OUGD404 - Study Task 01 - Colour Theory

In a lecture on colour theory I learnt some interesting information on colours and about how we perceive colour. To begin with, the very start of the lecture demonstrated how we receive certain colours. For example, if the eye is staring at a red dot for too long it can become fatigued and after looking at it for too long, if you remove the red dot the eye will think the red dot is still there.

A similar effect occurs with bright green being inverted with white and flashing repeatedly. The white appears pink after a while, which is the inverse of white.

This confusion of colour also works in still images, same colour combinations clash which makes an image uneasy to look at.

Texts and media that are useful on this subject:

Graphic Presentation, Willard Cope Brinton, 1939

Interaction of Color, Josef Albers, 1963

Stuff You Should Know Colour (podcast)

There are certain parts of the eye that receives colour; receptors rods receive monotones such as grey black and white, and cones receive colour. There are three cones that each receives the colours red-orange, green and blue-violet. When designing however you must think about people with colour blindness as colours can be received differently.

In design there are two different types of colour. When designing a product that will be viewed digitally, the format RGB, which is additive colour, is used. In print format, CMYK is used which is subtractive colour. In miniscule scale, small, overlapped flecks of colour are printed so that when looking at the print the chosen colour is seen.

 

There are several categories of colour, including hue, which is one colour and colour, which are one or several hues. These terms are often interchangeable. There is also chroma, which refers to all colour including shades tints and tones. All together these make a chromatic value, which is hue, tone and saturation combined. Saturation, intensity and brilliance are interchangeable terms that relate to the degrees and levels of vividness of the colour pigmentation.

Other colour categories include shades, which are hues plus black, tints, which are hues plus white, and tones, which are hues plus grey.

In design, a commonly used collection of swatches is Pantone. These colour swatches include every colour code and have a vast variety of colour and hues.

Colour in design has to be systematic. Often colours connote certain meanings and this is especially true in literature. Certain genres of books use specific colours to attract the audience as the colours have certain meanings behind them. So within a small group we chose four genres and assigned two colours to the genre.

For our first genre, crime, we chose the colours grey (415C) and red (186C). The grey is mysterious, dark, represents maturity but also depression. The red is dominant, represents danger, anger and determination.

With our second genre, young adult fiction, we chose blue (2203C) and green (2292C). The blue represents mystery, crime, fantasy adventure and the green represents life, adventurousness and exploring.

For chick lit, we chose a tint of pink (218C) and purple (2415C). The pink is feminine and feels romantic and represents empathy and sensitivity. The purple is intense, deep and powerful and represents conflict.

Finally we chose western fiction and chose a sand colour (726C) and brown (469C). The sand represents the west, the new frontier, dryness, desert, abandonment and isolation. The brown feels like leather, is common with horses as well as representing nature, wood and feels old.