Colour

Why study colour?

first involved the communication of colours; the other involved the application of colour.

Communicating Colour

Albert Munsells develloped a colour system that gives means to colour names. This could make you specific when talking about which colour you are using.
Colour Basics Colour is a characteristic of light. A colour is determined in three ways:
By its name, how pure it is, and its value or lightness.

Color Systems

Available color systems are dependent on the medium with which a designer is working. When painting, an artist has a variety of paints to choose from, and mixed colors are achieved through the subtractive color method. When a designer is utilizing the computer to generate digital media, colors are achieved with the additive color method.

Subtractive Color. When we mix colors using paint, or through the printing process, we are using the subtractive color method. Subtractive color mixing means that one begins with white and ends with black; as one adds color, the result gets darker and tends to black.

CMYK is a subtractive color systemThe CMYK color system is the color system used for printing.Painter color wheelThose colors used in painting—an example of the subtractive color method.

Additive Color. If we are working on a computer, the colors we see on the screen are created with light using the additive color method. Additive color mixing begins with black and ends with white; as more color is added, the result is lighter and tends to white.

RGB is an additive color systemThe RGB colors are light primaries and colors are created with light. RGB color wheelPercentages of red, green, & blue light are used to generate color on a computer screen.
Working With Systems

visible-spectrumThe Visible spectrum consists of billions of colors, a monitor can display millions, a high quality printer is only capable of producing thousands, and older computer systems may be limited to 216 cross-platform colors.

Reproducing color can be problematic with regard to printed, digital media, because what we see is not what is possible to get. Although a monitor may be able to display 'true color' (16,000,000 colors), millions of these colors are outside of the spectrum available to printers. Since digital designs are generated using the RGB color system, colors used in those designs must be part of the CMYK spectrum or they will not be reproduced with proper color rendering. Working within the CMYK color system, or choosing colors from Pantone© palettes insures proper color rendering.

Color Wheel

twelve color wheel A color wheel (also referred to as a color circle) is a visual representation of colors arranged according to their chromatic relationship. Begin a color wheel by positioning primary hues equidistant from one another, then create a bridge between primaries using secondary and tertiary colors.

These terms refer to color groups or types:

primary colors Primary Colors: Colors at their basic essence; those colors that cannot be created by mixing others.

secondary colors Secondary Colors: Those colors achieved by a mixture of two primaries.

tertiary colors Tertiary Colors: Those colors achieved by a mixture of primary and secondary hues.

complementary colors - red and green Complementary Colors: Those colors located opposite each other on a color wheel.

analogous colors Analogous Colors: Those colors located close together on a color wheel.

The color wheel can be divided into ranges that are visually active or passive. Active colors will appear to advance when placed against passive hues. Passive colors appear to recede when positioned against active hues.
color wheel displaying active - passive ranges

* Advancing hues are most often thought to have less visual weight than the receding hues.
* Most often warm, saturated, light value hues are "active" and visually advance.
* Cool, low saturated, dark value hues are "passive" and visually recede.
* Tints or hues with a low saturation appear lighter than shades or highly saturated colors.
* Some colors remain visually neutral or indifferent.

Color relationships may be displayed as a color wheel or a color triangle.

Painter's color wheel The Painter's color triangle consists of colors we would often use in art class—those colors we learn about as children. The primary hues are red, blue and yellow.

Printer's color wheel The Printers' color triangle is the set of colors used in the printing process. The primaries are magenta, cyan, and yellow.

Goethe color wheel Nine-part harmonic triangle of Goethe begins with the printer's primaries; the secondaries formed are the painter's primaries; and the resulting tertiaries formed are dark neutrals.

Complementary Colors

We look at a color wheel to understand the relationships between colors. Analogous colors are positioned in such a way as to mimic the process that occurs when blending hues. The colors that are positioned opposite one another are complementary colors.
red and green yellow-green and red-purple purple and yellow

yellow-orange and blue-violet orange and blue red-orange and blue-green

To call those hues in direct opposition to each other "complements of each other" is appropriate. Complementary colors bring out the best in each other. When fully saturated complements are brought together, interesting effects are noticeable. This may be a desirable illusion, or a problem if creating visuals that are to be read.

Note that Vibrating Boundaries may occur when opposing colors are brought together.

(Notice the illusion of highlighted edges and raised text.)

Perceptual Opposites. We learn from the relationships displayed by a color wheel that every color has an opposite. Every color has both a color wheel opposite as well as a perceptual opposite. Without a color wheel, it is still possible to find the opposite of a color and this is due to a phenomenon of our eyes. Due to the physiological differences between individuals, everyone's perceptions do vary—the complements shown below are my own perceived opposites:

source >> result
blue surce - yellow after image result
sky blue surce - peach after image result
yellow surce - periwinkle after image result
orange surce - aqua after image result
green surce - mauve after image result
purple surce - lime after image result