What Your Computer's Color Says About You

I'm intensely interested in color and color preferences, and I've been wondering whether Apple's shift away from bright candy colors and toward more basic colors like white, gray, and metallic, denotes a shift in marketing demographic focus.

Personally, while I don't dislike bright colors in certain contexts, I was never a big fan of them for computers. I find that I tend to get jaded and bored with even bright colors that like, if I have to look at them continuously.

For example, I have a blueberry iMac USB keyboard that I use quite a bit, and I'm getting very tired of that color. I find the crystal clear plastic of the Apple Pro keyboard that shipped with my Cube much easier on the eyes, and I suspect that I will never get tired of it.

The only colorful colored computer left in Apple's lineup is the indigo iMac, a pretty safe choice, since blue is the favorite color of about two thirds of the population. Indigo is a relatively subdued shade of blue, and that should make it less likely to become tiresome over the long haul.

However, my favorite iMac is snow. I love white decor, which goes with everything, and unlike beige or other pastels, it never gets boring. White reflects all light rays and is consequently cooling and restful. White's main shortcoming is that it soils easily, but that has been taken care of with the iBook by having the white color painted onto the inside of the clear Lexan case, where it can't get grubby.

Graphite is nice, too, and should continue to appeal to its presumed target market - "serious" commercial or business users. The Power Mac G4 towers, of course, incorporate both white and graphite, as well as clear accents, which makes a very attractive combination.

I think that Apple is missing the boat a bit by not offering any black computers since the TiBook superseded the Pismo PowerBook. I like black, although I have never found the flat, charcoal-shaded black used on the PowerBook G3 Series especially fetching.

I would prefer a high gloss, jet black of the sort that would be obtainable by, say, using black rather than white paint on the inside of the clear Lexan case of the new iBook.

I always thought that the idea of an "8 Ball" iMac had merit, but if the world unfolds as expected, the current iMac form factor is likely now reaching the end of its run.

The code name chosen for the next PowerBook revamp, "Onyx," is very interesting, since onyx can refer to jet black (although strictly speaking, the mineral onyx is a form of chalcedony with alternating stripes). But since the TiBook is painted, a black version should be very easily doable, although one hopes that they will be able to deal with the issue of paint chipping and wearing off that has plagued some TiBook owners. Reportedly, Steve Jobs wanted the TiBook to be black all along, so this concept seems very plausible. I hope they will go for gloss black if they do it.

Color preferences are said to be an indicator of personality characteristics.

White

"White" people are, it is asserted, inclined to see themselves as very special and sort of above it all. Watching others with interest, they camouflage themselves to blend in with their surroundings. They tend to appear shy, but they are in fact very outspoken when given an opening. They are confident and assured in their self-awareness, feel they are right in their belief systems, and are not displeased when others acknowledge their beliefs as truth. Self-importance is integral to their personality but does not necessarily interfere with their higher motives; it can be both a positive or negative attribute depending upon the individual.

According to Taoist philosophy, a preference for white indicates a "metal" psyche. "Metal people" are fastidious perfectionists, discriminating masters of form and function who admire precise definition, structure, and discipline, as well as virtue, discretion, and authority. Their central desire is to live according to reason and principle, and they tend to be impatient with vagueness and intuition. The "metal person" holds both self and others to the highest of standards and has a weakness for aesthetic beauty, pomp and ceremony, form and order, and refinement. Metal's negative characteristics include tendencies to indifference and inhibition, and the metal person can easily become autocratic, gratuitously strict, persnickety, unnecessarily formal, distant and unnatural, and must guard against self-righteousness and disillusionment.

Metal's creative tensions are found in:

• wanting relationship - but needing distance
• knowing what is right - but accepting what is safe
• aspiring toward beauty - but settling for utility
• desiring joy - but fearing spontaneity
• admiring creativity and ingenuity - but being intolerant of disorder and dissonance.

The metal psyche's existential query is "What is right?" Its emotional addiction is to be right, and its spiritual fear is to be corrupt. Metal's desires and values are order, purity, reason, aesthetics, definition, simplicity, quality, correctness, high standards, and precision. Its fears and difficulties are intimacy, complexity, chaos, nonsense, spontaneity, carelessness, impropriety, intemperance, vagueness, and shapelessness.

Black

People who prefer black are considered to be above average achievers, worldly, conventional, proper, polite, and regal. Black is the color of dignity. "Black" people tend to be methodical folks who sweat the details, and, being somewhat obsessive-compulsive, they excel at painstaking jobs like accounting, tax auditing, or detective work. They always finish what they start and don't aspire to be leaders; they are diligent "fixers" who home in on the essence of problems and deal with them.

In personal traits, people who like black are self-contained and do not like to be touched. They erect barriers between themselves and others, keeping their strength hidden inside so that they can better protect their emotions, fearing that their sensitivity might be used to take advantage of them despite their desire to connect with the world around them.

For these people, black is a "comfort" color that makes them feel at ease and allows them to hide from world.

Attributes of black include negativity or the removal of negativity, outer space, the universe, night, fertility, wisdom, sadness, mourning, loss, death, discord, confusion, fear and evil. Black is the absence of color, absorbing all the light of the spectrum making it the polar opposite of white.

In oriental philosophy, the "water" psyche favors black, gray, and other dark colors.

Taoist theory describes "water people" as philosophical, nonconformist intellectuals whose passion is the relentless pursuit of truth. They tend to be imaginative, articulate, self-contained and self-sufficient, introspective, reflective, clever, penetrating, critical, and scrutinizing. The water psyche seeks knowledge and understanding, and prefers to remain hidden, enigmatic, and anonymous. Water's negative aspects include a disposition toward being distant, emotionally inaccessible, and undemonstrative. This reserve can lead to isolation and loneliness, tactlessness, unwillingness to forgive, and a suspicious - even paranoid - state of mind.

Water's creative tensions are:

• a yearning for truth - but a fear of exposure
• a craving for connection - but an intolerance of contact
• a desire to be squeezed - but a fear of being squashed
• wants to penetrate inside - but detests being absorbed
• enjoys being left alone - but dreads being abandoned.

The water psyche's existential query is "Where do I come from?" Its emotional addiction is to be protected, and its spiritual fear is of becoming extinct. Water's desires and values are solitude, mystery, continuity, originality, toughness, self-sufficiency, privacy, anonymity, caution, and conservation. It's fears and difficulties are sharing, rashness, vulnerability, ignorance, dishonesty, superficiality, trusting, faith, exposure, waste, and softness.

Blue

Blue signifies constancy and truth. It is the favorite color of 35% of the U.S. population. Blue is tender, soothing, cool, passive, secure and comfortable, inspiring calm, confidence and harmony, a sense of control and responsibility. and appeals to people who value credibility, authority, the basics, classicism, conservatism, strength, dependability, traditionalism, confidence, professionalism, sensitivity to others, trust and honor, responsibility, and who tend to have a perfectionist streak.

A strong sky-blue is considered to be the most soothing color of all, stimulating the brain to secrete eleven neurotransmitters that tranquilize and spread calmness to the entire body. Blue is also thought to slow down the pulse rate, deepen one's breathing, reduce perspiration, lower body temperature, eliminate the fight or flight response, and reduce appetite.

People who prefer blue are said to be deliberate and introspective with conservative convictions, inclined to retreat to safe surroundings in times of stress and sensitive to the feelings of others. They tend to be distrustful of others and carefully watch them. "Blue people" keep a tight lid on their own passions and enthusiasms, are loyal friends, and lead sober, orderly lives. They may cultivate imaginative fantasies, but they don't act them out. They are annoyed by stupidity and frivolousness in others, as well as superior intelligence. They wear their feelings on their shoulders, crying when they are happy or sad and thus leaving themselves wide open to others in contrast to the self-contained, inscrutable "black" people. Blue people are codependents who need others to feel as they do

Some attributes of blue are love, devotion, harmony. healing, peace, psychic ability, patience, happiness, sleep, twilight, and the sky.

In Taoist analysis, a preference for blue (or blue-green) denotes a "wood psyche." Wood individuals tend to be dynamic, practical, impatient achievers, pioneers and innovators who are determined to make things happen. The wood personality's strengths are clarity of vision, foresight, judgment, and decisiveness. "Wood people" seek challenge and push to the limit, enjoying pressure and working well under it, admiring speed, novelty, and skill, loving action, movement, and adventure, and liking to be first, best, and only. The negative side of the wood character profile includes tendencies toward intolerance and impatience, impulsiveness and volatile emotions, a weakness for addictions, and extremism - self-indulgence or self-punishment.

The inner creative tensions affecting "wood people" are that they:

• like to be in charge - but miss the companionship of equals
• love action and doing - but sometimes suffer from their impulsiveness
• tend to be legalistic - but like to break rules
• crave freedom - but have a need to strive and struggle
• feel invincible - but fear vulnerability and loss of control

The wood psyche's existential query is "What is the purpose?" its emotional addiction is to be aroused, and its spiritual fear is to be helpless. Wood's desires and values are: struggle, action, arousal, practicality, uniqueness, challenge, achievement , agility, interdependence, and contest. Wood's fears and difficulties are with: slowness, clumsiness, ambiguity, interference, authority, compromise, frustration, constancy, submitting, and confinement.

Beige

And what of beige, which mercifully hasn't been seen on a Mac since the blue & white G3 Yosemite tower superseded the first generation G3 desktops in January, 1998?

Some people actually like beige computers. Check out this Anchor Desk talkback thread on ZDNet where software Engineer K. John Hladky notes that:

This light brown, with just a hint of gray color was chosen because it is the exact color of (drumroll please...) DUST. That's right, computers are beige because nobody, (or in the early days - nobody's wife) wants a dusty old computer sitting around... So, bottom line is, I like my beige PC because it hides dust and keeps me out of trouble with my wife!

Right, John. That's mighty sporty of you.

However, John has a valid point if you're a utilitarian. Beige is light brown, which is considered to be environmentally sound, and offers a healthy ensphere or enclosure in which to work, play, sleep, and generally perform common metabolic functions, and is thought to influence the internal organs and mind positively as well as imparting a sense of security, dispelling mental depression; promoting synthesis of serotonin; reducing irritability, eliminating chronic fatigue; stimulating the formation of prostaglandins (hormone-like substances in the tissues and blood fluids); increasing levels of tryptophan (an essential amino acid) levels that positively influence sleep, migraine headaches, immunity and moods.

People who prefer beige tend to perform their duties conscientiously, are shrewd money managers, obstinate in their habits and convictions, and have a tendency toward thriftiness or parsimoniousness, depending on which spin you want to put on it. They value steadiness and dependability, dislike impulsiveness and are effective hagglers and shrewd bargainers.

Is it any wonder business people tend to prefer beige computers? ;-)

For more on color and color preferences, visit:

• http://www.pantone.com/index.asp?pn=pome
• http://www.healinghandssociety.com/color.html
• http://www.personal-ity.com/

If you are interested in learning more about personality analysis in Taoist philosophy, here are the resources I consulted in researching this article:

I am especially indebted to Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold, and their volume, Between Heaven and Earth: A GUI (Ballantine, 1992), for their comprehensive outline and analysis of the five personality archetypes (the other two are: "Fire"/Red); and "Earth"/Yellow-Ochre)

Other resources consulted were:

• Huang Ti Nei Ching Su Wen (The Yellow Emperor's Classic Of Internal Medicine - dates from waaaaay back), Tr. Ilza Veith, University of Chicago Press, 1966 (available from Amazon.com).
• Bruce Holbrook, The Stone Monkey: An Alternative, Chinese-Scientific, Reality. Out of print, but available used from Amazon.com.
• William Tara, "Macrobiotics and Human Behavior," Japan Publications Inc., 1984. Out of print.
• Bill Moyers, Healing And The Mind, Doubleday, 1993
• The Chronicles of Tao: The Secret Life of a Taoist Master, Deng Ming-Dao