Basic Colour
Theory
Colour is a non-verbal
form of communication.
Colour can make people
feel + think.
Colour palettes can be
harmonious, or clashing.
Colour Symbolism
Calming Cool Colours:
Blue, Green, Turquoise, Silver
Cool colours tend to have a calming effect. At one end of the
spectrum they are cold, impersonal, antispectic colours. At the other
end the cool colours are comforting and nurturing. Blue, green, and
the neutrals white, gray, and silver are examples of cool colours.
In nature blue is water and green is plant life - a natural, lifesustaining duo. Combine blues and greens for natural, watery
colour palettes. Heat up a too cool colour palette with a dash of
warm colours such as red or orange. If you want warmth with just a
blue palette, choose deeper blues with a touch of red but not quite
purple or almost black deep navy blues.
Cool colours appear smaller than warm colours and they visually
recede on the page so red can visually overpower and stand out
over blue even if used in equal amounts.
Colour Symbolism
Exciting Warm Colours:
Red, Pink, Yellow, Gold, Orange
Warm colours rev us up and get us going. The warmth of red, yellow,
or orange can create excitement or even anger. Warm colours convey
emotions from simple optimism to strong violence. The neutrals of black
and brown also carry warm attributes.
In nature, warm colours represent change as in the changing of the
seasons or the eruption of a volcano. Tone down the strong emotions
of a warm palette with some soothing cool or neutral colours or by
using the lighter side of the warm palette such as pinks, pale yellows,
and peach.
Warm colours appear larger than cool colours so red can visually
overpower blue even if used in equal amounts. Warm colours appear
closer while their cool counterparts visually recede on the page.
Colour Symbolism
Mixed Cool/Warm Colour Meanings:
Purple, Lavender, Green, Turquoise
Colours with attributes from both the warm and cool colours can calm
and excite. These are colours derived from a mix of a cool and warm
colour such as blue and red or blue and yellow.
A cool blue and a warm red combine to create deep purples and pale
lavendars. To a lesser extent, shades of green, especially turquoise
and teal, also have both the warming and cooling effects born of warm
yellow and cool blue. Some light neutrals such as cream, pale beige,
and taupe evoke some of the same warm and cool feelings of purples
and greens. The opposite or clashing colour for purple is green and for
green, purple.
Colour Symbolism
Unifying Neutral Colours:
Brown, Beige, Ivory, Gray, Black, White
The neutral colours of black, white, silver, gray, and brown make good
backgrounds, serve to unify diverse colour palettes, and also often
stand alone as the only or primary focus of a design.
Neutral colours help to put the focus on other colours or serve to tone
down colours that might otherwise be overpowering on their own.
To some extent blacks, browns, tans, golds, and beige colours are
considered warm. While white, ivory, silver, and gray are somewhat
cooler colours. Yet these warm and cool attributes are flexible and more
subtle than that of reds or blues.
Additive Colour
(RGB)
+A
pplies to light/screen only, not print /material)
+F
irst described by James Clark Maxwell
(1831 – 1879), a Scottish mathematical
physicist, in the mid 1800s
+C
olour additive theory describes how we
perceive color and how it is created.
+T
he human eye has a limited power of
resolution - colours mingle to form an
impression. If all three colour receptors are
stimulated, the eye will see white.
+ If all colours are missing, black is produced
Visible Light Spectrum
Secondary Colours
+R
ed, green and blue are the “primary” colors of white
Secondary
light. All three colors will result in white, the absence
of
Colours
all three will produce black.
Red
Magenta
Yellow
Blue
Green
+W
hen two primary colors of light are added together,
you get a color that is brighter than either of its
components.
+B
y using unequal amounts of red, green and blue light
you can create new colors. Using red, green and blue,
the entire spectrum of visible light can be created.
Cyan
Tertiary Colours
+C
omputer screens use additive color. Three beams
Tertiary
of electrons corresponding to red, blue and greenColours
are
projected onto a fluorescent screen. The pixels of the
screen are made of triads which are sensitive to the
three colors. The pixel will appear in a single color that
is based on the proportion of red, blue or green light
striking the triad.
Red
Magenta
Yellow
Blue
Green
Cyan
Subtractive Colour
(CMYK)
+T
he three secondary colours (+ K = black) form the
basis of subtractive colour
+ «Applies to printed matter/materials, describes the
behaviour of non-luminous colours
+S
ubtractive color systems start with white light. Colour
between the viewer and the reflective surface subtract
wavelengths from the light, giving it color.
+B
ased on the absorption of colours of the visible
spectrum - light bounces off objects and is perceived
by the eyes rather them projected into them
+ The reflected light determines the colour of the object
Johann Wolgang von Goethe
...for the colors diametrically opposed to each other…
are those which reciprocally evoke each other in the eye.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832), Theory of Colours
+ In 1810, Goethe published his Theory of Colours characterized colour as the dynamic interplay of light
and darkness through the mediation of a turbid medium.
+ Theory widely adopted by the art world
+H
is theory’s failure to demonstrate significant predictive
validity eventually rendered it scientifically irrelevant
+T
he first to systematically study the physiological effects
of colour
+O
bservations on the effect of opposed colours led him
to a symmetric arrangement of his color wheel
Johannes Itten
Seven Colour Contrasts
+W
orked on the premise of 3 basic primary colours:
red, yellow and blue
+ 12 - part chromatic circle is produced
+ Largely based on Goethe’s model
+T
heory based on 7 types of contrasts and the relative
position of the colours on the wheel
+ Fundamental contrast - complementary Colours
+ Colours directly opposite are seen as harmonious
+ Mixing complementary colours produces grey value
The Living Brain
cover of a Spiderman Comic
The pure color (hue)
contrast
This results when pure
colors are used in random
combinations. White and
black can further enhance
the vivid effect.
New Born Babe
Georges de la Tour
The contrast of saturation
Le Noeud
study: Georges Seurat
The contrast of light
and dark
This is the contrast between This is based on the use of
luminous and dull colors.
different values of dark and
Colors can be subdued by light. The contrast of dark
the addition of black, white, and light can be exploited
gray or complementary
with color as well since all
colors.
colors can be tinted with
white and shaded with
black.
The Night Cafe
Vincent van Gogh
The contrast of complements
Complementary colours occupy opposite
positions on the colour wheel. When they
are mixed, the result is a neutral grayblack. When adjacent, complementary
colours mutually intensify their luminosity
to a maximum.
The Burning of the Houses of Parliament
JMW Turner
The contrast of warm and cool
The contrast is formed by the juxtaposition
of hues considered ‘warm’ or ‘cool.’ This
is often the easiest contrast to achieve a
perceived 3d effect due to the advancing
and receding characteristics of most warm
colours in relation to cool colours.
The Joy of Life
Henri Matisse
The contrast of quantity
They are the result of the juxtaposition
of little and much, small and large. The
surface devoted to each colour influences
their impact on compositions. Creating
balanced compositions calls for more
than devoting equal space to each colour.
The brightness and saturation of each
hue must also be taken into account. The
lighter a hue, the greater its impact and
the lower its need for space. The more
saturated or bright the colour is, the more
powerful is its effect.
Poster
Wes Wilson
Simultaneous contrast
In such cases, colours seem to repel
one another and vibrate as the eye tries
to bring them closer to their precise
complementary colours. The use of such
contrasts can nake colour compositions
livelier and more interesting but must be
used with caution.
Source: http://www.apollo13art.com/National/art100/lectures/color/itten.html
Johannes Itten
Interaction of Colour
+C
olour is never viewed in isolation perception of a colour is affected by
surrounding elements
+Y
ellow squares of equal
size look bigger on white
than on black
+R
ed squares of equal size
look smaller on white than
on black
+C
ombinations showing
how the same colours
are altered in expression
by different juxtaposed
colours