Color is often taken for granted as just being a luxurious part of our world. We all adore using certain colors in our lives, and that even includes black and white.
Why do we see color? How do we see it?
Color is light. Color is pure light that is perceived as colors through the interpretation of our eyes and mind.
Each different color is a different wave length and it may appear as a constant through that wave length.
It is frequency that is registered within our human eye from the visual range of frequencies.
Now many animals and insects see colors differently through their eyes and receptors as their eyes are built different and function is specific.
Primary colors of Light are blue, green and red. Mixing paints is the exact opposite of mixing light.
What is Color?
Creation of Belief Systems
Since humanity embraces colors as being very real, many belief systems have risen about what they are and how each color works. The human body through the study of energy fields and chakras has a complete system of what colors mean and how to mitigate and work with them.
Psychology is another field where color is believed to provide certain emotional and/or mental outcomes. There are tried and true methods of using color that we practice due to what we have observed as working certain ways.
The restaurant industry discovered that people eat more food off of red plates and less off of blue ones. Most fast-food chains use red/orange/yellow coloring in their branding.
Psych wards have changed their wallpaper color from pink to blue because it has a calming effect on their patients.
Orange has been proven to inspire impulsive action, which companies like Amazon, Alibaba, and Etsy use orange for their call to action buttons like “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now”, etc. and branding.
95% of the world’s top 100 most recognized brands only use 1-2 colors to avoid diluting the intended reaction and maximize the brand’s recognition.
Through research many have found responses to their liking through the use of certain colors.
Religions use specific colors to imply a sense of sacred and holy like gold and purple. Gifting people specific color of flowers also have an implied meaning.
Color rules our world through shared beliefs and customs, through the implied meanings given to each color through certain forms of study.
What becomes more complex is all the different meanings and values that each color is assigned to have. Yet the real question is, does each color have specific qualities that are part of their being? Do we fully understand the nature of color?
Is color the same when we dream in color?
Humanity may only understand a very shallow version of the implications of color. Is it time to go deeper?
~ Carolyn Thompson
Further Study~
Color blue a modern discovery? https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-didn-t-see-the-colour-blue-until-modern-times-evidence-science
Color deficiency in humans https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/eye-and-vision-conditions/color-vision-deficiency?sso=y
Viewing color https://www.pantone.com/articles/color-fundamentals/how-do-we-see-color
New color discovered https://www.today.com/home/new-color-has-been-discovered-it-s-beautiful-t100335
Exploring visible light https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight
