Color: The Secret Influence [Paperback]

Kenneth R. Fehrman (Author), Cherie Fehrman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0137799683 | ISBN-13: 978-0137799688 | Publication Date: August 10, 1999 | Edition: 1

For any/all design-based courses that emphasize Color Theory. This text presents color and light in an integrated way, incorporating not only the basics of color harmony and usage, but also providing information on the vast and often hidden ways in which color affects our everyday lives. Based on well-controlled, scientific studies (which dispel the misinformation about color that has become commonplace), it explores the effects of color on our health, spending habits, perceived image, communication, weight, sex lives, and consumer brand preferences. Color is an integral part of design, and designers need a thorough understanding of color's effects on the end user. This text presents information essential to the color selection process.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Color affects your health, your spending habits, your personal and professional image. Color affects every aspect of our lives every day, yet we take color for granted. It surrounds us. It penetrates our bodies as light waves. We eat it in fruits, vegetables, and artificial food colorings. Our lives depend on color. We rely on colored traffic lights to warn us of danger. We rely on color coding to separate beneficial medications from poisons. We buy products because color advertising appeals to us on a subliminal level. Yet, while color is a major part of our lives most of us have only a vague awareness of what color is. Even artists and designers who have spent years working directly with color/light rarely know just how much it affects us physiologically, psychologically and sociologically.

In today's competitive marketplace a designer must have more than just the basic tools to survive. Savvy consumers want to get the most for their money and the designer must be armed with accurate information. Forward thinking health care givers are beginning to realize the important effect that the color/light environment has on health. The field of color is filled with myths and old wives tales that must be dispelled if we are to truly understand the importance of color in our lives. It is with this in mind that Color - The Secret Influence was written. After researching thousands of sources for many years, we have arrived at a body of work that is based on factual, scientific data. We separate myth from fact and present a truly integrated picture of color. There are many books about color on the market but the vast majority of them just repeat the same rhetoric based on faulty assumptions. Color: The Secret Influence is based on years of well controlled scientific researc! h, not the repetition of myths. By the time you finish reading Color - The Secret Influence you will find there's much more to color than meets the eye.

From the Back Cover

This accessible book presents color and light in an integrated way, incorporating not only the basics of color harmony and usage, but also providing information on the vast and often hidden ways in which color affects our everyday lives. It explores the many ways in which color and light affect us—including our health, spending habits, perceived image, communication, weight, sex lives, and consumer brand preferences—basing all coverage upon well controlled, scientific studies which dispel the misinformation about color which has become commonplace. Also discussed is the marked influence that color selections—as made by interior designers, fashion designers, product designers, graphic designers, etc.—have on the general population. For interior designers, fashion designers, product designers, graphic designers, and any other professionals that work with color.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (August 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137799683
• ISBN-13: 978-0137799688
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,242,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tickled pink:), November 3, 2000

By 

Adam F. Jewell (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color: The Secret Influence (Paperback)

Color affects everything, "Color The Secret Influence" examines the science, psychology, and history of color. The information and studies discussed within touch on many facets of everyday life. The book begins by defining color, and discusses it in the context of it's affects on health, psychology, architecture, landscape design, sales, marketing, packaging, fashion, and culture in general.

If you have the slightest interest in learning about color for commercial purposes, designing and decorating your home, improving or understanding your color preferences, or how your everyday color choices and preferences affect you, buy this book!. It's is phenomenal, absolutely the best all encompassing book on color I've ever come across. While the information contained within, can be applied to web and graphic design, the depth of this book goes FAR beyond anything else I have read! It covers MUCH more than just creating attractive color combinations.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Color: The Secret Influence, February 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Color: The Secret Influence (Paperback)

I think this book will really help me in my work. I have a floorcovering business and I have read a lot of books on color trying to learn things that I can use in my business. This is the first book that has given me really solid information. I now understand color for the first time. I really recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how to use color as a way to make their lives better.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Book!, December 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Color: The Secret Influence (Paperback)

This is the best book on color I've ever found. It gives a really comprehensive overview of how color affects your entire life. If you want to redecorate your home, or influence people by how you dress, or learn how to use color to make your life healthier you absolutely must read this book. Color: The Secret Influence really goes way beyond anything I've ever read about color before in showing how it totally affects our lives. It clearly states that the serious study of color is in its beginning stages but it also gives an amazing amount of information that anyone can use today, right now to make their lives better. You've gotta read this book!