Being Black and White About Color – Berto

Being Black and White About Color – Berto

Color plays a vitally important role in the world in which we live. Color can sway thinking, change actions, and cause reactions. It can irritate or soothe your eyes, raise your blood pressure or suppress your appetite. When used in the right ways, color can even save on energy consumption. Not everybody will react the same way to the same color.

Many from the 1960s and 1970s can remember the first time they saw color TV. Many grew up in a world with black and white television that would take up to a minute for the picture to emerge after you switched it on.

On October 7, 1974, Australians (where cartoonist Berto was a resident at the time) saw the first color test patterns being broadcast on their televisions. Five months later, color television was launched. My popular show was The Saint starring a very youthful Roger Moore (pictured). The first color TV was mostly seen through shop window displays that revealed a very colorful action sequence for the actor who would become a famous James Bond star.

To a certain extent, it was a black and white world for those growing up in the 1960s and 1970s despite many having a very colorful childhood.

Could you imagine world with no color? I am not sure about you, but when many select food in a restaurant color plays a very important part in the choices they make. How many choices do we make because color is involved?

Yet the scientists among us would hasten to tell us there is no color in the world!

Truly, color is the result of light bouncing off an object or being absorbed into it. So, if you see the color green, you are actually seeing an object that absorbs every color while green is reflected. My perception of red, them nay be very different to yours. Did you know that black occurs when every color is absorbed, while white is when no color is absorbed?

Does this mean that color is just an illusion?

Some are saying that color is still too expensive and unnecceassy in the office when it comes to hardcopy. Digitally it works. But the quest for hardcopy color may be diminishing. Berto pokes some fun at this in this month’s cartoon. Color your business and your world. Enjoy!