
Memory and Cognition, published by the American Psychological Association (APA)
"The Contributions of Color to Recognition Memory for Natural Scenes," Felix A. Wichmann, Max-Planck Institut
für Biologische Kybernetik and Oxford University; Lindsay T. Sharpe, Universität Tübingen and University of
Newcastle; and Karl R. Gegenfurtner, Max-Plank Institut für Biologische Kybernetik and Justus-Liebig-Universität
Giessen; Journal of Experimental Psychology – Learning, Memory and Cognition, Vol 28. No.3., 5-May-2002

12. Color Engages and Increases Participation
Ads in color are read up to
42% more often than the same
ads in black and white (as
shown in study on phone
directory ads).
Source: White, Jan V., Color for Impact, Strathmoor Press, April, 1997

13. Color Attracts Attention
A colored image holds the attention for
more than twice as long as a black and
white image.
People cannot process every object within view at one
time. Therefore, color can be used as a tool to emphasize
or de-emphasize areas.
A Midwestern company used color to
highlight key information on their invoices. As
a result, they began receiving customer
payments an average of 14 days earlier.

14. Additional Research
92% Believe color presents an image of impressive
quality
90% Feel color can assist in attracting new
customers
90% Believe customers remember presentations
and documents better when color is used
83% Believe color makes them appear more
successful
81% Think color gives them a competitive edge
Source: Conducted by Xerox Corporation and International Communications Research from February 19, 2003 to March 7, 2003, margin of
error of +/- 3.1%.

15. Consider the color choices for:
•Breakfast cereals
•Cars
•Clothing
•Restaurants
•Buildings’ exteriors and interiors
•What else conveys
status/feeling/concept with color?