On the IS&T SPIE Electronic Imaging conference (EI 2015), Kyungah Choi presented her recent cross-cultural study between Asians and Europeans with regard to the preference for CCT of mobile displays. For the user test, she recruited 20 west Europeans and 30 Koreans and ask them to assess their preference for the various white balances under varying illuminants. Based on the ratings, she identified the relationship between the CCT of ambient lighting and that of mobile display, and derived a formulae. As known to many people, indeed, Europeans’ preference for white was always lower than Koreans’. The paper is entitled, “A Comparative Study of Psychophysical Judgment of Color Reproductions on Mobile Displays between Europeans and Asians”, and as usually, the conference took place in San Francisco.
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in the psychophysical judgment of mobile display color appearances between Europeans and Asians. A total of 50 participants, comprising 20 Europeans (9 French, 6 Swedish, 3 Norwegians, and 2 Germans) and 30 Asians (30 Koreans) participated in this experiment. A total of 18 display stimuli with different correlated color temperatures were presented, varying from 2,470 to 18,330 K. Each stimulus was viewed under 11 illuminants ranging from 2,530 to 19,760 K, while their illuminance was consistent around 500 lux. The subjects were asked to assess the optimal level of the display stimuli under different illuminants. In general, confirming the previous studies on color reproduction, we found a positive correlation in the correlated color temperatures between the illuminants and optimal displays. However, Europeans preferred a lower color temperature compared to Asians along the entire range of the illuminants. Two regression equations were derived to predict the optimal display color temperature (y) under varying illuminants (x) as follows: y = α + β*log(x), where α = -8770.37 and β = 4279.29 for European (R2 = 0.95, p < .05), and α = -16076.35 and β = 6388.41 for Asian (R2 = 0.85, p < .05). The findings provide the theoretical basis from which manufacturers can take a cultural-sensitive approach to enhancing their products’ appeal in the global markets.
