color interaction
DESCRIPTION
John Roach's color interaction lectureTRANSCRIPT
COLOR INTERACTION
Designing with color means controlling color contrast. How do colors interact with each other to make an effective design? This presentation touches on seven varieties of color contrast that can be manipulated in
COLOR INTERACTION
Color can be used to imply harmony or discord, flatness or depth. It can convey anger or joy. Color can control the movement of a crowd; fast food chains for instance will often use “hot” colors so diners do not stay too long. Color can be used to create space; the lighter a color in a room the larger the room feels.
COLOR AND LIGHT
In the late 1600’s, Sir Isaac
Newton split a beam of sunlight
into a range of many colors by
passing the beam through a
glass prism, This range of colors
is known as the solar spectrum.
COLOR AND LIGHT
Newton found that by passing the
mutliple colors of the spectrum through
a focusing lens and a second prism, he
was able to reconstitute the beam of
“white” light.
The visible portion of the solar spectrum
appears in the order in which they can
be seen in a rainbow.
So where is magenta?
infrared
red
orange
yellow
green
blue
indigo
violet
ultraviolet
THE HUE CIRCLE
When we think about color as something
we see in the world around us, a different
model than the spectrum is used. This is
the psychological hue circle. Red and vio-
let are no longer extremes, but part of a
smooth continuum.
One color in the hue circle is actually not
visible in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Magenta can only be acheived by mixing
red and violet wavelenghts together.
MAGENTA
THE HUMAN EYE
The way we see color is dependant on the physical nature of light and the physiological mechanisms of our eyes and brain.
THE HUMAN EYE
The receptors in the eye that process color are called rods and cones. Rods handle value (light and dark) while the cones handle hue. Rods work very well under low illumination, so we can sense value even in very low light. Cones on the other hand work best under high illumination. So it is more difficult for us to see color in dim light.
HOW DOES COLOR ENTER THE EYE?
We tend to talk and think about color as though it were a thing, an object; in reality color is a property of light. Objects themselves really have no color but do have the ability to reflect or transmit the spectral colors that make up white light.
An example of this is an object that
you perceive to be green…the object
is absorbing all the spectral colors
except green which is then reflected
to our eyes; we see the green object.
Black absorbs all the rays; white
reflects them all.
Designing with color means controlling color contrast.
How do colors interact with each other to make an effective design?
DESIGNING WITH COLOR
contrast of hue
contrast of value
contrast of temperature
complementary contrast
simultaneous contrast
contrast of saturation
contrast of extension
Every color has its own character. This character can be modified through alterations of saturation and value, but the most surprising and effective manipulations of color can be seen when colors interact with each other.This is color contrast.
VARIETIES OF COLOR CONTRAST
Colors exert an influence on each other. A color’s ex-pressive character can be changed by placing it in a context with other colors.
The greatest amount of Hue contrast is between the three additive primaries (red-orange, green and blue-violet.) These colors represent the pure wavelengths that are perceived by the red, green and blue cones in your eye. Any other combinations have a comparatively decreased contrast
Contrast of HueThis is really what it sounds like. The difference between colors in their most saturated state.
GREEN
BLUE VIOLET
RED-ORANGE
Contrast of ValueEach hue in its most saturated state has its own value. If we look at the hue circle it is clear that some hues are lighter or darker than others.
Value plays an important role in the way that colors interact. Value can be modulated by adding black or white to a pure hue. This is called tinting and shading.
TINTSSHADES
HUE
Contrast of ValueThis illustration places the 12 hues in relation to their relative value (found in the value scale on the left side)
Contrast of ValueThe Black dot represents the hue’s placement next to its relative value.
Look at the difference in character between the fully saturated yellow and the red which has been tinted to match that same value. Look at the fully saturated blue and its equivalent yellow orange.
Contrast of Value
CavendishThe yellow necklace has a different impact in each picture. The impact is effected by changes of value and also hue.
Contrast of SaturationIncreasing or decreasing saturation can be an effective way to contrast colors in a composition. Pure colors that are mixed with gray will yield desaturated colors, colors can also be diluted by adding white, black, or the color’s complement.
Contrast of saturation is most easily seen when the variations are executed in a single hue.
Contrast of Saturation
Paul Klee
Reem AcraPROMINENT COLORS
Colors are those from a haberdashery : Slate Gray,Pinstripe Silver and neutral tones accented withsurprise dashes of more vibrant, warm tonesINSPIRATION
A fusion of my travels to both romantic destinationsand sleek, urban citiesSIGNATURE COLOR
PomegranateCOLOR PHILOSOPHY
I want my customer to experience the drama of color,to use color to make a statement and to create anaura of excitement when she enters a room.
www.pan tone .com/sp r i ng2007
PANTONE 15-0326 Tarragon
Reem Acra
Reem Acra
Contrast of Temperature - cool/warmColors are said to be either warm or cool. Generally, yellow to violet in the hue circle are assumed to be warm colors while yellow-green to blue violet are thought to be cool colors. It is more accurate to say that colors are cool or warm in relation to each other. See the examples at right of temperature contrast within a range of red and a range of green.
Temperature Modulation Red
Temperature Modulation Blue-Green
The Horizontal axis contains the extremes of temperature contrast: Red & Blue-Green
Contrast of Temperature - cool/warm
Andy Warhol
A Cool Yellow and a Warm VioletA cool red (magenta) and a warm red
Andy Warhol
Contrast of Temperature - cool/warm
temperature can alter the perception of space
This map borrows the temperature cues from
links of the Abilene network.
Complementary ContrastEvery hue has a complement. It exists across the hue circle, but, as we have seen, it also exists as an afterimage of that color. While the complement of a color appears as the color’s opposite, they also exert a kind of balance.
The pairs of colors and complements in the hue circle have very different effects. Note the variations of value, saturation and temperature contrasts between the primaries and their complements.
Simultaneous ContrastSimultaneous contrast results from the fact that for any given color the eye simultaneously requires the complementary color, and generates it spontaneously if it is not already present. By virtue of this fact, the fundamental principle of color harmony implies the rule of complementaries.
The simultaneously generated complementary occurs as
a sensation in the eye of the beholder, and is not
objectively present. It cannot be photographed. Simultaneous contrast may with reason be
placed on a par with successive contrast.”
- Johannes Itten
Simultaneous ContrastSimultaneous contrast is when one color is made to look like two. When one color surrounds another it effects that color by mixing in its after-image
The gray square on the left shifts towards blue violet (yellow’s compliment) and the gray square on the right shifts towards yellow (blue violet’s compliment). There is a hue shift and also a value shift which makes the gray on the left seem dark-er and the gray on the right lighter.
Simultaneous Contrast Saturation
The center color appears to change in saturation
(from green to gray)
Contrast of ExtensionThis could just as easily be called CONTRAST OF PROPORTION. What is the quantity a color compared to another color? One aspect of contrast of extension is tricky, what is the relative impact of one hue versus another?
Equal measures of red and green
A small area of red can have a great visual impact on a large field of green.
Contrast of Extension
Ellsworth Kelly Piet Mondrian
How many little blues reds and yellows does it take to balance out a BIG yellow shape?
How big does a blue rectangle need to be to balance out a yellow rectangle?
Contrast of Extension
Henri Matisse
the intensity of this yellow shape is enough to drag your eye away from the bright orange shape on the left side, despite its relatively small size.
Successive ContrastSuccessive contrast occurs when a color is viewed on one back-ground and then another in rapid succession.
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