Abstract
This study investigates: (a) the relationship between colour combinations and adjective combinations and (b) to verify the colour harmony theory developed by Angela Wright (called the Wright theory in this study). Two experiments were carried out with subjects from the following six countries: Britain, China, France, Germany, Spain, and Sweden. In Experiment 1, 100 adjectives and 32 colours were used as stimuli presented on a calibrated Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor. All the colour stimuli were selected evenly from four colour groups, CG 1 to CG 4, which were defined according to the Wright theory, and so were the adjectives, which were selected from four adjective groups, AG 1 to AG 4. In each trial of the experiment, four 5-colour wheels and one 5-adjective combination were presented altogether on the CRT. Subjects were asked to correlate one from the four colour wheels with the adjective combination presented. Experimental results show good agreement between the subject responses and the Wright theory, especially on AG 2. In Experiment 2, subjects were presented with two colour wheels in each trial and were asked to choose the one that appeared more harmonious than the other. Experimental results show good agreement between the subject responses and the Wright theory. The comparisons of experimental data between subject groups (from the six countries) show little cultural effect on colour harmony.
Keywords
colour design, colour planning, cross-cultural study, colour emotion, colour meaning, colour harmony
Citation
Ou, L., Luo, M., Cui, G., Wright, A., Woodcock, A., Billger, M., Stahre, B., Huertas, R., Tremeau, A., Dinet, E., and Richter, K. (2004) A Cross-Cultural Study on Colour Emotion and Colour Harmony., in Redmond, J., Durling, D. and de Bono, A (eds.), Futureground - DRS International Conference 2004, 17-21 November, Melbourne, Australia. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2004/researchpapers/60
A Cross-Cultural Study on Colour Emotion and Colour Harmony.
This study investigates: (a) the relationship between colour combinations and adjective combinations and (b) to verify the colour harmony theory developed by Angela Wright (called the Wright theory in this study). Two experiments were carried out with subjects from the following six countries: Britain, China, France, Germany, Spain, and Sweden. In Experiment 1, 100 adjectives and 32 colours were used as stimuli presented on a calibrated Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor. All the colour stimuli were selected evenly from four colour groups, CG 1 to CG 4, which were defined according to the Wright theory, and so were the adjectives, which were selected from four adjective groups, AG 1 to AG 4. In each trial of the experiment, four 5-colour wheels and one 5-adjective combination were presented altogether on the CRT. Subjects were asked to correlate one from the four colour wheels with the adjective combination presented. Experimental results show good agreement between the subject responses and the Wright theory, especially on AG 2. In Experiment 2, subjects were presented with two colour wheels in each trial and were asked to choose the one that appeared more harmonious than the other. Experimental results show good agreement between the subject responses and the Wright theory. The comparisons of experimental data between subject groups (from the six countries) show little cultural effect on colour harmony.