White contains the full light spectrum and influences all body systems. It symbolizes purity, innocence, and new beginnings in many cultures worldwide. White is commonly used in weddings, hospitals, and modern architecture to convey cleanliness and simplicity. While a versatile color, white can appear stark if overused and shows dirt or aging more readily than darker colors. When combined with other hues, white draws out their qualities and acts as a neutral backdrop to guide the eye.

1. WHITE

2. Team
Members
Amana Ismail. P (07)
Grace Henry (17)
Namitha P. S (27)
Tomin George (37)

3. Introduction
White (full color spectrum white color) contains the entire light
spectrum. Thus it influences all systems of the body. This is the basis for
light therapy.

5. Clean and
new
beginnings
Virtuous
and pious
feeling
Healthy
Innocence
and Purity
Neutrality
Equality and
Unity

6. “The first of all single colors is white … We shall set down white for the
representative of light, without which no color can be seen; yellow for the earth;
green for water; blue for air; red for fire; and black for total darkness.”
— Leonardo Da Vinci

7. How the Color White Affects Us Physically
• Aids mental clarity
• Encourages us to clear clutter or
obstacles
• Evokes purification of thoughts or
actions
• Enables fresh beginnings

8. White in different cultures
Around the world, color symbolism and usage can be modified,
changing with the times, prevailing sentiments, and issues within
vogue.

9. White and weddings
White wedding gowns represent the bride’s innocence and purity.
Historically, blue associated with virginity, virtue and wholesomeness.
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed And Something
Blue
- represents the purity and chastity of the bride. Blue laws were
prominent from 1930’s to 40’s.

10. In Southern India, the bride wears an
off- white or cream- colored sari.
A Japanese woman wear a white
kimono on first of the three- day
wedding ritual. It symbolizes her death
from her birth family and invokes her
new societal status.
After, 1960s, ornate kimonos with
heavily brocaded or embroidered
jackets came in, but all were worn with
a simple white kimono underneath.

11. In western Africa, white is the traditional
color for weddings. The groom wears a
white dashiki and the woman a white
kaftan
In Muslim tradition, white represents
purity and is also the favored color for
wedding garments. However, green
represents nature in Koran and is also
worn.
In Southern Africa, the Zulu people don’t
rely as much on ceremonial wedding dress
as they do jewelry, including necklaces and
bracelets, to show one’s marriage status.
e.g. a black, blue, and white- banded
bracelet. Consequently, when white beads
are placed next to another hue, the
colored beads take on positive meanings.
When a necklace has very little white, it
sends a negative message.

12. Brides have worn white for centuries
Started by the ancient Greek brides, painted their entire
bodies white and wore white flowers in their hair.
In 16th century, pale green in Northern Europe and England
to symbolize new life and the hope for fertility.
During Elizabethan times, white became symbolic of pure,
young and virginal.
Until Queen Victoria, wedding gown any color.
With the industrial revolution and the coming of
department stores in the 1890s, aspired white gown.

13. Married in white, you will have chosen all right.
Married in grey, you will go far away.
Married in black, you will wish yourself back.
Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead.
Married in blue, you will always be true.
Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl.
Married in green, ashamed to be seen.
Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow.
Married in brown, you’ll live out of town.
Married in pink, your spirits will sink.

14. Region White
Africa Purity, traditionally the color for death
and mourning
Zulu- purity
Maasai- ceremonial color of passage into
adulthood ( adornment of white chalk on
one’s body)
Asia Death, funerals, mourning, peace, purity,
travel
Australia Aboriginal X ray style of aboriginal painting,
symbolizes the act of creation
India Highest social caste, chastity, purity,
spiritual rebirth, mourning, happiness
Mid- east Islam- the absolute uniqueness of god,
purity, and mourning Israel.
Life, purity and innocence
White across
the world

15. White color symbolism varies from continent
and on a smaller scale within a geographic
region from tribe to tribe, there are a few
generalities that can be made.
Within Christianity, white symbolizes purity
and innocence and became synonymous with
the coloring for angels.
Ellis Wilson, Funeral Procession, c. 1950
Wilson’s work portrays people dressed in the basic funeral colors of black and white. The white clad figures represent the old
world (traditional African custom) of wearing white while the figures dressed in black represent the contemporary western dress.
The painting shows these two traditions are coexisting.

16. WHITE
IN ATHLETICS AND SPORTS
Dr. Jigor Kano, founder of Judo,
created divisions among
students using Belt colors
To give students recognition for
certain achievements.

17. White signifies…
Worn by ancient Greeks to bed to ensure pleasant dreams
On Yom Kippur, worn by Grand Rabbi dresses restore an amicable relationship between God and
his people.
In the Bible, color of light and an emblem of the divine.
A person, politically ultraconservative.
In Chinese culture, colors to five primary elements, directions, and four seasons. White with
metal, west, and autumn.

18. Facts
• According to Pantone Inc., best selling color for the classic American t-shirt.
• White in a dream represents happiness at home.
• White castles are a symbol of achievement, destiny perfectly fulfilled, and spiritual perfection.
• Originally, scientists wore beige coats. In the late 19th century, medical professionals chose white
ones. Idea of hope and expectations for healing and recovery that the physicians would bring.

19. As the opposite of the saturated scheme, the neutral scheme
uses colors that have been grayed down. This diffused palette
is perfect for foggy landscapes, white- on- white subjects, and
scenes with a soft, mellow mood.
Neutral Scheme

20. Neutral scheme- Advantages
• Easier to choose.
• Lightens the mood.
• Can be used to blend in or set apart features in a room.

21. Disadvantages
• It can create a gloomy ambiance.
• Can get boring.
• Blemishes are more noticeable.

22. White in interiors

23. White walls
The incredible Greek, Japanese,
Moroccan, and Scandinavian
interiors (among many others)
of days past to know that while
walls and a sense of clean
minimalism (often offset by
more colorful handmade
textiles and artwork) have been
popular and coveted long
before the contemporary take
on this trend that we know
right now.

24. INFLUENCES
A reaction to patterns of the past
Budgets and finances are tight
Risk aversion/idea overload
Craving an in-between space

25. Reactions and interpretations
• no soul, no character and no personality
• clean and fresh
• Is somehow inherently American or, more specifically, tied
to white Americans.

26. White in colonial architecture
Previously, chunam plastering were inhibited to the interiors of Kerala homes. As
colonialism struck Vernacular architecture, the white color was significantly applied
to the exterior surface too to give a marble cult.

27. White phrases
• White Christmas: the appearance of snow on Christmas day
• White elephant: a possession that no longer holds value for its owner
• White flag: the signal of a peaceful surrender
• White goods: a description of household items, such as linens, towels, and
appliances
• White hot: extreme manner of intensity
• White lie: a harmless untruth usually told out of politeness Why white
instead of another color?
• White sauce: a sauce made from stock, butter, flour and seasonings
• White feather: a symbol of cowardice

28. Advantages
Its timeless
Its bright
Expand a space
Its versatile

29. Disadvantages
It shows its age
It can be stark
It interrupts the flow

30. • “White…is not a mere absence of colour; it is a shining and
affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black…God paints in
many colours; but He never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so
gaudily, as when He paints in white.” — G. K. Chesterton

31. WHITE MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Distinct sect of Modern movement
Started in Dessau, Germany with the Bauhaus.
White stucco forms, orthogonal geometry, and black trim.
Lack of ornament.
Precursor to Minimalist Architecture
Preceeded By: Early Modern
Succeeded By: Functionalist , Modern - Minimalist

32. Modern architecture was not white but multi-colored.
White, a crucial role as reference point.
The famous black-and-white photographs make white famous, and then the
buildings try to look more like the photographs and become really white and all
the other colors are removed.
White spaces were the influences of photography in architecture and when
photograph began to represent the actual spaces.
Discussion- Olafur Eliasson, curator Daniel Birnbaum, and Mark
Wigley, the dean of Columbia's architecture school.

33. White is the most wonderful color because within it
you can see all the colors of the rainbow. The
whiteness of white is never just white; it is almost
always transformed by light and that which is
changing; the sky, the clouds, the sun and the moon.
Richard Meier
Pritzker Award acceptance speech excerpt

34. White- Primary Colour
“Spotless” feeling that, for the right site,
feels completely effortless.
Sometimes sterile effect is too strong, even
to the point of distraction, which counters
its primary purpose.
The shoe company etq uses a dominant off-
white background to keep the users'
attention where it belongs: the shoes.

35. Pure whites, as they are so clean and pristine, often have a bluish
undertone, rendering them very cool- looking and appropriate to wear
with clear, light, bright, mid, or deep cool colors.
The warmer whites that lean more to cream work best with warm
colors, again in light, mid, bright, or deep warm tones.

36. White in fashion
The salt and pepper of the fashion world,
black and white can be done in either pure
white and black or creamy white and black.
Cool whites go with cooler skin and
creamier tone for warmer- skinned.
Combining whites is not a good idea.
Creamy white will appear dingy when
placed next to pure white.
White outfit to visually support white shoes
will make white a shining beacon.

37. Ombre walls
Blending of several shades.
Add mood, depth and calm to any
room.

38. “Black and white are absolute…expressing the most delicate vibration,
the most profound tranquility, and unlimited profundity.” —Shiko
Munakata

39. White and black in movies
Many films move from black and
white to color to either show a
dream sequence or a fantasy
segment. In many of such movies,
reality is shown in black and white.
Wizard of Oz, The Emerald City,
1939- Courtesy of MGM

40. Interactions of Black and White
React quite differently when surrounded by
either black or white.
Against a black outline, it frames the hue
and constrains its visual presence.
Against a white outline, the hue seems to
visually expand into the white area.

41. Favourite and least favourite
Favourite- Who prefer - are neat and immaculate in their clothing and homes.
Recall of youth and simplicity and a longing to be young again.
Least favourite- never been obsessed with
order.. Things that are a little off-center are much more interesting than those
are perfectly in line

42. Light to enhance
Fluorescent lights give off various shades of white-
ranging from extremely cool, give very sterile and
harsh to a subtle and warmer pinkish glow.
Dimming fluorescent lights make less bright, but
make the surroundings seem dull and grayed.
Light that is closest in effect to sunlight creates a
greater contrast between black and white.
Lights aiming upward to the ceiling create more
height and space, especially if the ceiling is
painted white.
Colored florescent lights trained on white walls
will seem magical.

43. Color Personalities in landscape
White flowers are universal peacemakers. Colors that clash together coexist when white is incorporated. A
loud- colored garden attains refinement with drifts of white flowers.
Most visible color in the shade garden and will draw the eye to a dark corner.
Color of choice for twilight and moon gardens. White flowers are blessed with exceptional fragrance.
Ivory and cream flowers soften hot colors and add warmth to cool garden shade- sort of the perfect buffer
plant but may look dirty against pure whites and murky against shades of orange.

44. Dennis Oppenheim, Color Mix
- Mixture of red, pink and white flowers to stimulate the mixing of red and white
wine.

45. White- one color garden
Late Sackwille- West incorporates the theme of one- color in
her Sissinghurst garden. With shades of white, among silver,
soft green and green and white foliage, the garden
contemplate its variety and peace.

46. Combination with other colors
Literally the opposite of black, white pairs well, making it ideal as a
secondary colour.
Draws out the elements of more stimulating colours
Guide your user's attention if known to use it.

47. Color therapy
Healing properties: In perfect balance and harmony. Color of the awakened Spirit; the light
of perfection; the light of the Cosmic Consciousness, the Divine Light.
White light raises the vibration of one's consciousness and the body, bringing harmony in
all aspects of one's life.
Esoteric/magical: Purification and cleaning on all levels, contact with higher self and
spiritual helpers, (inner) peace, aura-healing, truth seeking, consecration, spiritual
enlightenment, protection against negativity by raising your vibration, breaking curses,
exorcism, meditation, divination, inspiration, clairvoyance, invoking spirits.

48. Avoiding vehicular accidents?
Choose white! The safest car color was determined to be white.
Most visible color under all conditions except snow.

49. Bibliography
• Steven Bleicher- Contemperory color- Theory and Use
• Leatrice Eisenman- The color answer book: From the World’s leading color
expert
• http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-
symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-white-4369#.WdbVLGiCzIV
• https://www.gardenista.com/posts/10-garden-ideas-to-steal-from-vita-
sackville-west-at-sissinghurst-castle-kent-england-harold-nicolson/
• http://www.deeptrancenow.com/colortherapy.htm
• www.housebeautiful.co.uk
• www.designsponge.com

50. The End