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Most animal species are colour blind and nocturnal. Humans, however, have elected to live by the light of the sun, and to be active primarily during the daytime. Hence there is almost no aspect of human experience that does not involve colour-sensing in some way or other, most vitally in our response to food (involving survival of the individual) and to sexual display (involving survival of the species).
In examining food, it is almost always colour that reveals the most important clues as to its edibility. It is arguably owing to the need to evaluate the ripeness and freshness of food that humans, birds and other species developed such acute colour discrimination. |
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As a rule, reds, browns, yellows and greens appear the most appetising colours for food, whereas blues, violets and greys appear generally far less so. Such preferences are important especially if choosing colours for food packaging and advertising, or the interior furnishings for a restaurant or canteen. Precise colour matching by non-artists occurs perhaps most frequently when judging how much cream or milk to add to coffee or tea.
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In this instance, we may be convinced that our drink will taste right only if it looks right. Hence, aptness of colour is also of importance when considering colours to be used in the bottling and canning of beverages, wines and beers. A common (and often mistaken) assumption exists that the darker or more deeply coloured the food or drink, the strong or richer its flavour must be. |
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Artificial dyes are added to a great deal of the food offered for sale, not only to maintain consistency in their appearance but also to help such foods match the colour we prefer or expect them to appear. Dyes are also added to foods that would otherwise appear distinctly unappetising, such as boiled animal cartilage in the form of gelatine or jelly. Varieties of fruit, such as oranges and lemons, which may be mottled and greenish when picked, are subsequently bleached and dyed orange and yellow prior to distribution and sale. |
| In other respects, colour is an essential feature in the food cycle of numerous plants and animals. Most flying insects have good colour vision, but on the whole, poor focusing. The conspicuous colours (and scents) of blossoms offer compelling signals to insects that flowers are ready for pollination. While large white flowers may offer themselves to almost any passing insect, blue or violet flowers may attract selected species only.
Differences of hue are especially important in assisting birds in flight to distinguish ripe from unripe fruit and from the foliage and shadows which might otherwise conceal them. This is especially so in situations in which information conveyed by tonal-value and texture is relatively redundant, as would be the case if searching for shiny red berries amongst shiny green foliage. The eye-catching red or yellow of a ripe fruit or berry signifies, in turn, that the seeds inside are ready for dispersal. A cycle of give-and-take is thereby perpetuated in which a bird or other animal recognises the colour of the ripened fruit and eats it. The soft parts of the fruit are digested (giving nutritional reward to the animal) while the hard seeds are not. To the benefit of the stationary plant, the mobile animal later deposits them some distance away, where the seedlings may grow to maturity, without competing for resources with their parent plant.
Extracted from The Color Coursebook (1999)
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Copyright © 1998 Roy Osborne.
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