Chroma Girl

Color is SUCH an important part of my life. I mean, for me, it's not a luxury...it's a necessity. It's what I'm drawn to...more than form, texture or any other quality. Color is a HUGE part of my world...and, thus, my well being and happiness.

I discovered something about myself today. Something, that I have suspected for a long time but never knew there was an actual "term" associated with it. I believe I am a Tetrachromat. I know, you've never heard of this before, have you? Neither had I...until today. I stumbled upon this "term" whilst browsing the web. A Tetrachromat is someone who possesses (by way of genetics...via the X chromosome) a fourth type of cone in their eye. The cone is the type of cell responsible for color-detection.

Most humans only have three...

red, green and blue. 

But, it is estimated that approximately 2-3% of WOMEN have a fourth type of cone that lies somewhere between the standard red and green...so it's sorta categorized as...orange. Yep... it's only seen in WOMEN--'cuz it's a dual X-chromosome thing and guys only have one X chromosome--sorry guys. This mutation endows its possessor with an EXTREMELY fine-tuned sense of color perception . What this means in the practical world is that Tetrachromats are akin to those who have "super-smelling"  or "super-tasting" abilities. What it means to me is that...I am SUPER picky when it comes to choosing color schemes, as I can detect even the slightest of shade variation. This often times drives me NUTS...cuz finding just the RIGHT shade of a color is daunting for me. Too many choices. And, more times than not, I find that the colors I end up with for a project always seem a little "off".  *sigh* I've learned to accept it. I don't like it...but I accept it.

I have always known that I have an UNCANNY sense of color perception. I mean, I feel like I have super-human-color-detecting-abilities. If I were a superhero, I think I would be Chroma Girl--able to detect even the slightest differences of hues at a single glance. Who needs paint chips when you have CHROMA GIRL!!! So, this is what I think I'd look like as Chroma Girl (yeah, I'd have a tiny waist, but hey...this is MY fantasy). Move over, Wonder Woman...Chroma Girl is in the HOUSE! My weapons would be my "Mighty Paint Brush of Destiny" and my "Chromatic Palette Power Shield"! With these, I'd ward off drabness and fight back the evil overlord of darkness...Achromatron. He's kind of black and grey and...well...that's it. He doesn't kill people or anything...but he sure does make things depressing.

So, do YOU think you have super-human-color-decting-abilities? Find out by taking this test...(click on the link below)

Color Sensing Test 

This is what the test looks like...just to dangle a virtual carrot in front of you...all you have to do is arrange (click, drag, drop) the colors of each row...in order...from the color on the left to the color on the right (the colors on either end are stationary). Easy? Try it. The LOWER the score you get...the more adept you are at sensing colors.

What was my score?  Well, it was 0. It took me about 7 minutes to complete the test.

Come on...TRY IT!!!! Let's see who amongst my artsy friends will join me on the Mount Olympus of color!!!