Matt Groening explains why the Simpsons are yellow

There are a few reasons behind the choice.

They're arguably the most famous family in television and have been on our screens for more than three decades - but when you think about it, it's quite weird that Matt Groening decided to make the Simpsons yellow. Well, it turns out there was an understandable thought process behind the choice to make the Simpsons yellow and it may have had a whole host of benefits. Groening revealed in an interview back in 2007 that an animator came up with the idea of yellow. He said that he wanted his cartoon to be eye-catching. When someone is flipping through channels, he wanted the bright yellow colour of the Simpsons to catch the eye and make them go back to watch it. And so, the iconic yellow Simpsons family was created.

"An animator came up with the Simpsons’ yellow and as soon as she showed it to me I said, 'This is the answer!' When you’re flicking through channels with your remote control, and a flash of yellow goes by, you’ll know you’re watching The Simpsons," he told CBBC.

That wasn't the only reason behind the yellow choice though. In his book, show writer Mike Reiss shared a lot of the show's secrets and according to him, the decision to make the family yellow was also to do with hairlines. [caption id="attachment_366500" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Matt Groening immediately liked the idea of the Simpsons being yellow when he saw it (Getty)[/caption] He said: “Bart, Lisa and Maggie have no hairlines — there’s no line that separates their skin from their hair points. So the animators chose yellow — it’s kinda skin, kinda hair.” Furthermore, there seems to be some scientific logic and benefit behind the colour choice.