Color associations for Hong Kong Chinese

Abstract Population stereotypes for color were tested with 117 Hong Kong Chinese subjects. They were asked to associate ten colors and sixteen concepts. Chi-square tests demonstrated significant color associations for all sixteen concepts. Although significant associations were demonstrated, they were not as strong as those found for Yunnan Chinese and US subjects obtained in previous studies. The three primary colors red, green, and blue had six, three, and one significant associations, respectively. The strongest associations found were red and stop (66.4%), red and danger (63.0%), and green and go (62.6%) which are associations that coincide with daily experiences of the subjects. Red had the highest percentage associations with six out of the sixteen concepts tested, viz. potential hazard, danger, radiation hazard, caution, stop, and strong, indicating that for Hong Kong Chinese there was no clear differentiation between caution and danger, and different types of hazards. Consensus between Chinese and US subjects was found for color associations with the concepts of safe, danger, go and stop. For the concept on, both green and red were highly associated. Some other differences for color associations were found between Hong Kong Chinese and other populations. Relevance to the industry The nonconformity of the choice of colors with international standards and the divergence found in this experiment suggested that ergonomists and industrial designers must be prudent on equipment and facilities designed for the Chinese with appropriate research on applications of color associations.