International Colour Day is an annual event held on March 21 to celebrate

colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

. The day was established by the

International Colour Association The International Colour Association (''Association Internationale de la Couleur (AIC)'', or ''Internationale Vereinigung für die Farbe'') is a learned society whose aims are to encourage research in all aspects of colour, to disseminate the kno ...

(abbreviated as ''AIC'' for its French name, ), which is composed of national colour organizations and members representing over 30 countries.

Background

The adoption of a worldwide day of colour was first proposed in 2008 by the Portuguese Color Association, whose president, Maria Joao Durao, presented the idea to the

(abbreviated as ''AIC'' for its French name, ). The proposal was agreed upon in 2009 among the members of the AIC, which is composed of national colour organizations and members representing over 30 countries. International Colour Day was thereby established, with the 21st of March adopted as the official date. This date was chosen because it is around the

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...

, when "the sun shines directly on the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

," and thus, the duration of day and night are approximately equal in length around the world.

Logo

An international competition for the design of the International Colour Day logo was held at the 2012 interim meeting of the

, held in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. As expressed by winning designer Hosanna Yau of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, "two circles form an eye, with an equal half of

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

color and black representing light and darkness, day and night, everyone feast one's eye on the international color day."

Activities

Some of the activities and events that are unfolded on the International Colour Day: * Arts exhibitions, architectural projects, design, decoration, fashion * Meetings, debates, scientific events * Workshops on the use of

and

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...

for both adults and children. * Contests on colour and light design. * Wearing national or regional identity colours. AIC member countries: * Australia — Colour Society of Australia *Belgium — Interdisciplinary Colour Association Belgium * Brazil — Associação ProCor do Brasil * Canada — Colour Research Society of Canada *Chile — Asociación del Color Chile * Croatia — Croatian Color Society in co-organization with the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

*Finland — Finnish Colour Association () *France — Centre Français de la Couleur *Hungary — Hungarian National Colour Committee *Italy — Gruppo del Colore – Associazione Italiana Colore *Japan — Color Science Association of Japan *Korea — Korean Society of Color Studies *The Netherlands — Kleur''en''visie *Norway — FORUM FARGE *Portugal — Portuguese Colour Association () *Russia — Color Society of Russia *Slovenia — Slovenian Society for Colours *Spain — Faculty of Sciences of the

University of Alicante The University of Alicante ( ca-valencia, Universitat d'Alacant, italic=no, ; es, Universidad de Alicante, italic=no, ; also known by the acronym ''UA'') was established in 1979 on the basis of the Center for University Studies (CEU), which was fo ...

*Sweden — Swedish Colour Centre Foundation *Taiwan — Color Association of Taiwan *United Kingdom —

The Colour Group The Colour Group (Great Britain) is a registered charity based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1940 as in interdisciplinary society concerned with all aspects of colour, such as its measurement, perception, and reproduction. It organis ...

* United States — Inter-Society Color CouncilUnited States 2014
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References

External links

Official website of the International Colour Association

(in Spanish) {{Color topics Color organizations Color March observances

Background

Logo

Activities

See also

References

External links