Brief 2 - RSA Competition - The impact of colour

Goals:

Reducing work and study related stress
Using colour to our advantage
Promoting mindfulness 
Promoting rest and sleep 

Interior designers have long used colour to create feelings of coziness or spaciousness. Thought it varies from person to person and people respond differently to different colour stimuli. Blue is the top choice/favourite colour for 35% of Americans, followed by green (16%), purple (10%) and red (9%). 

"A preference for blue and green may be due to a preference for certain habitats that were beneficial in the ancestral environment as explained in the evolutionary aesthetics article."

There is evidence that color preference may depend on ambient temperature. People who are cold prefer warm colours like red and yellow while people who are hot prefer cool colours like blue and green. Some research has concluded that women and men respectively prefer "warm" and "cool" colours.

A few studies have shown that cultural background has a strong influence on color preference. These studies have shown that people from the same region regardless of race will have the same color preferences. Also, one region may have different preferences than another region (i.e., a different country or a different area of the same country), regardless of race.

Conclusion 

If a colour is to be used, blue should be the one. It is the most common favourite colour, is often regarded as being cool and calming, and studies have shown that people with blue bedrooms get the most sleep. 

It is worth noting that emitted blue light has been found to suppresses the release of the sleep hormone melatonin. Blue light filters are now being integrated into device operating systems to help. Whilst important, every display always emits blue light, so the inclusion of additional blue in any of my potential designs wouldn't exacerbate this.