So you’ve been publishing for print and the Web for years now and you think you’re pretty hot stuff, don’t you? You know the human visual system can perceive many more colors than can be reproduced in the printing process, and that RGB has a larger gamut than CMYK. Sure, you know the difference between spot color and process color, how to convert RGB to CMYK, and how to choose the best palette for GIF images destined for the Web. But all of that’s child’s play — kid stuff — compared to some of the color trivia questions shared by some of the world’s leading color experts at a color imaging conference last month.
Picture this: a generic hotel conference room populated with a couple hundred of the world’s preeminent color researchers, engineers, and academicians. You know the types — mostly men, the occasional pocket protector. It’s the eighth annual Color Imaging Conference of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) and the Society for Information Display (SID), and tonight they’re being entertained by an AV presentation entitled “Is That Your Final Color?”
Co-authored and presented by Nathan Moroney of HP Labs (see below for additional game-show credits*) the show was far more amusing — and challenging — than the real “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” on which it’s based. It consisted of four rounds of 15 questions that became progressively more difficult and earned a volunteer from the audience a progressively smaller delta E. (Y’all know what that is, don’t you? If not, click here.)
So now imagine you’re sitting in the hot seat, the spotlight is burning down on you, and you’re making small talk with Regis, who’s wearing one of his dapper dark shirts and iridescent ties (very monochromatic for such a colorful event, don’t you think?). You know the rules, you’ve got your three lifelines: ask the audience, 50/50, phone a friend. Let’s play! (Link to answers below.)
- For 50 delta E:
What percent of pencils are yellow?
A: 90%
B: 75%
C: 50%
D: 33%
- For 40 delta E:
What U.S. state name can be translated as “blue mountains”?
A: Kentucky
B: Tennessee
C: Massachusetts
D: Nebraska
- For 35 delta E:
How is the following color spelled?
A: Fushcia
B: Fuschia
C: Fushia
D: Fuchsia
- For 30 delta E:
As of 1999, how many U.S. presidents have had blue or blue-gray eyes?
A: 39 out of 41
B: 26 out of 41
C: 19 out of 41
D: 12 out of 41
- For 25 delta E:
Who said, “Like whiteness, justice has no degrees”?
A: Dante
B: Paul Hubel
C: Graham Finlayson
D: R. W. G. Hunt
- For 20 delta E:
What color is the encoded by this HTML: #3366CC?
A: Yellow
B: Lavender
C: Peach
D: Blue
- For 15 delta E:
What does lobster blood contain that makes it blue?
A: Copper
B: Anthocyanins
C: Silicate
D: Phycoerythrin
- For 10 delta E:
Elvis had most of the rooms at Graceland painted what color?
A: White
B: Blue
C: Red
D: Brown
- For 5 delta E:
Which colors were in Frank Lloyd Wright’s palette for Taliesin West’s facades?
A: Brown and white
B: Orange and brown
C: Brown and pink
D: Pink and orange
- For 4 delta E:
Auburn comes from the Latin word “albus,” which can be translated as:
A: Brown
B: White
C: Orange
D: Red
- For 3 delta E:
Which of the following is not a blue animal?
A: Merry blue terriers
B: Blue tang
C: Blue-tongued skink
D: Blue-throat pikeblenny
- For 2 delta E:
Blue M & M candies were introduced in 1995. Which color did they replace?
A: Purple
B: Orange
C: Pink
D: Tan
- For 1 delta E:
What color is unlucky to use for signatures in Korea?
A: Black
B: Red
C: Green
D: Yellow
- For 0.5 delta E:
What colors did Aristotle list in the rainbow?
A: Purple, red, and yellow
B: Blue, green, and red
C: Purple, green, and yellow
D: Blue, green, and yellow
- For 0.1 delta E:
How many standard colors does the Natural Color System palette contain?
A: 760
B: 1,230
C: 1,750
D: 2,410
If you made it to 0.1 delta E — Congratulations! No, you don’t win $1 million, but I would argue that you’re a certified color geek. If you’re like me, you were stumped right out of the gate.
Read more by Anita Dennis.
*Moroney’s partners in trivia are Giordano Beretta, Mark E. Damon, Scot Fernandez, Tim Kohler, Lawrence Taplin, and J.A.S. Viggiano.
This article was last modified on January 3, 2023
This article was first published on December 7, 2000
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