The Blue/Black, White/Gold dress

You may have heard about the recent sensation of the Blue/Black, White/Gold dress that has been circulating the internet recently. The dress image, which is shown below, has many people questioning the color. Some people see the dress as blue and black, while others see it as white and gold, and a few individuals see the dress as blue and orange or blue and brown. (The actual color of the dress is blue and black.)

The reason why the masses see it in so many different colors has to do with how our brains have evolved to see color while filtering out the illumination of light. For example, objects outside have different shades of color in noon and at sunset due to different illuminations of the light. However, we still see the same colors because our brain has learned how to filter this light.

When it comes to LED screens our brains have not had the many generations of evolution to figure out exactly which light filter to use in order to interpret the correct color of what we are seeing. So when one person sees white and gold, it is because their brain is filtering the light differently than someone who sees it as blue and black.

It’s interesting to ask friends and family what colors they see, and it goes to note the importance of using actual swatches when making purchases of colored materials and not just going by what you see on the screen.