issue no. 18

A Case for Color

A (very) brief history

Newton’s introduction of the color spectrum in his three-part series Opticks (1704) focused on light reflection + refraction. His revelation of the color wheel informed a new sense of order, showing the physical relationship between colors. This discovery impacted many artists + works that followed, including painters such as Van Gogh.

While most of our limited color history is told through the lens of Western culture, there were several who came before + from elsewhere. Iraqi-born (965-1040), Hasan Ibn al-Haytham, was considered the father of modern optics and wrote Kitāb al-manāẓir (“Optics”). Drawing on Ptolemy’s previous works, it featured the effects of light reflection + refraction as well as how the eye perceives color as it combined mathematics with scientific experimentation.

“The history of painting is one thing; the history of colors is another – and altogether more vast.”

-Michele Pastoureau

Theory in practice

Color’s psychological impact is prevalent. From advertising to automobiles, we are constantly at the mercy of the manipulation of our perceptions through the use of color. Companies invest immense sums of time + money studying + selecting colors to influence consumer behavior. In fact, the color of a product or brand can account for nearly 90% of the initial impression of consumers.

Color can also influence people in more dangerous ways. A study of 1.5 million cars by the IIHS (Insurance Institute of Highway Safety) found that red cars were 12% more likely to be involved in accidents. Another study by AAA revealed that the propensity for theft was 25% higher for a red car than for any other color.

Drunk Tank Pink

In 1979, a study was performed by Professor Alexander Schauss that proposed that the controlled exposure of (cisgender) men to a bubblegum pink hue would effectively decrease levels of aggression. The positive results were so consistent that he proposed the extension of the study to prison cells.

Now, for this exercise, we won’t get into how problematic the prison industrial complex is or how mass incarceration unfairly targets black + brown people and is undeniably an extension of Jim Crow (check out Michelle Alexander's book The New Jim Crow), but instead we will focus on the impact of color + psychology.

The first location to adopt this was the U.S. Naval Correctional Center in Seattle. Any newly arriving inmates would be brought to one cell that had been painted pink. The results were impressive- while all of the inmates arrived agitated, within 15 minutes they were calm, and for the full 7 months that followed, there was not a single violent incident reported. Later, in the 1980’s when implemented in holding cells for violent drunks, the color was unofficially coined “drunk tank pink” + had become a cultural sensation.

However, the same success was not experienced unilaterally. In a Santa Clara prison, there was an increase in violent incidents. The calm that the prisoners felt after the initial 15 minutes turned to increased agitation shortly after. This proves that it is nearly impossible to generalize a study to apply to everyone. As we learned in part 1, our response to color is influenced by several factors, including our own personal experience.

Remake our world

So, let’s think about this as it pertains to our own environments. Moving through the streets of most urban cities, we are bombarded by gray + glass. Skyscrapers that bleed into asphalt- an overwhelmingly uninspiring monolith of blehhh. While concrete, steel + glass may be more “modern” in their materiality, this idea of neutrality in color as prevalent in a trending timeline is very how shall we say…colonial.

Many Western ideologies have viewed color as a primitive approach. In the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1810), “Savage nations, uneducated people, + children have a great predilection for vivid colors.” Can you say….racism + classism? But we know better. Color has the power to impact how we feel + move and ultimately transform our experience and well-being.

Maybe we can all agree to stop upholding the abundance of beige + gray everything that our western world has somehow deemed a signifier of taste. Imagine waking up to a rainbow cityscape? Colors that motivate + inspire, evoking safety + comfort. While we may not be Christo’s wrapping islands in color, as designers + architects, we have a responsibility to deeply consider color’s impact on well-being.

“I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don’t think it’s a privilege or an indulgence; it’s not even a quest. I think it’s almost like knowledge, which is to say, it’s what we’re born for.”

- Toni Morrison

What are some of your favorite experiences or ways to use color?

Every space has a story.

What’s yours?