GREEN PRIMARY COLOUR

green
GREEN NCS range B40G till G50Y

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Quotes

  • Colour genes

    Opsins (protein molecules which serve as visual pigments sitting in the cones and rods) are made under the influence of genes. DNA differences result in opsins that are sensitive to different colours. Since all genes are present in all cells, the difference between a red cone and a blue cone is not which genes they possess, but which gene they turn on.

    The genes that make our green and red opsins are very similar to each other, and they are on the X chromosome (the sex chromosome of which females have two copies and males only one). The gene that makes the blue opsin is a bit different, and lies not on a sex chromosome but on one of the ordinary non-sex chromosomes called autosomes. Our green and red cells have clearly been derived from a recent gene duplication event, and much longer ago they must have diverged from the blue opsin gene in another duplication event.

    Dawkins (2004).

  • ‘Rest’ and colour in Germany

    Rest: green 30%, blue 21%, white 15%, brown 10%.
    Heller (1989)

  • The green Demons from Europe

    The devil is often depicted in green. The devil as a hunter for poor souls is an old motif, but the devil has only appeared in hunter’s suit since romanticism. In medieval images, the devil is still a cross between a snake and a dragon. Western demons usually have the toxic colours of green and yellow, or they are green and black.
    Heller (1989)

  • Green and the left side

    In Dutch and German there is the expression ‘sitting on someone’s green side’. That is the same as on someone’s left side, so sitting on the side of his or her heart. Who ‘sits on the green side’, is closer to the heart of the other. Related to this is the expression ‘not being green about something’, which means ‘not being fond of something’.
    Heller (1989)

  • Green is spring

    Everything is sprouting, all germinates, everything is turning green. Green is the colour of spring. In a transferable sense, green is the colour of flourishing. When in an old text it said: “at the time that Rome was the greenest”, it did not mean Rome in springtime but Rome in the time of its economic and cultural prosperity.
    Heller (1989)

  • Green is the colour of fertility in ancient Egypt.

    For the ancient Egyptians, ‘doing green things’ meant ‘doing good things’. Green was the colour of the god Osiris. In early Egyptian mythology, he was the god of the Nile and of fertility. His skin colour was green. He was therefore nicknamed ‘the big green’.
    Heller (1989)

  • Green is the holy colour of Islam
    Ibn al-‘Arabi, diagram of “Plain of Assembly”(Ard al-Hashr) on the Day of Judgment. Muhammad, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Green was the favorite colour of the prophet Muhammed. He was wearing a green cloak and a green turban. The most precious relic of Islam is the Sanschak-i-Scherif, the sacred banner. It is green with gold. It is the flag with which the prophet went to war and finally conquered Mecca. The fact that Muhammed proclaimed green to be his favorite colour was no coincidence that depended on his own taste. Muhammad (570-632) announced the revelations of the only god as they were explained in the Quran. He predicted the believers as wages for a godly life not ascetic and hypocritical hereafter, but a paradise full of sensual pleasures (Jannah). A life full of delight in enchanting landscapes, on flowering meadows, in shady forests and eternal oases. Green would be the dominant colour in paradise. This was and is a representation that raptures desert people. In the middle of the desert, green nature is overwhelming. It means the same as material and spiritual prosperity.
    Heller (1989)

  • Green and life in the Middle Ages

    In medieval images, saints who embody the principle of life often wear green. It is the colour of John the Baptist. Saint Michael wears a green cloak on many images in which he conquers the dragon.
    Heller (1989)

  • Green and longevity in China

    In China, green is also the symbol of longevity and mercy.
    Heller (1989)

  • Green is feminine

    As the colour of life green is feminine. In the west, the connection between the colour green and the feminine is almost forgotten. This idea is still alive in China.
    Heller (1989)

  • Life is green

    Green is the symbol colour of life. The symbolism arises from the experience of growing plants.
    Heller (1989)

  • ‘Confidence in the future’ and colour in Germany

    Confidence in the future: green 26%, blue 17%, …
    Heller (1989)

  • ‘Childhood’ and colour in Germany

    Childhood: pink 34%, green 13%, yellow 9%, …
    Heller (1989)

  • ‘Calming’ and colour in Germany

    Calming: green 30%, blue 15%, ….
    Heller (1989)

  • ‘Bitterness’ and colour in Germany

    Bitterness: green 27%, brown 17%, yellow 17%, …
    Heller (1989)

  • ‘Between far away and close by’ and colour in Germany

    Between far away and close by: green 20%, grey 20%, blue 12%, …
    Heller (1989)

  • ‘start’ and colour in Germany

    Beginning: white 46%, green 18%, …
    Heller (1989)

  • ‘Aromatic’ and colour in Germany

    Aromatic: brown 27%, orange 20%, green 16%, …
    Heller (1989)

  • ‘Tranquility’ and colour in Germany

    Tranquility: green 30%, blue 21%, white 15%, …
    Heller E. (1989)

  • ‘Silence’ and colour in Germany

    Silence: blue 22%, white 15%, green 15%, …
    Heller E. (1989)

  • ‘Relaxation’ and colour in Germany

    Relaxation: green 57%, blue 16%, white 9%, …
    Heller E. (1989)

  • ‘Longing’ and colour in Germany

    Longing: blue 27%, green 13%, purple 10%, …
    Heller E. (1989)

  • ‘Reliability’ and colour in Germany

    Reliability: blue 27%, green 13%, brown 10%, … (Heller, 1989)

  • ‘Trust’ and colour in Germany

    Trust: blue 35%, green 18%, white 18%, …
    Heller E. (1989)

  • ‘Sympathy’ and colour in Germany

    Sympathy: blue 28%, red 17%, green 16%, …
    Heller E. (1989)

  • Cold and warm colours

    The distinction between cold and warm colours is very old, rooted in the language about colours (Berlin & Kay, 1969) and is perceptually important. Psychological research at the University of Padua into the cold / warm qualities of colours shows that the subjective colour temperature experience changes abruptly when the limit of the hue values ​​above 120° in the CIELAB colour system has been exceeded. The same sudden change occurs around 330° (da Pos & Valenti, 2007). A clear correlation has been established between cold / warm and hue values ​​(Jin, Eun & You, 2003). This agreement also appears to work cross-culturally (Sato, Xin & Hansuebsai, 2003). The cold / warm contrast is related to the perceived light in a landscape. The “warm” colours are associated with daylight or sunset, and the “cold” colours associated with a gray or dark day. Warm colours are the shades of red-violet to yellow, cool colours are the shades that run from blue-green through blue-violet.

  • Colour weight on the lightness axis

    Black and white are the most extreme examples of heavy and lightweight colours. The movement is in the height. Heavy colours, when applied above the viewer, tend to press down. Because of their heaviness, the weight is literally felt. A black ceiling will be estimated lower than a white one. Heavy is also connected to hard and large, while lightweight is felt rather fine, small and soft (Osgood, 1957). If colours have the same intensity such as red and green, red will outweigh green. (Meerwein, 2007)

  • Lüscher’s active and passive colours

    The psychologist Lüscher (1969) uses the parameter active/passive in his well-known colour test. The active colours are then yellow and red, the passive blue and green. Passivity means rest and the general decline of metabolic processes and glandular function. Activity accelerates the metabolic process and gland function increases. Primitive peoples showed a number of basic behaviours. The active primitive man was a hunter, his activity was focused on conquest and obtaining. A passive behaviour was self-preservation, defence, withdrawal.
    (Lüscher & Scott, 1969).

  • Warm and cold colours, cultural differences

    Culturally, small variations in the choice of warm and cold colours have been identified. In the Thai survey (Sato, Xin & Hansuebsai, 2003), the cold shades are slightly cooler than the Japanese ones. The Thai warmest colour is a warm orange (red-orange) and the coldest colour a bluish green. The border colours between warm and cold, eg. the transitional nuances between yellow and green gave rise to unclear results.

  • Bernard Lahousse Aroma Colours

    BernardLahousse-aromaColours
    Bernard Lahousse Aroma Colours

    Yellow and green are the colours most associated with sour taste.
    Green and – in a lesser degree – brown are the colours most associated with bitter taste.
    Pink – and in lesser degree – red/orange are the colours most associated with sweet taste.
    Blue and white/grey are the colours most associated with salty taste.
    Bernard Lahousse (2015).

  • Unique hue

    Colour naming, unique hues, and hue cancellation predicted from singularities in reflection properties. Mean research results: Unique yellow: 577nm; Unique red: 715nm; Unique Blue: 474nm; Unique green: 529nm. (Philipona & O’Regan, 2006)

  • Colours and arousal value

    It has been noted that the colours on the red end of the spectrum (red, yellow) have high arousal value while those at the blue end (blue, green) have low arousal value.
    (Schaie, K. W., 1966)