Color Theory in the real world.

[gafftaper]

Here's a crazy story I found in the local paper. People in Japan and Scotland have been experimenting with blue tinted lighting in public places. As a result they are finding a noticeable drop in street crime. We all know that blue has a soothing and calming psychological effect on an audience. Well apparently it also encourages people to drive safer, reduces violent crimes, and helps people feel like life is ok and not jump in front of subways.

Yeah it's a bit of a stretch but the early data is fascinating. Read the full story here.

[Cheever]

that is interesting. i've heard about computer manufacturers are experimenting with clolrs to decrease the amount of people who complain about isomnia due to their computer.

[tcahall]

The field of industrial lighting and the study of it has been around for decades. As early as the 1980s, factories were changing lighting in factories to enhance productivity and reduce fatigue. These studies included both color and intensity of light in the workplace. While I was not directly involved in the studies or implementations, the presentations I saw were pretty interesting. In particular, brighter light does not necessarily increase efficiency or decrease fatigue. Also, slight color changes caused dramatic changes in perception.

Tim.

P.S. the other environmental studies on noise in the workplace were also fascinating. My favorite was a test that injected white noise into an office to reduce ambient noise fatigue. After a few months, the noise was shut down. The employees complained that the air conditioning had shut down, they were getting too hot and had to go home. Our perception of our environment is a powerful driver of our overall well being and effectiveness.

[TimmyP1955]

The times that I visited in Scotland, the streetlights were yellow, which removed all color from one's vision. Most peculiar, and perhaps stressing over a long period of time. At the same time in France, auto headlights were yellow - Brits who were driving over had to coat their headlights with a special yellow paint.

[venuetech]

wow blue has a very calming effect when my computer comes up with a "blue screen of death"

[highschooltech]

Yes believe it or not if you stare at a BSOD you will feel much more calm.

[MNicolai]

I think it'd prefer driving in areas with amber HID lighting than a cool white leaning towards blue. The hand off is that the blue tints will perceptively light an area with more definition than the regular amber HID tints. Comfort-wise though, I've never been a huge fan of the white-er sodium lights, but would find it much easier to read text from a paper in that light than in the usual ambers.

One of the psychological reactions could be connotation-associated. If people perceive amber HID street lighting to be everywhere and just as likely to have crime as anywhere else, then would-be criminals are more likely to get into trouble there than a place that appears to have been modernized, upscaled, and cleaned up with different shades of lighting.

It's like swearing. There are over 34 synonyms for feces, but some are more proper than other. People prefer to use one or two synonyms for evoking emotionally-stimulated reactions, but in the science community, they would strictly use other synonyms. They all mean the same thing, but have different connotations behind them. If anyone has a change to look at Steven Pinker's book, The Stuff of Thought, I would highly recommends it for learning more about perception.

As for the noise-masking that many office buildings are beginning to use, I've heard a lot of good things about it. It's a slight white-noise in the background, but causes conversations to get drowned out in areas so that while you sit in your cubicle, you don't hear the sales call the person on the other end of the office is making. Ever spend a lot of time in a really quiet room and then someone breaks the silence. It doesn't even have to be very loud, but it can be irritating? The idea of noise-masking is that there's less of a silence to break, but not so much that the noise itself becomes an irritant. The market for acousticians is going to soar over the next few years, and I think if Brad Weber of museAV stumbles across this thread, he'll agree with me. As an acoustical engineer, he's having to turn down jobs and projects because he has so many projects flooding in to him. A lot of that hype is contributed to people only in the past couple years becoming aware of how much of an effect noise pollution, noise masking, and acoustical treatments actually has. Just as businesses are starting to change over to 4-day work weeks and provide more benefits, with hopes to increase morale and productivity(take a look at how Google treats their employees), they're also experimenting with different lighting and acoustical treatments. Anyone ever feel like they're more comfortable and productive under incandescent lighting than fluorescents? It's not just you.

I expect in the next few years lighting and acoustical solutions will be a focus for increasing workplace productivity, or in the case you mentioned, reducing crime and fatigue while driving. Anyone who can combine that with the green movement is out to make a fortune.

[Les]

I work at Lowe's and one time a storm came through and blew out the satellite that provides our Muzak (background music). At first it was a relief because we hear the same songs every day just in a different order, but after a few days it started feeling too quiet. Like you could hear everyone talking and everyone could hear you. It also felt like the days started going by slower, almost as if it was slow all the time. It was actually a relief when I heard it come on again in mid-song. Now I'm tired of it again because Ive heard about 30 different versions of Frosty The Snowman today...

[TimMiller]

Ever notice how much better load in/out is with a little music playing. Esp when programming, i like listening to the artists music, and then some different music from around the world, esp celtic, Renaissance, and irish. I try to find music that does not have your normal instruments, but things your normally do not hear everyday. It adds a different creative layer in. I found a nice piece by Wine and Alchemy (http://wineandalchemy.com/WineandAlchemy.html) i have been thinking about programming lighting to for a demo.