How Big is Dark?

Abstract

Common beliefs of designers and others relate surface colors to their perceived distances and thus to room size. Specifically, it is believed that higher reflectance (lighter) colors appear farther away and as walls make rooms appear larger. It is believed that “cool” colors (blues and greens) appear farther away than “warm” colors (reds and yellows) and as walls make rooms appear larger. While not a commonplace hypothesis, there is a further prediction that the less the saturation, the less distant a cool colored surface would appear and the less close a warm colored surface.

Eleven experiments covering the past 60 years were found testing these hypotheses. With the exception of two recent Army studies these results were inconclusive due to several factors. The three dimensions of color-reflectance (“value”), hue (“color”) and saturation (“chroma”) were frequently confounded. Small sample sizes and the absence of significance tests were common. Effects found were sometimes small. Tasks unrelated to interiors were generally used.

In this experiment subjects judged the size and distance of human figures in a scale model room. Control was made of the three color dimensions. Statistically significant effects were found supporting all hypotheses. While testing in full-scale rooms would be desirable, this study suggest that these effects may be useful tools of the designer.