Deep dive
Expand and intensify your knowledge of colour with these resources which are (reasonably) free of the common misconceptions about colour
Arts & Design
Briggs, David J.C. 2007-2025. Colour Online
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Outstanding collection of about 500 colour-related links on topics comprising Basic Colour Attributes, The Physical Basis of Colour, Colour Vision, Light Mixing Processes, Colorants and Colorant Mixing, Colour Order Systems, Digital Colour Technology, Colour in Art and Design, History of Colour Studies, Colour Education and Further Information.
MacEvoy, B. 2000-2025. Handprint.
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This is the most complete online discussion of all aspects of colour science. Good explanations and illustrations, and very good discussion of many misconceptions. Not faultless but thought-inspiring. An extremely useful reference at advanced levels.
Myers, D. 2013-16. Color of Art Pigment Database.
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An Artist’s Paint and Pigment Reference with Color Index Names, Color Index Numbers and Chemical Composition
Sciences
Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIE), 2012-25 Online version of the International Lighting Vocabulary.
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The CIE International Lighting Vocabulary, first published in 1938 and revised periodically since then, gives definitions for more than 1400 terms and is by far the most comprehensive and authoritative source on the scientific terminology of light and colour. Although previously very expensive and limited in distribution, it is now freely available online.
Mollon, J. D. 2003. The origins of modern color science. From Shevell, S. (Ed) Color Science, Optical Society of America, Washington
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Excellent chapter on the history of colour science after Newton.
Veritasium. 2013. The Original Double Slit Experiment.
Renoult, J.P. and Valeur. B. 2016. The Colours of Life.
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Excellent overview of the colour chemistry and chromatic functions in our natural world.
Veritasium. 2024. What They (Probably) Don't Teach You About Rainbows At School.
Perception
Webster, M. Seeing Color Through Different Eyes - Individual Differences in Human Color Perception. (Lecture recording)
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Outstanding webinar on the basics of human colour vision, individual differences in how we see colour, and the Implications of these individual differences for colour discrimination and colour appearance.
Kitaoka, A. Akiyoshi's illusion pages
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Very extensive collection of original illusions by Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka, continually updated since 2002. Recent additions also include numerous images and videos of most major colorimetric colour spaces.
Eagleman, D. 2009. Synesthesia: Hearing Colours, Seeing Sounds.
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Part 1 of Lecture by neuroscientist David Eagleman, on the neuroscience, behaviour and genetics of synesthesia. Although the video is several years old, it still gives an excellent overview of synesthesia research.
Click to watch Part 2 of the lecture.
Philosophy
Maund, B., 2018. Color. (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy).
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Overview over philosophical schools/perspectives including the phenomenological one which is of importance for our approach.
Research Groups
University of Sussex, Synaesthesia research.
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“Synaesthesia is a joining together of sensations that are normally experienced separately. Studying synaesthesia may help us to understand how the brain segregates and integrates different sensations and thoughts.” Excellent site by one of the leading research teams in synaesthesia. Site includes an up to date FAQ about synaesthesia, links to talks and references, and an online test if you think you might be a synaesthete.
University College London, Colour Naming Experiment.
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“Colour Naming” is an online experiment designed to collect colour names in multiple languages with their corresponding colour ranges. Principal investigator: Dimitris Mylonas
University of Lausanne, Institute of Psychology, Colour Experience Lab.
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“We are a team of dedicated researchers who work on the description and causality of colour-affect relationships. The public domain provides numerous ideas how colour affects us, and how we could and should use colour to our psychological benefit. When digging into the research literature, we realised that empirical evidence for most claims in colour psychology is missing.”
University of Sussex, School of Psychology, Baby Lab.
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The Baby Lab, headed by Anna Franklin, is comprised of a team of researchers who aim to understand how babies and children see, think and learn about colour. Babies, children and parents are invited to visit the lab to take part in fun studies.
