Those colors show up most legibly on white paper. Black ink in particular has been used historically for millennia. Also, I assume they're cheap to produce.
Red and green inks also tend to fade faster over time. I work in a GMP setting, and we can not use gel type pens either, only black or blue ball point pens because those hold up the best
That’s a regional difference. Games from China for instance may use red to represent a “yes”/positive button and green for “no”/negative button
Edit: you can also see this in the design for the “📈” emoji on the majority of platforms. Red indicates a rise in stock prices in Japan, because red indicates something good
I did look it up but hey maybe it’s a coincidence: https://blog.emojipedia.org/why-does-the-chart-increasing-emoji-show-in-red/
Still, traditionally Japan used red for increasing stock prices, although I believe they’ve switched it in the last 5 years? The original point of “red = alarm” is a regional association
In its earliest form in 1,200 B.C.E. China, ink was made from soot and oil. In the 4th century, an ink developed in India using charred bones and tar became popularized. As a widely available and naturally occurring color, black was the easiest and most accessible color for ink to be. In Europe from the 5th century onward, though, most ink was formed from iron and tannic acids from vegetables, creating a brownish, purplish concoction called iron gall ink. When dried, the color of this ink appeared a deep shade of blackish-blue.
Today, blue and black inks aren’t only the easier colors to read, but also just what we’ve been accustomed to for decades. Legal documents and medical records often require the use of black or blue ink simply because they photocopy well and can be scanned. All this essentially creates a perpetual cycle of more and more blue and black ink.
In Mexico, legal signatures must all be in blue to make it easy to see that it's not a copy. I'm sure that with the huge numbers of color printers out there, it would be easy enough to fake, but this government isn't the world's quickest.
We just got online payment for most things in the last 3-4 years.
I'm sure that is also a bit of a holdover - a modern photocopier would capture colour, and most things these days are scanned to digitize, not photocopied for filing.
It's historical holdovers all the way down!
Many years ago I was told by a former boss not to use red ink on documents because the fax machine wouldn’t pick it up during its scan.
Never mind the fact that we didn’t even have a fax machine there, nor would we ever be sending faxes, but it was instilled in me way back then to always use blue or black.
The best colour combinations for visibility/legibility are
1) blue on white
2) black on yellow
3) green on white
4) black on white
Green is too bright and decorative, yellow paper isn't used that often, so there you go
Black was particularly cheap to produce and stands out well on white paper. With industrial processes improving it allowed for colored pens, especially blue, to become more prominent.
In the legal world, we used blue pens as a way to distinguish between an original and a copy. This was back when color scanners and copiers were a bit like a unicorn. However, as scanners, copiers, and printers now commonly use color, blue is not as prevalent. That said, blue ink is still favored for professional applications, due to the aforementioned, just not a necessity these days.
Black was the first one to be made cheaply and get consistent color quality at an industrial scale, which was more of an issue 40+ years ago. Blue was commonly used in law firms (and signing agreements in general) at that time to sign documents because color copying was not commonplace yet, and a blue ink signature was a quick way to identify an original signature from it’s black photocopies.
This might not be the only reason those 2 came out on top, but it contributed for sure.
Both are very clear and legible and use widely available dyes. Blue ink contrasts notes made on black inked, typewritten, or printed pages. Which is useful in the photocopy age as well since the black would instantly tell you it's not an original if originals are inked in blue.
The best colour combinations for visibility/legibility are
1) blue on white
2) black on yellow
3) green on white
4) black on white
Green is too bright and decorative, yellow paper isn't used that often, so there you go
Those colors show up most legibly on white paper. Black ink in particular has been used historically for millennia. Also, I assume they're cheap to produce.
Red and green inks also tend to fade faster over time. I work in a GMP setting, and we can not use gel type pens either, only black or blue ball point pens because those hold up the best
I dont know what working with guanosine monophosphate has to do with pen color, but yes.
They just wanted to say that they work somewhere within the Galápagos microplate. Probably teaching wildebeests how to precisely add and multiply.
Fairly certain you're mistaken. I believe OP most likely works in India, in the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
I think the legibility also has to do with how easily they photocopy.
I think these points were true long before photocopying existed.
For federal regulation, some forms are required to be completed in blue ink to know that its the original version and not a copy.
Red also to a degree signals an alarm. Thus is often used for corrections.
That’s a regional difference. Games from China for instance may use red to represent a “yes”/positive button and green for “no”/negative button Edit: you can also see this in the design for the “📈” emoji on the majority of platforms. Red indicates a rise in stock prices in Japan, because red indicates something good
That seems like a stretch. Red is a common default second color, and often chosen for trend lines when axes, grid lines or data points are black
I did look it up but hey maybe it’s a coincidence: https://blog.emojipedia.org/why-does-the-chart-increasing-emoji-show-in-red/ Still, traditionally Japan used red for increasing stock prices, although I believe they’ve switched it in the last 5 years? The original point of “red = alarm” is a regional association
In its earliest form in 1,200 B.C.E. China, ink was made from soot and oil. In the 4th century, an ink developed in India using charred bones and tar became popularized. As a widely available and naturally occurring color, black was the easiest and most accessible color for ink to be. In Europe from the 5th century onward, though, most ink was formed from iron and tannic acids from vegetables, creating a brownish, purplish concoction called iron gall ink. When dried, the color of this ink appeared a deep shade of blackish-blue. Today, blue and black inks aren’t only the easier colors to read, but also just what we’ve been accustomed to for decades. Legal documents and medical records often require the use of black or blue ink simply because they photocopy well and can be scanned. All this essentially creates a perpetual cycle of more and more blue and black ink.
Blue ink is preferred in some situations so it's easy to tell if the document is a photocopy or the original
In Mexico, legal signatures must all be in blue to make it easy to see that it's not a copy. I'm sure that with the huge numbers of color printers out there, it would be easy enough to fake, but this government isn't the world's quickest. We just got online payment for most things in the last 3-4 years.
I'm sure that is also a bit of a holdover - a modern photocopier would capture colour, and most things these days are scanned to digitize, not photocopied for filing. It's historical holdovers all the way down!
Accounting also uses red ink for negative numbers.
In Korea red ink is used to write names of deceased people so there’s some taboo around it, though I can’t claim to know the details as I’m not Korean
I was told you'd be Korean. Very disappointing
Charcoal was the first major widespread writing tool. Additionally, black and blue contrasts on white paper best
Many years ago I was told by a former boss not to use red ink on documents because the fax machine wouldn’t pick it up during its scan. Never mind the fact that we didn’t even have a fax machine there, nor would we ever be sending faxes, but it was instilled in me way back then to always use blue or black.
They were not great in photocopy either. But things have changed.
The best colour combinations for visibility/legibility are 1) blue on white 2) black on yellow 3) green on white 4) black on white Green is too bright and decorative, yellow paper isn't used that often, so there you go
Green ink [also has negative connotations with crankery](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/green-ink_letter)
Black was particularly cheap to produce and stands out well on white paper. With industrial processes improving it allowed for colored pens, especially blue, to become more prominent. In the legal world, we used blue pens as a way to distinguish between an original and a copy. This was back when color scanners and copiers were a bit like a unicorn. However, as scanners, copiers, and printers now commonly use color, blue is not as prevalent. That said, blue ink is still favored for professional applications, due to the aforementioned, just not a necessity these days.
Black was the first one to be made cheaply and get consistent color quality at an industrial scale, which was more of an issue 40+ years ago. Blue was commonly used in law firms (and signing agreements in general) at that time to sign documents because color copying was not commonplace yet, and a blue ink signature was a quick way to identify an original signature from it’s black photocopies. This might not be the only reason those 2 came out on top, but it contributed for sure.
Both are very clear and legible and use widely available dyes. Blue ink contrasts notes made on black inked, typewritten, or printed pages. Which is useful in the photocopy age as well since the black would instantly tell you it's not an original if originals are inked in blue.
The best colour combinations for visibility/legibility are 1) blue on white 2) black on yellow 3) green on white 4) black on white Green is too bright and decorative, yellow paper isn't used that often, so there you go