Information About The Aura Color Test

This test is based on the color test designed by Dr. Max Luscher, and on the research by Faber Birren who pioneered the field of color psychology. This test examines the information provided by the test taker and their choices of accepting and rejecting the various colors. It is able to provide a quick psychological insight of their personality, characteristics, and gifts.

Dr. Max Luscher was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1923. He graduated from the University of Basel and went on to continue studying at Stockholm and Paris. With his education completed, he returned to his alma mater as a professor of psychology.

After Dr. Luscher first presented his color test at an international medical conference in Lausanne, attention and popularity in the test began to skyrocket. The test has been and is currently studied and used throughout the world by psychologists and physicians. The test is also used by industry for screening job applicants. Pharmaceutical, packaging, flooring, advertising, and architecture companies have employed Dr. Luscher as a color consultant. Dr. Luscher and the color test have made many contributions to society.

Faber Birren has also served as a color consultant to government, education, armed forces, architecture, industry, and commerce. After graduating high school in 1918, Birren went on to attend classes in life drawing and painting at the Art Institute of Chicago.

According to the U.S. Army Service Forces, by using a safety color code devised by Birren in their industrial plants that built various items for war, the government plants were able to cut their accident frequencies from 46.14 to 5.58 per thousand. That is just one of the many contributions Faber Birren has made to society with his research in color psychology.

Additional Information: Color Systems

There are two different color systems that are used today. The first color system is in regard to light where the “additive” primary colors are red, green, and blue. A primary color is a color that is in its purest form and cannot be produced by mixing other colors. This method of mixing colors is based on the assumption that you are always starting with black, meaning that there are not any other colors present, and that you can add these three colors together to produce any color. Adding the colors of red and blue together would produce the color of magenta.

The second color system is in regard to inks or paints. The “subtractive” primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow. In the subtractive method of mixing color, it is assumed that you are always starting with white. White, of course, is a combination of all colors; therefore all colors are present in equal amounts. If you subtract magenta and yellow from white, the result would be the color of cyan. In a red image, subtracting yellow would result in the image changing to the color of magenta. Subtracting all colors would produce the color of black.

The reason this method is called “subtractive” even when you are mixing or adding colors together is because what is technically transpiring is a subtraction of colors to produce one color. For example, mixing magenta and yellow together produces red. Magenta “subtracts” the green color from the light and yellow “subtracts” the blue color from the light. Therefore, the mixture of magenta and yellow subtracts both green and blue light respectively, so that the only color remaining is that we are able to see is red.

There is a connection between the three “subtractive” primary colors of inks and paints and the three “additive” Primary colors of light. When any two “subtractive” primary colors are combined, it produces one “additive” primary color. In contrast, when any two “additive” primary colors are combined, it produces one “subtractive” primary color. This connection has led to discoveries and advancements in photography, movies, and printing.