Article Summary:
Faber Birren was an American color theorist who studied how hues affect human perception and performance. Based on research by Birren, light green walls were found to reduce eye strain, improve focus, and create a calming environment for workers in high-stakes industrial settings. These recommendations were widely adopted in factories, nuclear plants, and other control rooms during the mid-20th-century, making seafoam green a standard in industrial design.
With the increase in wartime production in the US during WWII, Birren and DuPont [Company] created a master color safety code for the industrial plant industry, with the aim of reducing accidents and increasing efficiency within plants. These color codes were approved by the National Safety Council in 1944 and are now internationally recognized, having been mandatory practice since 1948. – Beth Mathews
The importance of color in factories is first to control brightness in the general field of view for an efficient seeing condition. Interiors can then be conditioned for emotional pleasure and interest, using warm, cool, or luminois hues as working conditions suggest. Color should be functional and not merely decorative. – Faber Birren
Read Here (Source: Beth Mathews Substack)