Systematic Colour Part 1 : Introduction to colour principles
Colour, like typography, effects the readability and legibility.
Easily readable
Easily Readable
The introduction of colour effects the readability of type.
We perceive colour through wavelengths.
Different colours have different wavelengths.
Why is the Sky blue?
It isn't.
The Atmosphere is full of all sorts of molecules, red light passes through it whereas blue light is reflected off it, therefore making us see the sky as blue.
The Human Eye
The eye contains 2 kinds of receptors :
Rods and Cones
Rod - convey shades of grey (light/dark) Tone
Cones - Convey Colour
Cones can only pick up 3 colours
- Red-Orange
- Green
- Blue-Violet
We cannot perceive yellow.
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Primary Colours : They cannot be made by any other colour
Secondary Colours : Mix 2 primary colours
Tertiary Colours : Mix more of one primary colour than another (red-orange)
For Print :
CMYK
Cyan
Magenta
Yellow
Key (black)
Black introduces tone (Rods)
For Screen :
RGB
Red
Green
Blue
"the eye can be 'fooled' into seeing the full visible colours through the proportionate adjustment of red, green and blue"
Cyan + Yellow = Green
Magenta + Yellow = Red
Cyan + Magenta = Blue
Cyan + Magenta + Yellow = Black
Subtractive Colour Mode
CMYK - CMY=K
Additive Colour Mode
RGB - White Light
Complimentary Colours: ones that cancel each other out.
Complimentary Colours are opposite each other on the colour wheel
When colours cancel each other out you end up with a neutral grey.
These colours are called - Tertiary Neutrals
For a preparatory task we were each given a colour, I was given Violet. With this assigned colour we had to collect 10-15 objects which were this colour. As a task in the session we were asked to create our own colour wheel with these objects.
Systematic Colour Part 2 : Dimensions of colour
Being able to articulate colour requires us to have a vocabulary that is shared.
Chromatic Value = Hue + Tone + Saturation
3 interrelated elements
CHROMATIC VALUE
Colour Wheel = common chromatic value
Hue - relates to the colour itself
mid violet, blue violet, red violet
this is the spectrum of one colour
Saturation - Tone (light/dark)
Reducing the Hue results in tonal shifts.
High Chromatic - Hues
Desaturation takes the colour out - Effects the Hue
As we change the saturation we effect its luminance - must create shades.
The luminance can be increased by adding light - Tinting
Shades and tints have less chromatic value.
Tones - by combining the desaturation of shade and tint.
The key element is the saturation of a colour.
Looking at the way colours shift when are around other colours.
Pantone
All colours have codes which can be found in a pantone matching swatch.
These swatches are very important as it ensures that people all across the world can understand which colour a designer has chosen, enabling the print to be the same as the on screen colour.
IF YOU WANT TO WORK WITH COLOUR IS HAS TO BE SYSTEMATIC
Leave your comment