The meanings of colour: preferences among hues

Colour preferences have both scientific significance and relevance to manufacturers. Despite claims that these preferences are unsystematic and that saturation and brightness exert more influence on judgements than hue, a substantial body of research suggests that the rank order of preference for hues ‐ blue, red, green, violet, orange, yellow ‐ emerges with some degree of consistency and, in particular, blue is regularly preferred to other hues. Five explanations of this trend are considered: preferences are simply conventional; blue is more neutral and less susceptible to extremes of judgement than other hues; preference for blue is a by‐product of more general principles; blue has largely positive associations; blue has an evolutionary significance. It is proposed that further investigation of the connotations of hues will provide insight into the pattern of colour preferences.