Tuesday, 8 January 2013

OUGD404: Systematic colour

In Fred's session we were lectured on systematic colour, looking at the introduction to colour principles and the dimensions of colour.

We were taught how the eye can only see three types of colour, and how the eye biologically does this. The three colours are Red, Green and Blue.



These three colours are the primary colours, named primary because these colours can not be made by mixing other colours together.

The secondary and tertiary colours can be made by mixing the primary colours together (primary and secondary to make tertiary).

Below is a colour spectrum which puts things into perspective:







A note from the powerpoint describing how all colours are made up by red green blue.

'The eye contains two kinds of receptors: rods and cones. While the rods convey shades of gray, the cones allow the brain to perceive color hues. Of the three types of cones, the first is sensitive to red-orange light, the second to green light and the third to blue-violet light. When a single cone is stimulated, the brain perceives the corresponding color. That is, if our green cones are stimulated, we see "green". Or if our red-orange cones are stimulated, we see "red". If both our green and red-orange cones are simultaneously stimulated, our perception is yellow.The eye cannot differentiate between spectral yellow, and some combination of red and green. The same effect accounts for our perception of cyan, magenta, and the other in-between spectral colors. Because of this physiological response, the eye can be "fooled" into seeing the full range of visible colors through the proportionate adjustment of just three colors: red, green and blue.'

 RGB is also used when on the computer, designing specifically for screen. CMYK is the combinations of colours which is used for print.

'Televisions, cameras, scanners and computer monitors are based on the additive system of color (RGB), where red, green and blue light projected together yield white. Offset printing, digital printing, paints, plastics, fabric and photographic prints are based on the subtractive system of color (CMY/CMYK) in which cyan, magenta and yellow mix to form black (K).'




 Below is the colour spectrum which is often used and shows which are the complimentary colours. Complimentary colours are the colours which do not go together, and if mixed will create a grey colour.



 In the second half of the lectures we looked at Hue and Saturation.



The chromatic value has a huge impact on how the colour is ordered into its specific place. If something has a shiny surface its going to be much harder do guess the right shade of colour to something which has a matte finish. A shiny object retracts more light, giving it a different selection of tones.

Below is a diagram which shows the change in hue:



 We were shown the difference between Shade, tint and tone Which all show the Luminance of the colour. The shade, tones and the tint all lower the chromatic value of a colour:







 Below is a diagram showing the saturation of a colour:



We were shown that judging colours is very hard, it depends on the light and the colours which a specific colour is surrounded by, take these colours for example: 





A red which is almost brinking on pink and a very orangey orange.
When other colours are added with different hues it can change your thought on the colour:
The darker and brighter red placed around the outside now change your perspective on the colours which were previously shown.

We were also introduced to the pantone colour system, a system used world wide:



As a preparatory task for the session i was asked to bring in 15 red objects. During the session we were asked to get into our colour groups and around the table create a a colour wheel. We were then asked to pick around 5 or 7 of the red objects with different characteristics, i.e. Lightest red, Darkest red, Dullest red etc. We then had to find the specific colour using the pantone colour system.




 



 Pictures taken by Jasper Lee


Part 3 - Colour & Contrast

Ittens 7 Contrasts


• Contrast of TONE
• Contrast of HUE
• Contrast of SATURATION
• Contrast of EXSTENSION
• Contrast of TEMPERATURE
• COMPLEMENTARY contrast
• SIMULTANEOUS contrast


Contrast of tone

Formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values. This could be monochromatic.
Monochromatic is one colour.
  


  Above is a desaturated colour wheel, the lightest colour is yellow, the darkest colour is blue and the mid tones are red.






You can see here a difference in tone, the last image is harder to read because the tones are closer.



Contrast of Hue: 
Formed by the juxtaposing of different hues. The greater the distance between hues on a colour wheel, the greater the contrast.



These are the primary colours which have the biggest difference in hue.


Blue has the highest contrast against the white, due to the tone, making it easier to see. You can see the yellow is harder to look at. If you add a black background the yellow becomes easier to read and the blue becomes harder to read.

  

Contrast of Saturation: 

Formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values and their relative saturations. 
 



When a colour is more saturatied it becomes more transparrent. We would say a colour is blue because theres nothing to compare it to, but in the above examples you can see that when compared to other saturated colours the colour blue can vary.  

Contrast of Extension: 

This is placing colours together to form a balance between them.

Here is an example with to complimentary colours. With Violet being the heavier colour, and yellow being very light less violet is needed to weigh out the balance of the colours:



When the colours are split your eyes prefer to look at the bigger block of colour:



For example below, your eyes much prefer to look at the bigger block than the violet split up into lots of lines:



Below again, although the colours seem equally spaced out this does not mean that a balane between the colours has been achieved:







Its easier to look at the left than the right:




Contrast of Temperature:

Orange is the hottest, Blue is the coldest.

 Here we can see two colours, a red and a redish pink. The right hand colour makes the left hand colours seem much cooler.



If we add an extra red to the right the colour which was once the hottest is now being cooled down by the extra colour which is warmer.

  

You can also see that when looking between the colours the hotter red almost creates a sort of magenta colour, when infact the columb is one whoel colour.

To ellaborate on this, bellow are two images, one which is seperate by black lines, one which isnt. When the colours are seperated by black lines they look like one single block colour. When the lines are taken away your eyes are tricked into seeing a gradient of colour:




Complementary Contrast: 

Formed by juxtaposing complementary colours from a colour wheel or perceptual opposites. 


When complimentary colours mix its hard on the eye to look at, here are two examples:


 
Two of the highest contrasting colours are Red and green:



The yellow is easier to see because if its tone, the blue is harder because its closer to green.


Simultaneous Contrast: 


Putting colours next to each other that will have a maximum amount of impact.  Formed when boundaries between colours perceptually vibrate. 


Green (yellow and blue) and yellow. When you look at it long enough, you see orange, as red is absent. The yellow blurs into the green, due to the green holding yellow. The blue is forced as green, which then forces out its complimentary (orange) in the yellow. 






Part 4 - Subjective Colour


Contrast of hue/tone/ proportion:




Much more focused, a bigger impact: 


As the yellow is violets complimentary its forced off of the page creating more of an impact.


Relativity of colour: 

  Below are two images, there are only three colours involved but it looks like on the right hand picture there are 4 colours:



Below is another image which tricks your to seeing colour. If you look at the text in the top box you can see blue coming through,  if you look at the text in the bottom box you can see orange comign through. The complimentary colours force each other out.

 
  

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