(NAPSA)—It turns out that communicating with color is much more of a science than most people realize—it’s used every day as a visual shorthand by advertisers, product manufacturers, and even the U.S. government. Green, for example, is the easiest color on the eye because rays of light from green focus directly on the retina, producing a calming, healing sensation. That’s why spas often use this shade to give patrons an immediate feeling of serenity, safety and peace. “Green also communicates nurturing, growth and the promise of a fresh start. No wonderit’s a popular color for the packagingofcosmetic lines,” said Tina Sutton, a marketing consultant whospecializes in color forecasting. Even in dreams, psychiatrists say the color green expresses the need for healing, harmony, and balance, as well as a desire for being emotionally more open. Tt wasn’t an arbitrary decision to color traffic lights “safe green” for go and “eye-catching”red for stop. A similar rationale is shared by the government’s Homeland Security Color Code, which starts with green to signify low risk and moves up to red for highest alert and danger. While green has been the “official” color of safety for some time, lime-green recently surfaced as a true life-saver. It’s the most noticeable color in many emergencysituations. When re-colored lime-green, traditional red fire engines proved / a Lime-green was the color selected for the Zo_.t AED Plus, which wonfirst place in Product Design and Development's 2003 Engineering Awards program. much easier to spot in traffic, especially at night. Research also tipped the color scales for ZOLL Medical Corporation (www.zoll.com), which consulted police officers for advice prior to designing their most advanced portable defibrillator, the AED Plus. Police are often the first to arrive on the scene of an emergency, and when someonesuffers sudden cardiac arrest, their best hope is to shock the heart back into operation within minutes. Officers requested a defibrillator that stood out so it wouldn’t be inadvertently left behind at the scene. Lime-green solved this problem. As an added bonus, the color green stands for “go,” “healing” and “safety,” a psychological plus when attempting to save some- one’slife.
