Does staring out the window help you think? Maybe it’s because the vast, blue sky gives your mind room to play. Or maybe it’s biochemical. According to a recent study published in the journal Science, the color red can make people’s work more accurate, but blue can make people more creative.

The study had students perform cognitive tests, such as completing tasks on computer screens with red, blue or neutral backgrounds. Participants seemed to do better on detail-oriented tasks (such as memorizing a list of words) while looking at red backgrounds and better on creative tasks (such as thinking of creative uses of a brick) while looking at blue backgrounds. This may be why warnings are typically done in red. Maybe it re-orients our brains to pay attention to important details. When students rated ads, those who saw red backgrounds tended to focus on what to avoid (favoring toothpaste that stressed cavity-fighting over whitening) while those who saw blue backgrounds focused on creativity (favoring a camera that showed travel images over one that touted its zoom lens). Other studies have also indicated that color can affect performance, but the results are still a little hazy to say anything definitively.

One part of the study makes me a bit skeptical. To measure creativity, a panel of judges looked at each group’s “creative” ideas (uses of a brick). Even though each group came up with the same number of ideas, judges rated the blue group’s responses as more creative. For example, the red group tended to list practical things such as “build a house,” while the blue group offered more creative ideas such as “make a paperweight” or “build a pet scratching post.” I’m sure this was done blind (the judges didn’t know which group was which color), but any time you introduce subjective judgement into the process the less reliable the results are. Also, the same color can symbolize different things in different cultures. So the phenomenon may be learned rather than instinctual. Finally, the study didn’t take into account the brightness and intensity of the colors.

Will it work for you? Give it a try. Change your computer background color depending on whether you’re brainstorming or proofreading. Use a blue room for brainstorming sessions. Or use colored paper depending on the task. See if it helps. I’ll give it a shot, too. Let me know your experiences.

See the articles for more…

Reinvent Wheel? Blue Room. Defusing a Bomb? Red Room.
NY Times, Feb. 5, 2009

The psychology of color: Study suggests blue sparks brain creativity, red’s for details
Associated Press, Feb. 5, 2009

Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances
Science, Feb. 5, 2009