Context of Practice: colour theory lecture

colour is arguably infinite, tones, hues, shades
colour is contextual
when we talk about colour its contextual, and dependent on the things around it. its very rare that we see isolated colour its always surrounded by other things that effect how we read that colour
when we work we deal with isolated colour
three elements of colour: physical - physiological - psychological
physical - the idea of light as a science, optics, refraction.
physiological - science meets human, the human interpretation of biology
spectral colour is a colour evoked by a wavelength of light within a spectrum, colour is linked to light
a single wavelength or very narrow bands create monochromatic light, each colour has its own wavelength
every wavelenght of light is a spectral colour in a continuous system
there are certain wavelength's we can differentiate between - we see them as the same colour, we can see about 160 million different wavelengths of colour
our perception of colour is based on the eye receiving light that's been reflected from a surface
rods convey shades of black white and grey, cones allow the brain to perceive colour
there are three types of cones
type one - red orange light
type two - green light
type three blue light
yellow doesnt exist its a combination of wavelength
the eye can be fooled into seeing the full range of visible colours from red green and blue
we cannot know that what one person calls red another can see as the same red

Johannes itten (1888 - 1967) the art of colour, studied how colours can be used as a medium in their own right
basic design colour
colour design workbook
colour - pigment - media
primary colours based on mixing physical medium
complimentary refer to the chromatic opposite of one colour, e.g. the opposite of yellow is violet. if you mix them together you get a grey/brown mess, they're opposing forces they cancel each other out and leave an absence of colour. they cancel out each others wavelengths
the wheel shows the complimentaries directly opposite each other
optical mixing we cannot differentiate between spectral yellow and combination of red and green
colour modes: RGB - relating to light and used for screen, CMYK - physical and can be printed to paper
subtractive colour (print paint and medium) and additive colour (RGB system)
chromatic value = hue + tone + saturation
hue - the colour itself, our initial response to a colour, the way we recognise the colour
luminance - how bright it is, how much it reflects colour, creates a whole set of shades
tint - adding more white to something would create a tint, effects its luminance, it may not be as bright but it will be lighter in terms of its tint, pink is a tint of red
tone = tint + shade
saturation = the amount of a colour we can see, we can effect a colours saturation by moving it through a hue

Context of Practice