Color as a multisensory dimension in space

Topic

Colors shape our perception of ourselves and our environment and control our behavior. Colors reveal to us not only the fascinating secrets of nature, but also the creations of our own color culture.

We can never separate the different colors from their meanings and effects, because as soon as we consciously perceive them, our brain has already interpreted them. Our perception of color is shaped by biological and cultural factors, which is why it is objective and communicable where it serves to communicate with nature and people.

Colors are our window to the world – in harmony with all our senses, this window determines what we perceive of the world, what we react to and how we feel about it. Color is an atmospheric environmental factor that can make us tired, listless and ill or keep us awake, active and healthy.

In the world’s largest study on the effects of colors on the well-being and health of patients and staff in intensive care medicine, my research team and I have discovered both frightening and encouraging facts. Atmospheres not only have an effect on people’s well-being and health, they also influence medication consumption and the level of illness among care staff.

But colors also fulfill many other important functions. We orient ourselves by colors, identify ourselves with colors, feed ourselves according to colors, advertise through colors or hide behind colors. Although our feeling for colors is subjective, it is anything but random. Effective color schemes can therefore be planned and empirically tested.