Colour can change a mood, set a scene, or attract you to a person (or not!). We use colours to express our most complicated emotions. Colour’s influence over all of us is powerful and fascinating, and there are many fun facts about colour that may surprise you.
- Men and women see the colour red differently. The ability to see red comes from a gene that is attached to the X chromosome. Since women have two X chromosomes, these two genes help women perceive the red-orange spectrum better.
- Pink has been known to suppress anger and anxiety and have an overall calming effect. It is ofien used in mental health care institutions and even prisons to help create a sense of calm.
- Worldwide, blue is the most common favourite colour, followed by purple.
- Some people have a phobia of colour. Chromophobia, or chromatophobia, is an ongoing and irrational fear of colours that can have a negative impact on a person’s daily activities. This fear ofien stems from a traumatic event associated with a particular colour.
- Yellow and red together make you hungry. Fast food chains figured this out years ago, and use this colour combination over and over in branding, advertising, and restaurant decor.
- The colour wheel was invented by Isaac Newton. Around 1665, he used a prism to turn white light into a rainbow and identified seven colours. He felt the last colour, indigo, was a recurrence of the first colour, red, and decided to arrange the colours in a circle.
- Red is the first colour a baby sees. Red has the longest wavelength of the colours, and scientists speculate this makes it easier to process in developing receptors and nerves in a baby’s eye. This helps explain every baby’s love of Elmo!
- Colour has a big impact on a first impression. Between 62 and 90 percent of a first impression is determined by how someone is recognizing colour in the situation.
- People are more likely to forget something when it’s in black and white. A black-and-white movie or photograph is ofien not as easy to recall as a colour image. Scientists believe this may be because colour has a stronger appeal to the senses and as a result makes a more lasting impression on the memory.
