Pick a colour: G . F Smith searches for the world’s favourite shade

Name, age, favourite colour – the vital statistics of the average six year-old. 

Colour is one of the key conversation topics for children. But as we get older, something changes; we don’t talk about colour in the same way. Not that we’d suggest that adulthood is some sort of inexorable shift into greyscale joylessness, but:

“Hi, I’m Bryan, I’m a 36-year-old logistics manager from Southport and my favourite colour is fuchsia.”

… just doesn’t happen.

Which is a shame, as our favourite colour is something most of carry with us throughout our lives. Even after we’ve stopped talking about it, our colour preference still influences our moods and decisions, whether that’s choosing an artwork, picking what to have for lunch, or even selecting our partners, as we may be – at least in part – subconsciously responding to the shades in which they dress.

Past research into colour preference, such as that carried out with 4,000 attendees of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, has suggested that blue generally holds the most widespread appeal (which is likely why it’s the most popular colour for corporate brands seeking to inspire trust). The Sussex Colour Group, based in the psychology school at the University of Sussex, posits that the sparsity of blue in the natural world (aside from the sea and the sky) goes some way to explaining the preference (as humans, we prize rarity), but is that dictated by nature or nurture? And is it still true today?

G . F Smith is setting out to answer those questions. As Britain’s leading supplier of specialist papers and inventors of the iconic Colorplan range, they have a professional interest in finding the world’s favourite colour, which is why, over the next three months, they’re conducting a global research project dedicated to discovering exactly what it is.

Via worldsfavouritecolour.com, people around the world are being invited to share their favourite colour from now until the end of March, taking part in one of the most ambitious and wide-ranging research projects into colour preference ever conducted.

With the help of design futures agency and colour experts FranklinTill, G . F Smith is looking to explore other fascinating aspects of the psychology of colour – including the shades we universally dislike (mucus green, according to previous studies) – and consider the emotional, biological, evolutionary, nostalgic and aesthetic sensibilities that might shape it.

There are a million and one online articles promising to assess your personality based on your pet colours (‘You like red? You’re an energetic extrovert with a bit of a temper. More fond of blue? You’re calm and reflective, like the sea. You love brown? You’re … hang on, you love brown?! What’s wrong with you?’). All of this is cobblers, of course, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t insights to be gleaned from the colour choices people make when they’re put on the spot.

For example, are there big-data patterns in colour preference? Are people of a certain age or gender more likely drawn to a particular spectrum of shades? Does the popularity of specific colours shift between different countries or cultures? Is there a link between what colour a person likes and how decisive they are? Does anyone actually like brown?

At the end of the project, G . F Smith will be in a position not only to reveal the colour that captures the spirit of the age, but also to paint a picture of how colour preference might shift across different demographics, whether there is any correlation between climate and colour (do hotter countries prefer warmer shades?), or – based on response time – to determine whether more decisive people prefer bolder tones.

The winning shade will be announced in July at the ‘Paper City’ exhibition in Hull during its City of Culture 2017 celebrations. Whatever the colour is, it will also become the 51st shade of Colorplan and be named after the person who chooses the colour closest to the winner. So if it turns out to be fuchsia, there’s every chance the world’s favourite colour could be Bryan…