Is a house named “yellow” really yellow? Survey on the perception and naming of the yellow color on building facades depending on its hue, lightness and saturation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23738/CCSJ.140112Keywords:
yellow, color in architecture, color attributes, color naming, color appearance, color perceptionAbstract
The article's primary goal is to present the author's online color survey results. The study was aimed at checking which colors chosen from NCS Color System's four yellowish hue groups: G80Y, G90Y, Y, and Y10R are perceived as "yellow." The 28 nuances differed in hue, lightness, and chroma, were presented separately on color swatches and building facades. At first, the respondents assessed the yellowness of selected colors and then indicated the most appropriate ones for the color term "yellow." The analysis of the 444 results confirmed the high importance of saturation and lightness (whiteness/blackness level) in color appearance and naming. The research proved that a given color is likely described as "yellow" only when its parameters of lightness and saturation are similar to the prototype of the yellow color category, characterized by high saturation and high intrinsic lightness. The clarity of the hue was also a significant factor.
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