Assignment 3: Cultural Aspect of Colour

This is sort of the continuation of assignment 3. On the last post, I mentioned that my tutor suggested me to research on the cultural aspect of colour. It takes a while because there is no authoritative reference text out there on this subject. There are a lot of loose articles from what-so-called “research”, but they are more of commentaries. Here is bit and piece of the summary on what I have read and some of my reflections.

Culture Aspect of Colour

Some articles talks about what a particular colour is used as a “symbol” in particular country. I put quote around the word “symbol” because the relationship between colour and the subject is more of an association, rather than symbolization. I prefer to use the word "symbol" as a representation. You see a symbol and this will come to mind even if there is no word or other message. For me, to say colour is a symbol of XXXX means that you will be thinking of XXXX if you see this colour.


An article I came across says that green is “symbol” of money in US. It is true that US dollar usually refers to as “greenback”. It is also true that the one side of the US dollar (it is the back side, if you like) is printed in green ink. However, what is not true is the Americans invoke the thought of money when they see green. For example, it is unheard of that somebody walks into a park on a summer day, seeing the beautiful green leaves on trees, and the screen triggers the image of cash.

Some of the old tradition on the use of colour exists because of the taste of rich and powerful in the past, or because of availability of the material. For example, certain colours are difficult to product in the last so it becomes “symbol” of kings. Some of the tradition, such as wearing black clothing to a funeral, is observed because the lack of interest for general public to do something special. However, these linking changes in many areas, because of technological advance make many colours become available to normal people and transformations in social structure that we feel we no longer need to observe some tradition appeal in a strict sense. As a result, if we need to discuss about the culture aspect of colour, we should also ask ourselves what we mean by the word “culture”. And, if we accept that “culture” is a constantly evolving breast composed on many individuals’ tastes and preferences, we should an also accept that the link between culture and colour is evolving.

Association with Colour

The links between colours and everyday subject is not entire zero. There are some permanent subjects out there that are immune to change. Here are some objects that we see every day and they are almost in the same colours.

        Sun – Red/ orange
     Fire – Red/ orange

       Grass/ Tree – Green
    Clear sky – Blue

Therefore, one should not be surprised that red/ orange side of the colour wheel is called “warm colour” given that we can directly experience the warmth of the sun, while the sun is unlikely to change colour (with its current mass, it will never make it to a blue giant even before it blows up).

One should note that this association has to do with what we usually see. For example, fire does not have to have red/orange colour. If you use natural gas a fuel, the colour of the flame would be blue. While the flame is still hot, the association between “hot” and blue is rarely seen. I believe it is because we see colour as a visual observation. Most people use natural gas to set up a flame is in the kitchen. As soon as the fire is up, they put the pots and pans over it. As a result, they never really set up a blue flame, observe and appreciate the warmth of a blue flame. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what colour the subject can appear in, but what we usually see them.

Apart from the permanent fixtures, there are the “semi-permanent” ones. There are situation when a subject does not have to appear as one colour, but there is a social pressure to maintain such an association. An example of this is the application of the colour red in stop signs, traffic light. When we see a red sign, we are most likely to stop or slow down to see what the information is. This type of association works with the backing of the law to reinforce such belief. For example, one will get punish if he/she disrespects the red traffic light. Without such backing, the association have little strength. For example, while green traffic light is walk, one is not under obligation to cross the road. Green road sign is use for information, but people don’t usually hit the accelerator when they see a green road sign. There is no punishment, so the association of green and walk/run is not quite there.   

Gender and Colour

I happen to come across this topic as I was curious on why parents decorate the baby room in blue if they are expecting a boy, and decorate it is pink if they are expecting a girl. I came across online article saying that the tradition was reversed. Before the First World War, pink is the colour of boy because it has stronger colour, while blue is more delicate and more suitable for girls. Here is a magazine cover of in that age, notice that the girl is illustrated in blue dress.

At some point the specification with gender changed in 20^th century. Some said that because of the blue uniform soldier wore (which country though?), while other said blue dye is cheaper for school uniform. Someone suggested that NAZI used pink as the colour code for homosexuals, so men tries to distance themselves with this colour. I doubt this is the reason, because it implies that women are happy to associate themselves with homosexuals.

Uses of Colour

There are two areas that discuss about putting colour together to form some impression, and they are flouriest and interior designer. The general working process seems to be 1) pick if you want to have contrast or similar colour 2) put something together from that side of the colour wheel and see if they look good. The working process to match colour is about how you feel than putting in straight rule. Florists go about the “flower language” of different flowers mean. Honestly I struggle to see why red rose means “I love you” but orange rose means something else. I also wonder why there exists flower that means "I love you" but there is no flower means "I hate you". Given that both love and hate are constantly re-occurring human emotions.

Summary (?)

I am not sure that I should summarize given that nothing makes sense to me. I struggle to see a consistent link between culture and colour other than old wives tale or wishful thinking. Not to mention, in order to really analyze this topic, one has to be particular about which culture, what culture and what influence this culture. It is more interesting as a sociological or anthropological discussion than a photography discussion. However, I don’t think there is no link between colour and culture.

     1) There are object that we experience constantly that have consistent colour. An example of this is we experience warmth from the sun and the sun is red/orange

2   2) There are social agenda to associate certain colour with messages, with strong backing by law to reinforce this association. An example of this is red sign, traffic light means stop.
        3) There are other intentional or unintentional agenda to associate certain colour with messages, such pink for girls and blue for boys. Such association is usually back by media (advertising). It can change with time and the association may not apply to everybody in the society.

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To be honest, it is difficult to get back to assignment 3 at first because it really has been a while since it was submitted. I need to check my note and see what I have in mind when I was working on the assignment. To try to learn something around the topics around colour is one thing, but trying to tire this back to what I was working on (urban landscape) is another. With architecture, the exterior colour strongly associates with the cost and availability on building material, instead of social likings. I am reading a little bit more and write something about it. Hopefully it will tire back to my assignment somehow.