World of colour emotion: about this website

Biography: Li-Chen Ou

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Department of Colour & Polymer Chemistry Li-Chen Ou is a Research Fellow at the Department of Colour Science, University of Leeds, UK. He has developed a number of quantitative models for colour semantics, colour harmony and colour preference using psychophysical methods.

Education

2004 PhD (Colour & Imaging Science), Colour & Imaging Institute, University of Derby, UK. Thesis title: “Quantification of Colour Emotion and Colour Harmony”.

1997 MA (First Class in Design), Institute of Applied Arts, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. Thesis title: “Influences of Colour Interval and Area Factor on Colour Harmony”.

1995 BEng (Industrial Design), Department of Industrial Design, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan.

Qualification

2007 Applied Colour Psychology of the Society of Dyers and Colourists , UK.

Memberships

Since 2008, Member, Design Research Society: Special Interest Group on Design for Health and Wellbeing
Since 2004, Member, Colour Group (Great Britain)
Since 2001, Member, Design Research Society

Area of Interests

Colour emotion; colour harmony; image emotion; affective design; user experience design.

Click here to see my design work.

Industrial Projects

2008-present, “Affective Quality for Digital Images”, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard Company, US. See press release here.

2007-present, “Development of Colour Design Tool”, sponsored by DTC Systems (HK) Ltd., China.

2007, “Colour and Performance in Football and Business”, sponsored by E.ON, UK.

2005-2007, “Benjamin Moore Colour Communication System”, sponsored by Benjamin Moore & Co., USA.

2004-2005, “Colour Selection Methods for Interior Painting”, sponsored by Benjamin Moore & Co., USA.

2003-2004, “A Cross-cultural Study on Colour Emotion and Colour Harmony in Association with the Ultra-colour System”, sponsored by Oki Printing Solutions (Europe), UK.

2001-2002, “Verification of the Ultra-colour System”, sponsored by Colour Affects, UK.

Research Supervision

PhD

Joohee Jun (since 2007), Quantification of colour and image emotions.
Shuo-Ting Wei (since 2006), Affective effects of colour and imaging on packaging design.

MSc (by research)

Wenwen Song (since 2007), Colour semantics for logo design in the UK and Japan.
Jing Wang (since 2007), Colour semantics and personality in fashion design.
Kai-Ping Chang (2006-2007), Effects of texture on colour semantics and harmony.

BSc (final year projects)

Joanne Bainbridge (since 2008), Colour emotion and harmony for webpage designs.
Sarah Crownshaw (since 2008), Effects of texture on semantic meanings for coloured fabrics.
Mingyu Zhang (2007-2008), A colour-personality study based on seasonal theories.
Xingmei Wang (2005-2006), Effects of spatial configuration on colour semantics and harmony.

Journal Refereeing

Since 2008, Lighting Research and Technology
Since 2008, Psychological Report: Perceptual & Motor Skills
Since 2007, Colour: Design & Creativity
Since 2005, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Since 2004, Color Research and Application

Publications

a) Refereed Journals

Lee, W., Luo, M. R. and Ou, L., Assessing the affective feelings of two- and three-dimensional objects, Color Research and Application, in press (2008).

Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., A colour harmony model for two-colour combinations, Color Research and Application 31, 191-204 (2006).

Rhodes, P. A. and Ou, L., 3-D representation of colour space, Surface Coatings International Part A, 172-174 (2006).

Ou, L., Luo, M. R., Woodcock, A. and Wright, A., A study of colour emotion and colour preference, Part I: colour emotions for single colours, Color Research and Application 29, 232-240 (2004).

Ou, L., Luo, M. R., Woodcock, A. and Wright, A., A study of colour emotion and colour preference, Part II: colour emotions for two-colour combinations, Color Research and Application 29, 292-298 (2004).

Ou, L., Luo, M. R., Woodcock, A. and Wright, A., A study of colour emotion and colour preference, Part III: colour preference modelling, Color Research and Application 29, 381-389 (2004).

Chuang, M. and Ou, L., Influence of a holistic colour interval on colour harmony, Color Research and Application 26, 29-39 (2001).

b) Conference Proceedings

Ou, L., Song, W., Yuan, Y., Luo, M. R., Ide, F. and Sato, T., Logo colours for leading companies in the UK and Japan, Proceedings of Design & Emotion Conference, Hong Kong, China, on CD (2008).

Ou, L., Luo, M. R. and Cui, G., A colour design tool based on empirical studies, Proceedings of Design Research Society (DRS) International Conference, Sheffield, UK, on CD (2008).

Wei, S., Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Colour design for carton-packed fruit juice packages, Proceedings of Design Research Society (DRS) International Conference, Sheffield, UK, on CD (2008).

Wei, S., Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Impacts of package colours on consumers’ preferences in image colour, contrast and sharpness: taking orange juice packaging design as an example, Proceedings of IS&T's Fourth European Conference on Colour in Graphics, Imaging and Vision (CGIV), Barcelona, Spain, on CD (2008).

Wei, S., Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., The associations between package colour and consumer expectations: taking orange juice package design as an example, Proceedings of Interim Meeting of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Stockholm, Swedem, on CD (2008).

Chang, K., Ou, L., Luo, M. R. and Best, J., Impacts of texture on colour emotion and harmony for combinations of textile samples, Proceedings of Interim Meeting of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Stockholm, Swedem, on CD (2008).

Ou, L., Yuan, Y. and Luo, M. R., Logo colours for leading British companies, Proceedings of Interim Meeting of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Stockholm, Swedem, on CD (2008).

Wei, S., Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Package colour and consumer expectations, Proceedings of the International Conference on Kansei Engineering and Emotion Research, Sapporo, Japan, I-10 (2007).

Chang, K., Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., The impact of texture on colour emotion, Proceedings of the International Conference on Kansei Engineering and Emotion Research, Sapporo, Japan, F-14 (2007).

Wang, X., Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Colour emotion and area proportion, Proceedings of Mid-term Meeting of the AIC, Hangzhou, China, 33-36 (2007).

Wang, X., Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Influence of area proportion on colour harmony, Proceedings of International Conference on Colour Harmony, Budapest, Hungary, on CD (2007).

Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Psychophysical models for colour planning, Proceedings of International Design Congress – IASDR 2005, Yunlin, Taiwan, on CD (2005).

Iwase, M., Luo, M. R., Hong, G., Ou, L. and Han B., The relationship between emotions and coloured sport shirts under different background conditions, Proceedings of the 10th Congress of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Granada, Spain, 1359-1362 (2005).

Ou, L., Luo, M. R., Cui, G., Woodcock, A., Billger, M., Stahre, B., Huertas, R., Tremeau, A., Dinet, E., Richter, K. and Guan, S., The effect of culture on colour emotion and preference, Proceedings of the 10th Congress of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Granada, Spain, 259-262 (2005).

Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., A new approach to colour psychology, Proceedings of the 10th Congress of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Granada, Spain, 1347-1350 (2005).

Ou, L., Luo, M. R., Wright, A., Cui, G., Woodcock, A., Billger, M., Huertas, R. and Tremeau, A., A cross-cultural study on colour emotion and colour harmony, Proceedings of Design Research Society (DRS) International Conference, Melbourne, Australia, on CD (2004).

Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Colour emotions for real objects, Proceedings of Design Research Society (DRS) International Conference, Melbourne, Australia, on CD (2004).

Ou, L., Luo, M. R., Cui, G., Woodcock, A., Guan, S. and Tung, D., Influence of different cultures and display media on colour emotions. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Design and Emotion, Ankara, Turkey, on CD (2004).

Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., A study of colour harmony for two-colour combinations, Proceedings of the 6th Asian Design International Conference, Tsukuba, Japan, on CD (2003).

Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Factors affecting colour harmony for two-colour combinations, Proceedings of Mid-term Meeting of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Bangkok, Thailand, 379-382 (2003).

Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Colour emotion and colour preference for single colours, Proceedings of International Conference on Colour Emotion Research and Application, Bangkok, Thailand, 45-49 (2002).

Ou, L. and Luo, M. R., Colour preference and colour emotion, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Design and Emotion, Loughborough, UK, 185-189 (2002).

Ou, L. and Chuang, M., A study on the influences of colour interval and area factor on colour harmony, Proceedings of the 8th Congress of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Kyoto, Japan, 691-694 (1997).

Chuang, M. and Ou, L., A study on the influence of colour to area perception on a CRT display, Proceedings of the 8th Congress of the Association Internationale de la Coleur (AIC), Kyoto, Japan, 147-150 (1997).

Colour & Imaging Institute

Li-Chen Ou completed his PhD programme at the former Colour & Imaging Institute (CII), a leading research institution in Europe for studies of colour and imaging science. In spring 2004, its main research group moved to the University of Leeds and joined the Department of Colour Science. This research group is now known as the Colour & Imaging Group.

View a QTVR of the former CII lawn: