The interesting psychology and technology behind color

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>> READ. >> GREEN. >> BLUE SHADES. >> HE CANNOT REALLY HAVE LIFE WITHOUT COLOR. >> WE CERTAINLY DO LIVE IN A WORLD OF COLOR, FROM HOW WE DRESS TO HOW WE DECORATE OUR HOMES, IT IS A POWERFUL COMMUNICATION TOOL. IT CAN ALSO INFLUENCE OUR MOOD AND EVEN OUR PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES. BLACK AND BLUE OR WHITE AND GOLD? >> MAYBE THERE IS NO REALITY WHEN TALKING ABOUT COLOR BECAUSE THERE REALLY IS NO COLOR UNTIL YOUR BRAIN MAKES IT. >> THIS IS "CHRONICLE" ON WCVB CHANNEL 5. >> FROM SUNRISE TO SUNSET, A WORLD OF COLOR FILLS OUR LENSES. FILTERED THROUGH LIGHT, PERCEPTION, BIAS, AND CULTURE. >> CARL YOUNG SAYS COLOR IS THE MOTHER TONGUE OF OUR SUBCONSCIOUS, WHICH MEANS IT IS SOMETHING THAT IS SO INGRAINED IN US, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, WE CANNOT REALLY QUANTIFY. >> SO WHAT IS COLOR? >> IN THE END, COLOR IS AN ILLUSION. IT IS JUST A WAVELENGTH. THERE’S REALLY NO SUCH THING AS COLOR. YOU ARE JUST SEEING A REFLECTION OF LIGHT OFF OF AN OBJECT. >> ARISTOTLE DEVELOPED THE FIRST KNOWN THEORY OF COLOR, BELIEVING IT WAS SENT BY GOD FROM HEAVEN THROUGH CELESTIAL RAYS OF LIGHT. IN 1660, ISAAC NEWTON PAST LIGHT THROUGH A PRISM AND CREATED THE FIRST COLOR WHEEL, BUT IT WAS RIGHT HERE AT THE MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN WHERE THE COLOR WHEEL TOOK ON NEW DIMENSION, THANKS TO PROFESSOR ALBERT MONTH CELL. >> HIS COLOR WHEEL IS SPECIAL BECAUSE HE ADDED IMPORTANT VOCABULARY WORDS -- HUGH, SATURATION, AND VALUE -- HUE, SATURATION, AND VALUE. >> THE PROGRAM CHAIR TEACHES FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ABOUT THE ELEMENT OF COLOR THAT GOES >> WE TALK ABOUT COLOR AS COLOR SYMBOLISM AND COLOR PSYCHOLOGY. FOR US, COLOR SYMBOLISM IS WHAT WE KIND OF KNOW. RED MEANS LOVE. RED MEANS HATE. RED MEANS BLOOD. RED MEANS PASSION. THE HARDER ONE IS COLOR PSYCHOLOGY. ALL COLOR PSYCHOLOGY IS SORT OF -- NOT TO USE THE POND, COLORED BY OUR CULTURE AND BIASES. >> THAT IS THE KEY WHEN IT COMES TO MARKETING. RED AND YELLOW? >> THEY HAVE THAT RED AND YELLOW BECAUSE IN THE 1970’S, IT WAS DECIDED THAT THAT HEART RACING PART OF RED AND THAT YELLOW MADE YOU HUNGRY. >> PERHAPS THERE’S NO FASTER WAY TO QUELL THAT HUNGER THAN SERVING IT UP ON A BLUE PLATE. >> BLUE IS ONE OF THE MOST UNAPPETIZING COLORS ON THE PLANET. >> AND THESE ARE MY ACTUAL PLATES. ALL THESE YEARS, I THOUGHT IT WAS MY COOKING. LOOKING FOR SOME CALM? MIGHT GO GREEN. EVER BUY SOMETHING NOT ON THE GROCERY LIST? YOU CAN POTENTIALLY THROW SOME SHADE AT COLOR FOR THAT. >> BETWEEN 60% AND 80% OF WHAT WE PURCHASED IN THE STORE IS DECIDED ON COLOR. >> WHO HAS NOT DEBATED WITH A PARTNER OVER THE COLOR OF SOMETHING? WHO WINS THE ARGUMENT WHEN IT COMES TO COLOR? >> YOU MAY SAY GREEN, RIGHT? YOUR PARTNER MAY SAY BLUE. MAYBE THE CONES IN YOUR I DO NOT WORK EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS YOUR PARTNER’S. IT COULD BE THAT YOU ARE BOTH RIGHT. IT IS JUST A MATTER OF PERCEPTION. >> WE HAD THIS IDEA TO MAKE STUFF LIKE NATURE BECAUSE NATURE DOES COOL THINGS WHEN IT COMES TO COLOR. >> AND FEW SPECIES GIVE OFF MORE VIBRANCE WITH A SIMPLE FLUTTER THAN THE BUTTERFLY. >> STRUCTURAL POWER IS HOW A LOT OF THINGS IN NATURE GET COLOR. WHAT IS UNIQUE IS THAT THE PIGMENTS ARE NOT PRODUCED BY PIGMENTS OR DYES, BUT INSTEAD, YOU SEE THESE NANOSCALE STRUCTURES. THEY DON’T HAVE COLOR INHERENTLY. THEY ARE JUST ALMOST TRANSPARENT. SIMILAR TO HOW A SOAP BUBBLE, FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU MAKE SOMETHING CLEAR REALLY REALLY THIN WILL THEN START TO GIVE YOU COLOR. >> IT IS THAT STRUCTURE THAT HAS LONG BEEN OF INTEREST TO RESEARCHERS. >> I HAD GOTTEN SOME INTEREST OF THIS WHEN PEOPLE SAY LET’S PUT IT IN TEXTILES, BUT IF YOU HAVE 10 SEVEN METERS OF A FIBER, THAT MAKES A VERY SMALL SHIRT. >> UNTIL A HAPPY ACCIDENT IN A HOLOGRAPHY ART SPACE AT M.I.T. GAVE HIM AN IDEA. >> SUDDENLY REALIZED THIS WHOLE FIELD OF HOLOGRAPHY HAS A LOT OF SIMILARITIES TO HOW NATURE PRODUCES COLOR. >> BUT THERE WAS STILL A MISSING PIECE TO THE PUZZLE. THEY FOUND IT IN THE SCIENCE BEHIND A NOBEL PRIZE GIVEN MORE THAN A CENTURY AGO. >> GABRIEL LITMAN. HE WAS THIS PHYSICIST WHO WON THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS IN 1908 FOR THIS KIND OF COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. WE KIND OF STUMBLED ACROSS HIS WORK AND REALIZED THAT COMBINING THAT WITH THE HOLOGRAPHY THINGS WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT WITH THIS NATURE-INSPIRED COLOR GAVE US ALL THE PIECES WE NEEDED TO DEVELOP THIS SCALABLE APPROACH. >> USES A LIGHT SOURCE AND A MIRROR AND THEN HOLOGRAPHIC MATERIAL. THAT ALLOWS YOU TO CREATE A STANDING WAVE, AND THAT CREATES PATTERNS. >> AND WITH THAT, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. STRETCHABLE, SCALABLE, BIO INSPIRED MATERIALS. >> AS YOU STRETCH IT, THESE EMBEDDED NANOSTRUCTURES WILL CHANGE SIZE THEMSELVES WHICH CHANGES THE COLOR OF LIGHT THAT COMES BACK. WE ARE KIND OF MAKING AN ELASTIC SQUISHY VERSION OF THE SORT OF THING YOU FIND IN NATURE. >> ONE OF THE FIRST USES M.I.T. IS EXPLORING FOR THAT STRETCHY COLOR CHANGING MATERIAL IS IN THE MEDICAL FIELD. ONE POSSIBLE APPLICATION IS IN BANDAGES TO HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE APPLYING THEM USE JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF PRESSURE, WHICH CAN BE MEASURED BY THE CHANGING COLOR. AND OF COURSE, WHEN IT COMES TO

The interesting psychology and technology behind color

Students at MassArt learn and test theories behind the psychology of colors

Updated: 8:00 PM EST Feb 1, 2023

Did you know that the color wheel took on a new dimension at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design? First-year students can participate in color classes that focus on the psychology behind color.Researchers at MIT have created a stretchable color-changing material based on how nature often reflects color. The material is being used in bandages to indicate when the correct pressure is being used.

NEEDHAM, Mass. —

Did you know that the color wheel took on a new dimension at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design? First-year students can participate in color classes that focus on the psychology behind color.

Researchers at MIT have created a stretchable color-changing material based on how nature often reflects color. The material is being used in bandages to indicate when the correct pressure is being used.

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