Color emotions from two-color combinations with various area ratios

Abstract

The color emotion evoked from the two color combination is investigated by varying the area ratio between those two colors. Four color pairs (Dull Blue(R90B 3050)-Pale Yellow(Y1030), Pale Yellow(Y1030) - Vivid Red(R1080), Dark Grey(N7000) - Dull Blue(R90B 3050), Vivid Red(R1080) - Light Green(G2060)) are chosen for the experiment and displayed on the LCD monitor with 9 different area ratio including single colors. For each color combination patch, eight bipolar color emotion pairs are scaled by 10 observers. The three color-emotion factors: color activity, color weight, and color heat are identified by the factor analysis, showing consistent results with previous researches. Color Activity is consisted of clean-dirty, active-passive, and fresh-stale. Color Weight is consisted of heavy-light, hard-soft and tense-relaxed. Color Heat is consisted of warm-cool and masculine-feminine. The responded emotions are compared between two-color combination patches with different area ratio. The observers show diverse emotions for the two color combinations compared to single color emotions. Also it is found that using two colors together having the same feelings do not necessarily enhance the original feelings. In some cases, color emotion of one color strongly affects the perceived emotions for two-color combination. © 2010 Society for Imaging Science and Technology.