Special Reviews: Recent Topics about Color Perception Appropriate Use of Colors

Appropriate Use of Colors in Our Living Environment and the Scientific Basis

Abstract

This article reviews some recent studies that give the scientific basis for appropriate use of colors in our living environment. Since color is the most effective dimension for visual searching or labeling, we can easily find and recognize items that are specified by colors. The effectiveness of color information, however, is affected by its surrounding environment. First, the illuminance level significantly changes color appearances. Second, surrounding colors strongly affect the efficiency of color searching. Moreover recent studies of quantitative analysis of human sensibilities for color environment are described. A tentative method of estimating visual busyness using color statistics of actual scenes is discussed.