COLOR PREFERENCE APPLYING TO PATIENTS AND COLOR DESIGN AT HOSPITAL

Colour-physiological studies involving volunteers and colour-psycholog ical interviewing of patients with varied diagnoses revealed that, cur rently, no compelling scientific reasons can be given for coloration i n the hospital. Interviewing 68 patients from a number of clinics on t he coloration of sick-rooms yielded the following preferred colours, i rrespective of the patients' classing into groups by various criteria: Light colours were consistently preferred for all objects such as cei ling, walls, floor, curtains, furniture, and bed linen. It should be e mphasized that even white was a desirable colour for ceilings and bed linen. Beige was found to rank first for walls, floors,curtains, and f urniture, whereas the colours of wood and grey shared the second rank for floors and furniture. Green and pink ranked second for bed linen. White and green ranked second for walls and curtains, respectively. In view of the heterogeneity, the findings may not be converted into an absolute just as the recommendations by other workers. Still, the pati ents' wish should be given priority over decreed recommendations by ex perts when basic considerations of illumination (reflectance!) are all owed for in the particular overall colour design project.