Why Do Some People Prefer Writing on Yellow Paper?

[dipole]

I've noticed lately a lot of my professors use yellow paper pads to write out their lecture notes instead of white ones.

I don't know if it's a generational thing, but I never liked yellow paper and always thought it felt cheap and not nice to write on, so I'm wondering what the appeal of it is over white paper? Anyone here prefer one or the other?

 

[turbo]

Yellow legal pads are plentiful and pretty cheap.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Yellow is easy on the eyes too.

 

[turbo]

Yellow is easy on the eyes too.

True. In harsh lighting, white paper can be a pain on the eyes.

 

[dlgoff]

Yellow was the only way to take notes and still be able to read them later when I was in college. Power to the Yellow.

 

[Moonbear]

I don't like yellow paper, but it's cheap, so it could be that's just what their department stocks in the supply cabinet.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I don't like yellow paper, but it's cheap, so it could be that's just what their department stocks in the supply cabinet.

Interestingly, yellow paper cost more than white paper. It seems dipole has hit upon one of the great legal debates of modern times.

...Some believe that writing on a yellow pad is easier to read than writing on a white pad. But Israel Abramov, a professor of psychology at Brooklyn College and a specialist in color vision, dismisses the theory. Readability, he says, is more a matter of contrast—how the color of the ink interacts with the color of the paper—than of the paper color alone. The highest contrast scenario is black ink on white paper, though Abramov concedes that in specific conditions, yellow paper might be preferable in terms of readability. "If the light is too intense, the paper can be glaring, and yellow cuts down the glare," he said.

Abramov prefers a psychological to a physiological explanation for yellow's predominance. "White paper that sits around starts to look yellow and old," he said. "I heard of one professor who used yellow paper for his lecture notes because he didn't want his students to know how old the notes were."

Legal pad enthusiasts do seem to have a psychological connection to their writing tablets. Philip Moustakis, a mid-level associate at the New York firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, uses one legal pad per case, and prefers yellow over white pads and a faint, as opposed to a dark, rule. "The darker lines intrude upon my thinking—they're yelling back at you," he explained. "You want a more subtle line."...

http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/May-June-2005/scene_snider_mayjun05.msp

 

[Moonbear]

Interestingly, yellow paper cost more than white paper. It seems dipole has hit upon one of the great legal debates of modern times. http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/May-June-2005/scene_snider_mayjun05.msp

Go figure. I don't buy either, so thought the yellow ones were cheap. When I was a student and glare was an issue from bad lighting, I used light gray or pastel blue notepads. It was expensive, but still close to white for contrast but tinted just enough to reduce glare.

Now, I prefer quadrille lined paper. It makes it easy for me to add a quick table or graph to my notes if needed, plus the lines are tighter than even college-ruled paper.

Edit: I just checked a popular office supply chain and the prices for the cheap legal pads was exactly the same for white or yellow.

 

[dipole]

Interestingly, yellow paper cost more than white paper. It seems dipole has hit upon one of the great legal debates of modern times.


http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/May-June-2005/scene_snider_mayjun05.msp

Interesting, but I've never had trouble with glare on my notebook paper. Maybe I'm used to reading under incandescent lights which give off a softer glow than harsher fluorescent?

The white paper fading could be a factor too - I know my one Professor uses notes he wrote in 1998!

 

[turbo]

When I was a kid in elementary school, we only got yellow paper (like Bill Cosby said, "with big hunks of wood in it".) White paper was parceled out for math exercises and quizzes, but mostly we were working on the yellow stuff, even in Kindergarten when we had to use "horse-leg" crayons.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The white paper fading could be a factor too - I know my one Professor uses notes he wrote in 1998!

Watch it kid. I have notes from 1980.

 

[Borek]

...Some believe that writing on a yellow pad is easier to read than writing on a white pad. But Israel Abramov, a professor of psychology at Brooklyn College and a specialist in color vision, dismisses the theory. Readability, he says, is more a matter of contrast—how the color of the ink interacts with the color of the paper—than of the paper color alone. The highest contrast scenario is black ink on white paper, though Abramov concedes that in specific conditions, yellow paper might be preferable in terms of readability. "If the light is too intense, the paper can be glaring, and yellow cuts down the glare," he said.

Makes me think about dyslectics - for many of them contrast between white and black is what makes the text unreadable, so they prefer tinted paper. There are even special foils and glasses for them to use during reading.

 

[Moonbear]

Interesting, but I've never had trouble with glare on my notebook paper. Maybe I'm used to reading under incandescent lights which give off a softer glow than harsher fluorescent?

I haven't had that problem in a long time. I think lighting designs in classrooms and offices have improved a lot since I was a student. One good thing about computers being used for teaching is it twisted the arms of university administrators to renovate classrooms for the new technology, and while they were busy putting in ethernet ports and plugs at every chair, they also redid everything else, including lighting. Glare is only a problem in the one or two classrooms that still haven't been renovated with really inconsistent lighting. You'll encounter seats close to a light with a lot of glare, and ones further away that are cast into shadows.

Even fluorescent lighting has gotten better. My office has fluorescent lights and they don't bug me at all. The fixtures they're installed in have reflectors and what look like baffles that seem to distribute the light better. My boyfriend's office is even neater. There aren't any overhead lights, they're mounted on walls over cabinets and provide indirect lighting.

 

[jtbell]

Yellow legal pads are plentiful and pretty cheap.

The back sides of old memos, reports, and computer printouts from the "pre-paperless-office" days are even cheaper and very plentiful in my office and at home. I use those for all my notes, mathematical doodlings, etc. I use "fresh" paper only when I want to print an old-fashioned snail-mail letter, or a report or memo for someone else who needs a hard copy.

Also, we still use printed handouts in lab classes, and I've always had leftovers which became useless because of later revisions. They go into my old-paper pile too.

 

[netgypsy]

I'm addicted to yellow legal pads and my computer screen is also yellow. I had to stop helping kids with homework until I replenished my supply of yellow legal pads, college ruled of course. I also had a yellow pickett slide rule and I got another one a few years ago. Perhaps the yellow nudges my synapse and fosters more creative thinking?