Color Image Scale [Paperback]

Shigenobu Kobayashi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1992

Using and combining colors is now easy with the revolutionary new Color Image Scale developed by Japan's leading color psychologist, Shigenobu Kobayashi, the author of the best-selling A Book of Colors.

After three years of intensive research, Kobayashi and his team at the Nippon Color & Design Research Institute have matched 130 basic colors and over 1,000 color combinations to 180 key image words, allowing you the expression of any mood, lifestyle, or taste through the creative use of color combinations.

If you want to make an interior or an outfit "elegant", "romantic", or even "provocative", just look up -the word in the key image word index, and choose any one of the dozens of color combinations listed under the entry. Conversely, if you would like to know what mood certain colors or color combinations suggest, refer to the color index.

Used by thousands of major designers and manufacturers in Japan, the Color Image Scale is a unique color resource for both professionals and amateurs alike.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

About the Author

SHIGENOBU KOBAYASHI (b.1925) is the founder and director of the Nippon Color & Design Research Institute. He is a graduate of the electronics department of the Hiroshima College of Technology and received a master's degree from Waseda University in Tokyo for his work in the field of color psychology.

Since founding the institute in 1966, he has been a leader in research on color psychology, publishing numerous books on the subject, including a color image dictionary and others exploring color in relation to design, architecture, and the environment. A detailed discussion of his theories is available in English in the publication Color Research and Application (volume 6, no. 2, Summer 1981) in an article titled "The Aim and Method of the Color Image Scale."

He is also an active participant in meetings of the International Color Association and a lecturer at the Musashi Institute of Technology in Tokyo.

THE NIPPON COLOR & DESIGN RESEARCH INSTITUTE founded in 1966, the institute is a leader in its field, acting as a color and design consultant to over 300 major Japanese corporations in fields as diverse as automobiles, home electronics, cosmetics, food, department stores, and home construction.

The institute's patented Color Image Scale is the centerpiece of its theories on the psychology of color. In addition, the institute has developed computer software based on the Image Scale and a large information data base for use in its research and consulting projects.

Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha USA; 1st edition (April 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 477001564X
• ISBN-13: 978-4770015648
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #772,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic for web design, October 4, 2000

By 

Dan Norton (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Color Image Scale (Paperback)

This book provides an elaborate color theory that makes the color wheel look like stupid hippy frisbee. Colors are arranged in groups of three, and then grouped based on their overall feeling- it sounds preposterous, but you really will be attracted to certain regions more than others, and so will everyone else you show the book to.

The three color arrangements are particularly nice for Web page design, even though the CMYK nor RGB values are given. But this is forgivable, since this book was not intended for that purpose.

An excellent resource for anyone working with color, and a great tool for any web designer.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best guide to color in universe, August 10, 2000

By 

Mariel Clemensen (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Color Image Scale (Paperback)

Have you ever wondered what color to use with another? This guide book shows - in very easy terms - a range of possible combinations using one particular color and shade as a starting point. For anyone who cares about color, this book is a MUST! I wish the author would publish a more extensive guide. No other book matches this wonderful little guidebook.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Who stole my Blue?, October 26, 2001

By 

Mark Wieczorek (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Color Image Scale (Paperback)

I really like this book. The author created a standard color grid, red on the right, blue on the left, all the others in between, dark on the bottom, light on the top, except he used 3 color "patterns" rather than a single color in each box. Then he "inputted into our computer 180 image words that relate to the ways in which people percieve color, and also data on which words were associated with which colors." What his method is isn't expounded on

They linked the images to the words, and voila, you get sort of bubbly outline areas on the grid - these color combinations are elegant, these colors are fun, these colors are feminine or masculine, etc.

Since this book was first published in Japan in 1990, there are bound to be cultural discrepancies, and since this book is about the psychology of color, the 'conclusions' can be contested, though on the whole i think they're accurate.

My criticism stems from the fact that Blue in my book is missing. There's a page for "Red" and a page for "Yellow" and on, but no page for "Blue." There's a "Cerulean Blue" which is sort of turqoisy, and a "Light Blue" which looks like a darker Cerulean blue, and an "Ultramarine" which is closer to blue, but with a bit of violet in it. Who stole my blue?

A lot of the colors seem to have gone through a bad printing process as well, making me question whether or not I'm seeing the actual values. Ultramarine, for example, if you look closely (not that close, it's fairly obvious) is made up of lots of other colors. Am I supposed to hold it at arm's length to get an idea of what the color is?

Perhaps it was a bad printing.