visual thinking: colour theory.

Colour, Part 1.

Systematic Colour.

*Colour is based upon our perception of how we see light.

*Our eyes interpret colour dependent on it's set wavelength (RGB)- distinguishing range of coloyrs through proportionate adjustment of these colours.

*16 million colours that we can see on screen are based and expanded from red, green, and blue- mixed in different quantities.

Defining a Spectrum.

*PRIMARY COLOURS (red, yellow, blue) cannot be mixed to create these colours. Primary Colours are the building blocks of other colours.

*SECONDARY COLOURS (orange, green, violet). Secondary Colours are made from mixing two primary colours.

*TERTIARY COLOURS, the 3rd stage of the mix. A mixture of primary and secondary- they sit between primary and secondary on the colour wheel.

Colour Modes in Graphics

Red Green Blue (on screen colour mode- used in interactive presentations, web design, etc.)

*"RGB mode"

*The colour mode is RGB as oppossed to the primary colours of RYB as our eyes are more naturally accustomed to green.

Cyan Magenta Yellow Key  (used for print-based media and graphics)

*CMYK mode

*K= "key plate" black

*Screen is based on light to use RGB.

The light principles are the same, despite using different colour modes.

*CMYK- (pigments) subtractive colour. Ink, paints, pigements: mixing these creates brown-khaki like colour.

*RGB- (light) additive colour: blue, green, and red on screen produces white (light).

*When you mix CMYK, the secondary colours are RGB, and vice versa with RGB to CMYK.

Although the colour modes are different, optically, they are the same.

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*Complimentary colours are the opposite colours on the colour wheel, and the primary colour's complementary colour is the two other primary colours when mixed.

e.g yellow's contrasting colour is violet, a mix of red and blue.

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*Tertiary neutrals create 99.9% of colour around us, particularly in manmade materials, there is incredibly little in the way of intense, pure colour in the world.

*The spectrum has tertiary, unpure and neutral colours. Far more populated in our daily lives than pure colour.

neutral greys: Bright Yellow--> Dark Yellow --> Darker Yellow --> Grey --> Dark Violet --> Light Violet --> Extra Light Violet.

*tertiary colour system is built up of neutrals (in between vibrant colours- happens when mixed).

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Colour Part 2.

Dimensions of Colour.

*Chromatic Value: Technical term for dimension or value of a particular colour. Bright/Darkness/Pale etc.

*Hue: The chromatic value of a colour- hue & saturation colour principles are related. Value system of pigments- samples of paint colours, acrylics, etc. Hue describes the chromatic value e.g "dull green", "bright yellow".

*Saturate and De-Saturate: The brightness or dullness of the hue. If something gets paler, it lowers the chromatic value. If it gets brighter, it enhances it. No saturation= black and white (monochrome).

*Shade: The shade changes along with the luminence. Shade= something going from bright to dark.

*Luminence: The amount of light that is reflected. The brighter the colour, the more luminent. The duller the colour, the less luminent.

*Tint: The majority of colours are tints. Where the luminence gets higher, going towards the light- opposite to shade (which gets closer to black, as oppossed to tint getting closer to white).

*Shades: Tones- de'saturation through the removal of colour.

*Tints increase chromatic value.

Colours and chromatic values are often determined by comparisons to shades and tints. "orange-red", "purple blue", "blue red"- often subjective. What's duller, What's brighter? etc.