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In this study, six colors (vivid red, vivid blue, vivid yellow, pale red, pale blue, and pale yellow†) were manipulated in a simulated study environment to determine their effects on university students' learning performance, emotions, and heart rate. It was hypothesized that learning, physiological and emotional states would be affected by different colors in private study spaces. A total of 24 undergraduate and postgraduate students participated in this study. The dependent variables were reading task performance, emotional responses, and changes in heart rate. The results showed that, although participants assessed the situation as relaxed, calm, and pleasant in the pale color conditions, reading scores were significantly higher in the vivid color conditions. Heart rates were significantly affected by hue; they increased in the red and yellow conditions. In addition, the results suggested that, regardless of the degree of whiteness, the hue had a significant impact on participants' emotions; blue increased relaxation and calmness feelings of participants compared to the other colors. Implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.

This paper is the outcome of a dialogue between two lecturers in the visual arts from universities in Queensland and Western Australia. The Colour Card Game is a tool for teaching creative colour exploration to a wide variety of students from different educational disciplines and from different cultural backgrounds. The aim is to engage students in a way that is not intimidating, requires no special skills or preparation, and with any value judgments coming from the students rather than from the teacher. The game is played with the commercial paint sample cards that are freely available from paint and hardware stores. The object of the game is to produce unusual colour combinations that ‘work’ (are considered creatively harmonious). There is an element of chance in the distribution of colour cards and opportunities for players to exchange cards that they find unworkable. At the conclusion of play the colour combinations are displayed and players vote for the ones they consider most successful. The game provides the opportunity to discuss different approaches to colour combination: reliance on one’s own judgment, application of established theories of colour harmony, making use of the findings of research and using chance processes to open up a wider range of possibilities. Students learn to look at colours with fresh eyes and to escape from personal limitations, prejudices, rules and the dictates of fashion. They explore unfamiliar areas of colour space and discover how colours actually interact. The game has been played successfully in the classroom and in social situations. Players enjoy the game; they find it challenging, stimulating and often revealing of personal tastes in colour. The paper describes the game’s development, purposes and applications within teaching context, variation of play and possible future developments.

Colour is not one single kind of “thing.” Here I propose a way of categorizing the different kinds of thing that colours are variously understood to be. I further propose that the means used to identify a colour determine what kind of thing it is that is being identified. My proposed categories are conventional colour, substance colour, formula colour, spectral profile colour, psychophysical colour, inherent colour, and perceived colour. I show how these different kinds of colour are the concern of people working in different disciplines and that these different disciplines all contribute knowledge that can be of value in colour design. I also show how recognition of the different kinds of colour can help designers to a clearer understanding of concepts that they use in their own discipline.