Neutral Colour?
What is the ultimate neutral colour?
Black?
White?
Some might say that either of these represent an extreme, as in the classis yin/yang.
Grey? Generally seen as a very boring colour; but is boring = neutral? I certainly hope not for my sake! I suppose there is an argument for Grey on the basis that it represents the balance of black and white.
It is hard to move beyond these since all 'colourful' colours all conjure up some kind of feeling.
Perhaps the best way to look at it in the background of physics. What are colours? They are reflected refractions of light, right? White is the reflection of all spectrums, black is the reflection of none.
Black is effectively the abscence of white.
So what is more neutral, totality or nothingness?
In a strict sense, one would have to conclude that nothingness is the correct answer, since totality is a form of positive statement.
On the other hand, cannot a positive statement be neutral?
Ask someone else and see what the immediate reaction is. I just did. The answer I received immediately was White. Then came Green, on the basis of its calming effect.
Perhaps there is an argument for green, as being nature's colour. If nature is the highest neutral deity (as the Druids believed), then is its colour the neutral colour?
Conclusion:
The strict answer appears to be Black.
I like Green though.
It's interesting though isn't it? I mean Good is defined as Blue or White and Evil is defined usually as Red or Black. If one strikes a balance between these, one either gets Grey or Purple.
So what's the answer? Black, White, Grey, Purple or Green?
Black?
White?
Some might say that either of these represent an extreme, as in the classis yin/yang.
Grey? Generally seen as a very boring colour; but is boring = neutral? I certainly hope not for my sake! I suppose there is an argument for Grey on the basis that it represents the balance of black and white.
It is hard to move beyond these since all 'colourful' colours all conjure up some kind of feeling.
Perhaps the best way to look at it in the background of physics. What are colours? They are reflected refractions of light, right? White is the reflection of all spectrums, black is the reflection of none.
Black is effectively the abscence of white.
So what is more neutral, totality or nothingness?
In a strict sense, one would have to conclude that nothingness is the correct answer, since totality is a form of positive statement.
On the other hand, cannot a positive statement be neutral?
Ask someone else and see what the immediate reaction is. I just did. The answer I received immediately was White. Then came Green, on the basis of its calming effect.
Perhaps there is an argument for green, as being nature's colour. If nature is the highest neutral deity (as the Druids believed), then is its colour the neutral colour?
Conclusion:
The strict answer appears to be Black.
I like Green though.
It's interesting though isn't it? I mean Good is defined as Blue or White and Evil is defined usually as Red or Black. If one strikes a balance between these, one either gets Grey or Purple.
So what's the answer? Black, White, Grey, Purple or Green?
posted by Matt McGrath at 12:15 pm
8 Comments:
Hmmm, interesting.
Now my first instinct would be to agree that the most neutral colour would be green; after all, green is in the middle of the visible spectrum of light.
However this assumes that only visible things can be inately moral or immoral (hence tending to neutrality). So scrap that idea.
I suppose the next thing to consider is what a neutral colour is. By looking at a colour chart, neutral colours are created when one of the primary colours is mixed with its opposite colour on the chart.
In light the primary colours: red, blue and green when mixed together create white. Therefore in light, white is neutral
In paint, the primary colours: red, blue and yellow when mixed together create black. Therefore in paint, black must be neutral.
This is dissapointing as surely there cannot be two truly neutral colours.
One thing is for sure...mixing the two netrual colours will produce grey. But this most certainly is not neutral - with all of the conflicting neutrality in this mixture, grey must be the most un-neutral colour of the lot!
The fact that you depend on color to describe a way of life through neutrality describes the complete lack of understanding that you contain for the topic. Neutrality cannot be expressed through colors or shades. Why do you pretend to know the answers to these questions when you actually know nothing at all? I am amazed. Do not post back.
The fact that you depend on color to describe a way of life through neutrality describes the complete lack of understanding that you contain for the topic. Neutrality cannot be expressed through colors or shades. Why do you pretend to know the answers to these questions when you actually know nothing at all? I am amazed. Do not post back.
While I respect all of your opinions, you must understand that in trying to find a neutral color you are therefore only looking into a realm that is Material. I pose this question unto you; "What if we were all colorblind?" Then would there be a neutral color? Grey, perhaps?
No, there is no neutral color, on acount of the fact that color is an illusion. And what is an illusion, you ask? What defines reality? - There is no such thing as reality, therefore the entire point of this topic is pointless. I suggest creating a new topic - Where we go when we die. >=)
Mr Anonymous, if I want to post back I'll damn well do so. Many people would delete the trash you've splashed all over my site but some of it is interesting and I like to encourage all forms of sensible debate, even aggressive opinions. However, if you want to make a point you'd better be prepared to back it up and accept a reply to it. Anything else is bare cowardice.
Why can Neutrality not be expressed through colors or shades? I'm prepared to accept that you might be correct, but give me a proper reason.
Mr Alchemist, perhaps I begin to see the truth behind your name: the ability to transmute your personality to suit your purpose. I think I prefer this incarnation of you for its marginal ability to express itself.
Your observations are good (and I mean that as objectively as I am able).
I am interested as to the purpose in your comenting on my site if it is not real. Perhaps you could explain?
As for your topic suggestion, it is gratefully received and has been added to the list for the future. I shall credit you when it comes up.
From my experiences, and from the various sources that I've taken into consideration, I would say Orange is a fairly neutral color. Being essentially a lighter brown, orange is used in many corporate websites to generate a look that is pleasant to the eye, but still not passive.
Interesting article.
In the context of humans (or actually all creatures) the most neutral color should be the one which would have the 'retina' work least to produce the electrical information required for the brain to interpret that color. I do not consider Black and White as colors at ALL in analogy to mathematics where 0 and infinity are not treated as normal numbers. I have a feeling that Green would the color both based on its position in the spectrum and abundance in nature. (open to criticism)
I think that (at least in a medium like paint) if you combined the comlimentary contrasting colors together, they would neutralize each other, giving you neutral hues of which any variance of shade or tint would still be considered a neutral color.< i.e. BLUE w/ ORANGE, YELLOW rystafarianw/PURPLE, or RED w/ GREEN, including adding any amount of white or black to it.
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