Subjective Colour

Johannes Itten has noticed how different people have various perspectives of what they deemed are to be harmonious colours. He noticed this while doing a lecture, when he asked his students to paint with preset colour combinations and students defying him saying, "We all think that the combinations that you assigned are not harmonious". Seeing this, Itten asked his student to paint with what they personally think are harmonious colours and found the variety of colour combinations that his students came up with.

Through this he found that each person can have their own perception of colour and they can associate certain colours and themes with different things, they have their own "private conception of colour harmony." Itten also pointed out that designers having their own personal 'subjective colour propensities" can "lead to misunderstanding and disputes, where one's subjective judgement  collides with another". Although this can often be saves with objective rules and observations e.g. using red for a butcher shop in order to portray the freshness of the meat being sold.

Looking at subjective colour in another point of view, different people an also see colour differently through scientific proves. Our brain's process differently depending on how the light bounce's off our eyes, therefore your perception of 'green' will be different with how your friend perceives 'green'. This was also proven by 'The Dress' that went viral on 2015 with some people perceiving it as blue while other's gold. Spoken language can also affect how people perceive colours e.g. Russian speakers have different word for dark blue (siniy) and light blue (goluboy), as well as Himba which is spoken in South-west Africa where they only have 5 categories for colour whereas 5.

These are just some areas which proves subjectivity of colour as we are shaped by our experiences, knowledge, culture which have influences in how we perceive colour.

The Dress