6. A sensation is the body’s response to a stimulus,
something that is encountered from the outside
world.
7. Light, which is visible energy, is the stimulus for the
sensation of sight.
8. A stimulus is measurable; the color and quantity of
light emitted by a light source can be measured.
9. Sensations are also measurable.
An individual’s ability to detect light is measured as visual acuity,
or sharpness of vision.
10. Visual acuity is the
ability to sense
patterns of light and
dark and to resolve
detail.
It is a measure of the
weakest light
stimulus that an
individual can detect.
11. However, the ability to see differences between dark and
light is not the same as visual acuity for color.
12. Visual acuity for color is the ability to detect differences
between wavelengths (colors) of light.
13. The strength and wavelength of each color of light can be
separately measured using scientific instruments, but human
beings do not see the spectrum as a progression of
individual colors.
14. The spectrum of light is sensed as a flowing and unbroken
continuum, with each color blending into the next like a rainbow.
15. The threshold
of vision is the
point at which an
individual can no
longer detect a
difference
between two
close samples.
16. The threshold
of color vision is
the point at
which a
difference
between two
similar hues can
no longer be
discriminated.
18. Infants are believed to be able to detect
differences between dark and light
before they can see hue.
19. Many older people
experience a
progressive loss of the
ability to discriminate
between blues, greens,
and violets - thought to
be caused by a gradual
yellowing of the lens of
the eye over time.
20. An interval is a step of
change between visual
sensations.
21. An individual’s threshold establishes the
single interval; the point at which a detectable middle
step can no longer be inserted between two close colors.
22. Descendant
Parent Parent
They are illustrated as three colors arranged in a linear
series, with a parent at each end and the descendant, a
middle step between the two.
23. Parent-
descendant
mixtures can be
set up between
colors having only
hue difference, like
red and blue; only
value difference,
like black and
white; or only
difference in
saturation, like
brilliant blue and
gray-blue.
24. Intervals can also be set up between color samples
that contrast in more than one quality.
A brilliant red-violet and a tint of gray green have hue,
value, and saturation contrast, but a middle step can
still be found between them.
25. Even intervals occur when the middle step is visually
equidistant between the two parents.
The important thing about even intervals is that the
midpoint be just that; no more like one parent than the
other.
26. Intervals are not limited to the three steps of parent-
descendant color mixtures.
In a series of even intervals, each step is the visual
midpoint between the samples on either side of it.
27. Parent-descendant color mixtures occur so frequently
in color study that the word “interval” alone is often
taken to mean an equidistant step, but intervals can
also be uneven.
28. Creating order out of random information is a
fundamental function of human intelligence.
29. Images composed of even intervals are more quickly and easily
understood than images in which intervals are uneven or random.
30. Intervals are visually logical mixes. They are
judged by eye alone and no two people may
agree on the exact midpoint between two
samples.
31. A gradient is a series of progressive, even intervals so close
that individual steps cannot be distinguished.
32. It is a seamless transition between differences.
33. Gradients can be from light to dark,
from one hue to another,
or from one saturation to another.
34. A sensation alone–a touch, taste, smell, sight or sound–is
an incomplete event. The occurrence of a sensation is
immediately followed by perception.
35. Perception is the critical connection between human beings
and their environment. It is the understanding and
awareness of what has been sensed.
36. Perception decides what has been sensed. It recognizes
and identifies the sensation. It acts as a filter, separating
useful and important information from competing stimuli in
the environment.
37. When the brain receives a light stimulus it first interprets
form as distinct from background by sensing patterns of
light and dark.
39. Color plays an important, but secondary, role in recognition.
A red file folder and a blue file folder seem at first to be identified
by color, but both red and blue folders are identified first as file
folders, and only secondly by color.
41. Recognition is based on
learned information from a
multitude of sources:
individual experience,
social and cultural traditions,
environmental surroundings,
and formal teaching.
42. Everything seen is understood because its identity has been
learned and the experience of it held in memory. Something new
is recognized, correctly or incorrectly, because it is associated
with some familiar thing that has similar characteristics.
43. Most perceptions occur unconsciously and at such high speed
that they seem simultaneous with sensation.
44. What we think of as the sensory experience of color is always a
fusion of sensation and perception. Unlike a sensation,
a perception cannot be measured. It can only be described.
45. Understanding how we see, and how we process and respond to
what we see, translates directly into design applications. That is
why designers study the fundamentals of perception.
46. Physiology studies
the body and its
functioning. It is a
measurable science
that can quantify
the body’s physical
responses to a
stimulus of color.
47. Psychology studies
behavior; or how
organisms perceive and
react to situations when
they are stimulated in
different ways.
Psychology can
describe–but not
precisely measure–the
ways in which human
beings recognize,
interpret, and respond
to the stimulus of color.
Psychology deals with
perception.
49. The nervous
system is an
information
pathway from the
outside world to
the brain.
50. The nervous system is made up
of three kinds of cells:
‣ receptor cells
‣ transmitter cells
‣ brain cells
51. Receptor cells
receive information
from the outside
world (stimuli) and
change it into a
form of electrical
energy that the
brain can use.
Transmitter cells
carry these signals
to the brain.
52. The brain decodes each sensory event first by identifying
which sense has been stimulated, then discriminates
specific qualities within that sense.
63. Colors appear muted, and fine detail is more difficult to
see, when rods dominate.
64. The visual field is the extent of area that can be seen by
the two eyes of a viewer standing in one position.
65. The fovea is a tiny area at the back of the eye that is the
center of the visual field.
66. The fovea contains only cones. It is the most sensitive
area of the retina, detecting patterns of light and dark and
color with the greatest clarity.
67. Images and colors are seen less clearly when the light
stimulus moves away from the fovea.
68. Both rods and
cones are always
at work. It is
almost as if there
are two separate
systems, one for
day and one for
night.
69. Adaptation is the
involuntary
response of the
eye to the quantity
of available light.
70. The retina moves back and forth (adapts) quickly between rod
and cone dominance as the amount of available light increases
or decreases.
71. Color perception lessens in dim light when rods dominate:
perception in low light is in shades of gray.
72. Adaptation takes
place under any
lighting conditions:
lamplight,
fluorescent,
incandescent, or
any other type of
light.
73. Lateral inhibition is an aspect of vision that
increases the eye’s ability to distinguish edges.
74. Lateral Inhibition
When a pattern of light and dark contrast reaches the
retina, the cells that receive the light part of the image
inhibit the ability of the ones next to them to detect light.
75. As a result, areas next to bright spots appear darker.
The greater the quantity of light, the more lateral
inhibition takes place: light areas appear lighter and dark
areas appear darker.
76. The sensation of light is received in
two areas of the brain:
‣ the cerebral cortex
‣ hypothalamus (or midbrain)
77. The cerebral cortex is the center of cognitive activity.
It receives information and processes it; recognizing,
interpreting, and structuring a response to each stimulus.
It receives information and processes it; recognizing,
interpreting, and structuring a response to each stimulus.
78. The midbrain, or
hypothalamus,
controls the internal
environment of the
body. Sensations
of light transmitted
to the midbrain act
as a biological
stimulus to the
central nervous
system.
80. It also stimulates glands that control the production and
release of hormones. When the brain is stimulated by a
thought, mental image, or outside stimulus (like light), the
midbrain triggers the release of hormones.
81. A color stimulus has an effect on the strongest human needs and
emotions–stress, hunger, thirst, and sex.
82. Sunlight, which contains all colors, is essential to human life. The
human body is genetically adapted to function at a normal level in
response to the sun’s pattern of energy emission.
83. Changing the strength of a color stimulus
causes an actual change in the body.
Exposure to an elevated level of red
stimulates hormone production and raises
blood pressure...
Exposure to an elevated level of red
stimulates hormone production and raises
blood pressure...
84. ...while exposure to an elevated level of blue has been shown
to lower blood pressure and depress hormonal secretions.
85. The immediate biologic response of the body to a stimulus is
phasic arousal. Phasic arousal is abrupt and lasts very
briefly, like the surge of adrenalin that is experienced in a
sudden and frightening situation.
87. Tonic arousal is the body’s response over a prolonged period.
The body has a norm for tonic arousal, and the brain continually
directs the adjustment of hormone levels to keep it at that norm.
88. Stimulation by a strong color causes phasic arousal–an
immediate reaction–that can be physiologically measured, but the
arousal is short term: the duration of the effect is not continuous.
89. Because exposure to color changes the body’s hormonal
balance, it can also cause changes in behavior. Colors can be
chosen to stimulate, depress, or otherwise alter mood. In
environmental design,both overstimulation and understimulation
have equally negative effects.
90. Human beings respond best to living spaces that have color, but
not an overload of highly stimulating color.
91. A graphic designer may choose a brilliant
color to arouse short-term attention.
93. The muted colors of funeral homes are
meant to minimize emotional response.
94. An extreme example of color used to modify
behavior occurs with a color known as
Baker-Miller pink.
95. It has been hypothesized that exposure to
Baker-Miller pink reduces aggressive
behavior.
96. The effects of phasic arousal begin after a short period
of exposure and last for about half an hour.
97. Colors can also be experienced without a stimulus of
light. The brain alone, without a light stimulus, allows us
to dream in color, or to imagine color with closed eyes.
98. A headache or a
blow on the
head can trigger
vivid images of
blue stars.
Color can be
seen in the
mind’s eye.
Color can be
seen in the
mind’s eye.
99. The eye is not the only organ that responds to
light. Light is also absorbed through the skin.
100. The use of colored light to act on the body through the skin
is a routine medical practice. The treatment of jaundiced
infants with light is a standard and effective therapy.
101. Color therapy
remains an active
field, although no
clinical studies have
shown any efficacy,
and the practice of
medicine by color
therapists is illegal in
America.
102. Synaesthesia is a long-recognized but largely unexplained
phenomenon in which one sense responds to the stimulation
of another.
103. There are reports of persons who are able to determine the
colors of objects through touch only, people that hear a sound
when they see a certain color, and people having particular
tastes when hearing a piece of music.
104. All of the types of visual responses talked about so far are
involuntary, biologic responses of the body to a stimulus of
light.
105. The perception of color also includes involuntary
psychological responses.
106. The cerebral cortex,
the reasoning part of
the brain, identifies and
organizes a response
QuickTime™ and a to each color stimulus
GIF decompressor
are needed to see this picture. that is unconscious,
but based on past
learning. Stored
information has a
profound influence on
color perception.
108. Memory color means
that the viewer makes
an unconscious
assumption about the
color of something -
the “orange” of an
orange, for example.
109.
110. Color constancy is a second and equally powerful form of
expectation. It means that the colors of familiar objects
retain their identity no matter what the general lighting.
111. Color constancy is a second and equally powerful form of
expectation. It means that the colors of familiar objects
retain their identity no matter what the general lighting.
113. A second kind of color constancy occurs when close colors
are perceived as being identical.
114. In an all-white kitchen, the white of the refrigerator, the counters, the
floor, the cabinets and the paint may all be different, but the
immediate cumulative effect is that they are the same.
116. Designers need not
always be
concerned with
fractional
differences between
colors because
memory color and
color constancy
screen out
important color
differences from
ones that do not
matter.
119. When the brain
receives
information, it
identifies it by
name. In a widely-
accepted study,
Berlin and Kay
determined that 98
languages had
names for eleven
basic colors.
120. These are the eleven colors in
order of recognition.
121. We believe that most
people experience the
same sensation when
they look at something
that is red. They may
disagree about the
exact name for the red
- crimson, ruby, or
scarlet - but the
sensation is the same.
122. Color study requires
only six names for
colors;
red, orange, yellow
green, blue, and violet.
123. Design and marketing professionals use romantic names for
colors, like Venetian Red, Bermuda Blue, or Aztec Gold.
124. Both ways of naming colors are important in design as long as
the critical difference between the two is recognized:
the six hues of color study deal with eye training, color
recognition and color use; the countless color names of
marketing are about product image and sales.
126. Color is a living language. The meanings of colors can change
over time.
127. The norm used to be
pink for boys and blue
for girls because light
blue was associated
with the Virgin Mary
and pink was
considered a more
“aggressive” color at
the time.
128. For every individual the
meaning of a color or
group of colors, is
shaped by a hierarchy
of outside forces:
culture, spoken
language, social status,
setting, time, and
individual life
experience.
129. For instance, in some
Amish communities,
you never see the color
yellow in their beautiful
quilts because it is
considered the color of
cowardice.
130. Colors and color groups can be used as symbols. Symbols for
major societal concerns like nationhood tend to maintain their
meaning over time and can be thought of as permanent for each
population.
131. Semantics is the study of meaning of words,
passage of words, or other form of language–
including the language of color.
132. Awareness of cultural differences in the semantics of color is critical
to the marketing of any product intended for the global market.
133. Even with the same audience and with the same time period no
color is limited to a single meaning.
134. Some symbolic
colors are so
important in
communicating
ideas that their
meanings have
been legislated.
135. Red Blue
When colors are seen with simultaneous and conflicting
information, the area of the brain that responds to color competes
with other parts of the brain in structuring a response.
137. “Fashion” colors, the
color trends of consumer
marketing, are transitory
and cyclical.
(These are the color
forecasts for 2013.)
138. But the experiences and
associations buried in
our memory have more
effect on our emotional
responses to colors than
any passing trend.
You might get a great
deal of satisfaction from
viewing a particular
shade of blue because it
reminds you of your
Grandmother’s garden -
a happy memory for you.
139. Impressional or associative colors evoke imagery without
symbolic meaning.
For instance, grayed blue-greens may call to mind the icy cold
of a winter sea.
141. Yellow
Written and spoken words for colors communicate
the same symbolic ideas as actual colors but they
are understood more indirectly. Words are
processed as thought rather than as a sensory
experience.
142. The immediacy of a color symbol diminishes when
it is presented as words.
However, its meaning is unchanged.
143. Reading the words “red, white, and blue” takes
longer to process than the sight of a flag in full
color.
