A splash of green for the world over

Project coordinator at UNESCO City of Design, Annie Marrs writes about the impact of colour on our day-to-day lives

When you think about winning a competition, I’d imagine that most folk would be hoping to scoop something like Euromillions, or one of those round the world airplane tickets, a brand new car or a year’s supply of one of your favourite products – something that would make a bit of a difference to your life.

Yet, for me my big success is being lucky enough to have picked the world’s favourite colour.

Colour is something that is hugely personal. We all have our favourite and that comes across in our daily lives.

It often influences what we choose to wear, the colours we decorate our homes in and even the colour of our car.

Asking someone what colour they like most comes with an expected response. Choose from the drop-down menu of standard online security questions and “what’s your favourite colour?” will be in there somewhere.

I would doubt that there are many people who can’t answer that question quickly and while we might have a family of colours that we enjoy above others – there will always be one which tops them all.

The World’s Favourite Colour competition was run during the first six months of 2017 by the Hull City of Culture campaign and Hull-based paper makers, G. F Smith.

It was a global contest delivered online but it is not the first time a survey to find our favourite colour has taken place.

In 2015, a YouGov survey presented the result that blue was the world’s most popular colour – although it didn’t specify which.

There’s fair difference between a royal blue, a sky blue and duck-egg blue.

But according to the world’s expert on colour preferences Steve Palmer, who is based in California, choices are usually associated with things we prefer.

Research shows that positive emotional experiences with a particular colour are likely to increase our chances of developing a preference for that shade.

Affection for a colour can also be influenced by social and cultural factors.

For instance, if we have a red front door and enjoy being at home then we are likely to develop an affinity to red because of what it means to us to return at the end of a long day.

This affinity is also something we see through engagement by sports fans, perhaps in the form of a national flag or a local team scarf.

And of course that works the other way – negative experiences directly linked with a colour can put us off.

I won’t be painting my home in the drab yellowy-beige of school room walls, or the clinical mint green of a hospital waiting room any time soon.

So is it any wonder that a colour which evokes bright, sunny days beside the water comes out on top?

For me, Marrs Green, the world’s favourite colour, is that deep green/blue tone which you see when you stare into the sea or gaze out over a loch.

It’s calming while also being bright and full of an energy that’s just waiting to be released.

I feel lucky to live in a part of the world that’s surrounded by stunning landscape, vast skies and wide stretches of water.

Although there is the odd day where it feels as though it would have been appropriate to have chosen grey as my favourite colour…