Impact of blackness preference and perception on product design

This study investigates our perception of, and preference
for, blackness and specifically explores the influence of
different cultural backgrounds (notably nationality and
gender). Despite black being an important colour it has
been studied relatively little compared with, for example,
whiteness. Two major questions were considered: whether
observers prefer one black to another (blackness preference); and whether observers consider one black sample
to be blacker than another (blackness perception).
Psychophysical experiments were carried out using paired
comparison and ranking methods for male and female observers
from UK and China. Blackness perception was found to be invariant to the cultural background of the observer. Whereas the cultural effect was found for the blackness
preference results. Male observers preferred darker blacks
with a greenish-blue hue whereas female observers preferred
lighter blacks with a reddish-blue hue. Differences between
the nationality groups were a little less pronounced but
Chinese observers (like females) preferred lighter reddish-blue blacks whereas UK observers (like males) preferred
darker greenish-­blue blacks.
These results are potentially very valuable to designers
who may wish to select a black for a product that will be
most preferred. This work suggests that different blacks
may be optimal for products intended for a mainly male or
female audience. However, to what extent can the results
from a psychophysical study carried out using abstract coloured squares displayed on a computer be extended to the
very practical problem of product design where context may
be powerful? This is the third question that was addressed
in this thesis. An iPhone product was simulated on-screen
using 3-D software and where the colour was varied. Observers were again asked about their blackness preference
and perception. The results from the simulation study were
almost entirely consistent with those from the earlier work
which suggests that the findings from this thesis might have
wide applicability to design.