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Colour Psychology > Ultracolour Software

THE COLOUR AFFECTS SYSTEM COMPUTERISED

Colour Affects' partner - Colour Communications Limited - is now in the position to demonstrate the prototype of the UltraColour software program.

All Patent and technical information can be made available, together with recent research results.

• Concept
• Overview
• The Market Need
• The Software
• Conclusion

Concept

The concept of UltraColour is the pairing of the physics of colour with the psychology of colour to produce a consistently reproducible psychological response in the vast majority of people.

The UltraColour software integrates two new factors: first the most recent work in colour physics by the Colour & Imaging Institute at the University of Derby, notably in the mathematical correlation between colours, which demonstrates that objective colour harmony is a reality; second a theory of colour psychology that identifies links between patterns of colour and patterns of human behaviour, developed by colour psychologist Angela Wright and tested empirically since 1985.

With UltraColour, it becomes possible for anyone to put colours together with confidence, without necessarily having any training or experience in colour theory or the physics of light. The software will enable them to achieve objective and consistent colour harmony and the desired psychological impact, whatever their design objectives.

Overview

The program, developed jointly by the Colour & Imaging Institute at the University of Derby and Angela Wright, uniquely blends colour physics and psychology, constituting a breakthrough in colour science on several fronts; it benefits anyone using colour for any purpose.

This working computer system comprises:

1. 1. A means of producing colour palettes that will consistently communicate an intended message and evoke a desired behavioural response.
2. A means of reliably producing harmonious colour palettes.
3. A means of producing secondary palettes to reinforce a message already established in a primary palette, or to promote a particular behaviour within the desired response.
4. A means of displaying colours truthfully on different monitors or media.

It should be noted that the UltraColour system is not a colour defining system, or a colour matching system; rather it works with all colour systems to enable anyone to put together powerfully effective palettes from within the colour system they are already using. It works with any colour system, is independent of ambience and works across all media. Colour choices need no longer be guesswork.

The key questions at the heart of UltraColour are:

• How does colour influence mood and behaviour?
• Can response to specific colours be accurately predicted?
• Are there universally attractive colour combinations?
  

Using UltraColour, the answer to the last two questions is YES.

How you put colours together will determine whether they are individually attractive or not and thus, for example, whether your blues aid concentration and communicate calm logic and sweet reason, or quench motivation and communicate cold, unemotional bureaucracy. Understanding this is crucial to anyone attempting to evoke a desired response.

UltraColour applies to product design, product colour scheming (fashion, auto interior/exterior, paints/wallcoverings/fabrics/carpets, cosmetics, etc.), web page or other media design, desktop publishing, standard professional publishing, video graphics, standard graphics, interior and exterior design, company branding - anywhere that colour is used.

UltraColour works within any colour system, regardless of what primary colours are in play - e.g. CMYK, RGB, paint systems, textiles etc. For example, if designers have the Pantone system in their computers, Ultracolour will enable them to choose the most effective combination of Pantone colours to meet the design objectives. The software integrates new findings about objective colour harmony and furthermore has the potential for integrating existing technology that ensures colour fidelity across different media.

The Market Need

The need for UltraColour is beyond doubt: major corporations across the world spend millions each year on launching new products, updating colour ranges, rebranding existing success stories, building impressive headquarters, creating websites and a huge variety of other design projects. Yet colour is nearly always guesswork.

Scientifically, it is the principal cue to composition - that is, the first thing we instinctively register when assessing anything - so it is arguably the most influential element in the design mix. Whilst there is a great body of work dedicated to colour in physics, biochemistry, physiology and neuroscience, so we understand exactly how we see colour, human response is still considered to be entirely subjective and random, and practical application remains fraught with difficulties.

Designers are trained in how to achieve the colours they want, but there is no guidance available to them on the vital question of how to create colour palettes that will appeal to specific people, or encourage specific behaviour - the main objectives of every design brief. Paint manufacturers produce enormous palettes of the paints they can make available, but are unable to produce consistently appealing palettes for specific intentions.

With UltraColour:

1. Successful companies can understand exactly why their 'signature' colours have such resonance with the consumer, and ensure that every other colour used with those signature colours will support their core message, rather than - as often happens at the moment - deaden their impact or compromise their communications.
2. Paint companies and DIY stores can meet the ever-increasing demand from their customers for guidance on colours to use in their homes. Colour schemes focusing specifically and accurately on the customer's own personality can replace the current 'one-size-fits-all' colour recommendations.
3. Computer software manufacturers can use the system in two ways: they can use it directly in designing their own products and promotional material to maximise their appeal, and by integrating UltraColour into their design packages they can provide a unique tool for their end-users, dramatically enhancing the value of their software, particularly to the design community.
4. Designers can fulfil their clients' brief with confidence. With a scientific, logical system of specifying colours that tells them precisely what reactions they can expect from any palette, they will be better able to rationalise their creativity to the client. The nature of the UltraColour system is such that there would be little inhibition of that creativity.
5. Employers can support and encourage the right psychological mode for each department in their companies with colour - from the desktop colour schemes on computer screens in front of their employees' eyes to the décor surrounding them. For example, a harassed operator in the Customer Services department at a busy call centre could be given a 'calming' colour scheme, while the next floor up the Sales department has a colour scheme that evokes enthusiasm and optimism, promoting a 'close-the-deal' attitude.
6. Manufacturers can colour their product ranges accurately to appeal to their target markets. Whatever the product, with UltraColour colours can be chosen that clearly communicate its qualities and support its desired image.
7. The fastest way to alter public perception of an ailing brand is colour psychology. Colour has an immediate impact; used wisely in all forms of brand communications, it will have a dramatic effect on public perception.
   

The above are examples of applications for UltraColour, but by no means a comprehensive list.

The Software

The software embodying the UltraColour system has been developed jointly by Angela Wright and the Colour & Imaging Institute at the University of Derby, in England. The prototype uses the Munsell colour system and works in any other colour system that a licensee would require.

The software includes the following functions: monitor calibration, colour selection via a colour map, colour selection via an adjective name library, colour palette and fine adjustment.

The Principles.

There are two closely interlinked strands to the system: colour psychology and colour harmony. Most design briefs (including domestic ones) can be distilled into a list of adjectives, or values, to be presented and the relationship among the precise tones chosen for the colour palette determines whether those values are expressed positively or negatively.

The colours are classified into four tonal groups. Firstly, they are either cool or warm, (blue-based or yellow-based). Secondly, they subdivide in terms of saturation and the addition, or not, of black. Each of the four groups contains versions of all the main colours - red, blue, yellow etc. - so this colour harmony theory is a departure from traditional colour theories based on the colour wheel.

Human characteristics can also be divided into four classifications, as many theories have shown in the past - from Galen in ancient Rome to Jung in 20th century Switzerland. There are as many variations within each personality type as there are people, but the underlying patterns are absolute.

Each personality type is expressed by a specific tonal family of colours. Conversely, a specific tonal family of colours expresses a collection of characteristics - a personality. The Colour & Imaging Institute has confirmed the mathematical correlations between colours in each group, as classified within the terms of the system; every colour in one tonal family will harmonise with every other colour in the same family, but not with a colour from a different family, and each colour family communicates specific characteristics.

The Practice.

The (prototype) program opens with a map of the entire Munsell system. There are three main buttons, marked 'Monitor Calibration' 'Map' and 'Adjectives'.

• 'Monitor Calibration' Button.
  An important benefit of UltraColour is the monitor calibration function. With this technology, a specified colour will be truthfully displayed on different monitors, and display them as they will look under different lighting conditions. The monitor calibration is in two stages:
  Stage 1 is to produce a match between a mid-grey solid and a half-tone colour, to obtain the right gamma value for the monitor.
  Stage 2 includes a coloured test chart to obtain a colour matching with the physical chart, to determine the precise ambient illuminant. Once this function is completed, all colours on screen will change, to correspond to the current viewing condition.
• 'Map' Button
  Once the colours on the screen are true, the user can simply double click on a colour in the map and all colours that work with the chosen colour remain on the screen; every other colour in the map disappears.
• 'Adjectives' Button
  Alternatively, the user can double click on one of the colours associated with the group of adjectives that best capture what is to be communicated. Again, the colours that support the chosen colour remain and all others disappear.
  

Whichever route is chosen, there is a window on the screen where the colours are displayed when they are double clicked. The window is divided into 'Dominant Palette' - which will accept six colours - and 'Subordinate Palette' - which will accept a further eighteen. This enables anyone to build a palette that works effectively, both visually and psychologically.

Double clicking on a colour in the palette gives the opportunity to adjust that colour, by presenting two larger swatches of it. Adjustments to the hue, the value and the chroma can then be made. However, this function will not allow adjustment to go outside of the colour group, as this would compromise the effects of the whole palette.

Thus, the software presents a systematic means of building a harmonious palette of colours and knowing precisely what they are communicating.

The Inventors

Angela Wright FRSA
Click here for Ms Wright's biography.

M Ronnier Luo PhD, FSDC
M. Ronnier Luo is Professor of Colour Science at the University of Leeds. His career to date is as follows:

• National Taiwan Institute of Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China.
  BSc Degree (First Class Honour) in Fibre Technology
• Seaward-Taichung Wool Textile Co. This was his first experience in applying colour science for industrial applications, when he was responsible for the operation of a colour computer for colour quality control and recipe formulation.
• Gain Associates Inc., Taiwan, suppliers of world-leading manufacturers' colour computers and colour measuring equipment for the surface colour industries. As Application Manager he gained experience in coloration technology in paints, plastics, ceramics, and packaging areas beyond textile.
• 1983 -1986. University of Bradford.
  PhD in the development of new colour difference equations.
• 1986 - 93. Crosfield Electronics Limited, Hemel Hempstead. (The Company is now Fuji Film Electronic Imaging (UK).)
  As Senior Colour Physicist for this leading company in manufacturing graphic art scanners, he conducted two research projects funded by the British Government over a period of seven years. These projects were designed to achieve colour management for accurate cross-media colour image reproduction. They were conducted at the Loughborough University of Technology Computer Human Interface (LUTCHI) Research Centre, where he managed a 4-member research team. He gained a leading reputation in colour appearance modelling, colour reproduction, imaging science.
• 1993 - 2004. University of Derby:
• 1993 He joined the Design Research Centre (DRC).
• 1994 He received the Bartleson Award for his work in colour science.
• 1998 Ronnier M Luo was awarded his Professorship in colour science.
  In the same year, the Colour & Imaging Institute (CII) was established to supersede the DRC by recruiting more research staff and generating more research funding.
• 1999. He was appointed Director of the Institute.
• From 1999 to 2004, Professor Luo led the CII to become one of the three major colour imaging institutions in the world, known as the Colour Imaging Science triangle (The other two are Rochester Institute of Technology in the USA and Chiba University in Japan).
• In April 2004, Professor Luo and his team transferred to the Department of Colour Chemistry, at the University of Leeds.

• He has successfully supervised ten PhD students to completion and is currently supervising ten students and five research scientists.
• He has published over 150 scientific papers and generated large amounts of research income over the years.
• He chairs the CIE TC 1-52 Chromatic Adaptation Transforms and CIE TC 8-2 Colour Difference Evaluation in Images.
• 1997-2001. He was Chairman of the Colour Measurement Committee (CMC) of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, UK.
• 2002. He was awarded a Fellowship of the Society of Imaging Science and Technology, in recognition of his outstanding contribution in the field of colour and imaging science.
  

Conclusion

The following extract from the foreword to Angela Wright's book 'The Beginner's Guide to Colour Psychology' captures the nature of the theory behind UltraColour and confirms the need for it:

"Few colour scientists seem to have any theory of what colour is for and how it affects people beyond its mere perception… Perhaps the central innovation of Angela's theory is that it does not emphasize the difference between colours for which we have words - red, blue, yellow etc. - but the differences between the many forms of each of those colours - the slightly greenish blue which is a little darker and a little less saturated than the other one. This is relatively unexplored territory."
Chris McManus, MA, MD, PhD.
Professor of Psychology,
University College London

Whilst the commercial world has spent the last hundred years or so developing sophisticated psychological techniques to influence behaviour, science has not previously given much consideration to the contribution of colour in this field. Neither the scientists nor the business community realised that colour is one of the most influential elements in daily life and constantly affects mood and behaviour; now, the powerful subliminal influence of colour can be harnessed for that purpose.

UltraColour achieves:

• Behavioural response
• Visual colour harmony every time
• True colours on-screen
  

It will change the way people think about the use of colour, as this revolutionary, user-friendly system eases the difficulties that people, including professionals, face every day when specifying colours.

UltraColour saves money by removing many of the practical problems, and the subjective, random elements in colour design, maximising design cost-effectiveness and reducing the risks attached to adventurous design ideas.

UltraColour is a fully operational prototype for which the patent has been published. Development of the full program would be dependent on the end use desired, and is part of the service available.

Colour Communications Limited is open to discussions with interested parties about how they can best benefit from this system. Contact Colour Affects

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