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H ow well do we really see color?

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Gary Smith Sep 27, 2013

Color descriptions exist rarely in ancient text across many cultures, but the first color a civilization developed a word for was red. The last? Blue. Homer, for example, never mentions the blue in The Iliad or The Aeneid, instead calling things like the sea “wine-dark.” Nor are there mentions of the color of the sky – the most obvious example of blue in the natural world (and no, the ancient Greeks were not color blind). In fact, the way that we see color as a species has not only changed over the course of history, today it varies greatly from individual to individual.

Word is that one in 12 men and one in 255 women have some amount of deficiency in their color vision. Consider how important color is in just about every day-to-day aspect of our lives – like driving, getting dressed, or perhaps designing fabulous websites. Maybe the color you’re see isn’t what you think it is, and that the sea is actually “wine-dark.”

But let’s put it to a test. Think you’re an expert? Take the X-Rite color test and let us know what your “color IQ” is in the comments below!color-quizWe don’t want to brag (too much), but our score came out pretty sharp on the spectrum – and as designers, that was something of a relief. At Zbra Studios, we believe in sharp, stand-out designs, that use just the right amount of color.

But don’t simply take our word for it – check out our design portfolio!


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