The fade-out of shirley, a once-ultimate norm: Colour balance, image technologies, and cognitive equity

Abstract

Until recently, due to a light-skin bias embedded in colour film stock emulsions and digital camera design, the rendering of non-Caucasian skin tones was highly deficient and required the development of compensatory practices and technology improvements to redress its shortcomings. Using the emblematic Shirley norm reference card as a central metaphor reflecting the changing state of race relations/aesthetics, this essay analytically traces several colour adjustment processes in the visual representation industries and identifies some prototypical changes in the field. It is to be read as a historical background to the development of and rationale for the creation and insertion of flesh-tone, colour-balance computer chips within imaging technologies. It introduces the original concept of cognitive equity, which is proposed as an intelligent strategy for creating and promoting equity by inscribing a wider dynamic range of skin tones into all image technologies, products, and emergent practices in the visual industries.