There is a Korean saying that "What looks good tastes good." It explains that well-displayed food can increase appetite. Food can be looked differently depending on situations because sensible elements affect human emotion. For example, food can be more delicious when we eat a restaurant with good atmosphere or with close friends while it can be less tasty when we eat a restaurant with bad atmosphere or with uncomfortable acquaintances. Food can be yummier when we are starving while it can be tasteless when we are full. In addition, the appetite can be improved by stimulating sense of smell or nicely presented food.
Likewise, there are various types of sensible elements influencing taste. Above all, color is the most influential factor that can change emotion of people. When consumers see red apples on a white plate, they can become hungry. However, it is less likely to feel hungry if the red apples are put on a red plate. If the red apples are on a white plate or a blue plate that can emphasize the color red, the color red can be stood out and the appetite can be stimulated. Therefore, it can be concluded that the consumers react easily to the color of the food and interact with the color of the plate.
This study aims to analyze taste of consumers using the five colors (i.e. blue, red, yellow, white, and black), the traditional Korean color scheme known as Obangseak. The colors of Korean food and plates are closely related to the five-color scheme. The five-color combination have permeated into Korean culture and have been the basis of the colorsof Korean food including Bibimbap, a signature Korean dish, Gujeolpan, a Korean royal cuisine, Kimchi, and soups.
The researches on taste felt by one color have been conducted for quite a long time and have shown clear results. On the other hand, the researches on taste felt by combination of two or more colors have been insufficiently carried out even though the taste of consumers is affected by surrounding colors. Furthermore, considering the fact that the consumers feel differently when they see food or design related to food, more researches on taste of consumers by color scheme need to be performed. Therefore, this study is focused on the change of consumer tastes for two-color combination based on the arrangement of the five colors in turn and the analysis of food packaging currently being sold based on the experiment results on sensibility research of taste by the color scheme. I expect that the color scheme of the food packaging and the results of this study can be used as baseline data for all kinds of design associated with packaging, tableware, kitchen appliances, and food.