Color

Brian Carroll | Berry College | Home Directory

“Colors are forces, radiant energies that affect us positively and negatively
whether we are aware of it or not." – Johannes Itten, The Elements of Color (1961)

Color
A property of light. The way an object absorbs or reflects light. Therefore, texture is important. Shag carpet will absorb light differently than a black lacquer grand piano. Perspective, or angle, also is important. In other words, color is not absolute.

Primary colors: RGB. Those divided by a prism: Red Green Blue

The three added make white light, unless you're using pigments, in which case they will combine to produce black. RGB is additive AND subtractive, then. A color wheel is subtractive, sub-divisions of all or many of the colors out of black, beginning with RGB. Next, secondary colors, which can be mixed with primary colors to produce tertiary colors.

Every color has three properties:

Hue >> where we get the color's name (pink, evergreen)
Value >> degree of lightness or darkness; normal values; lighter than normal are tints and darker than normal are shades
Intensity >> saturation, purity, brightness

Color can elicit emotions, reactions:

Warm colors stimulate.
<<

Cool colors relax.
>>

This is why your dentist painted his lobby a cool, light blue rather than a bright red. This is why David Letterman, Jay Leno and Jon Stewart have "green rooms" for their guests. Warm colors for skin tones, sunny mornings, foods. Cool colors for forests, skies and riverscapes. Warm colors advance; cool colors recede. Think of red text. It lifts off the page (and drills into your irises).

Colors often have associations. "Seeing red." "He's yellow." "Feeling blue."

Weddings >> white, purity.

Valentine's Day >> red, passion.

Funerals and 40th birthday parties >> black, death, mourning.

Be aware of cultural differences, however. In India, white is for funerals and yellow is for weddings.

But generally:
Blue = authority, honesty, cool-ness, soothing, masculine
Yellow = warmth, light, nutrition (this is why so much of food packaging is yellow)
Green = environment, soothing, natural, living
Red = passion, heat, ire, flames, STOP!, Warning!, danger

Our perception of color is influenced by the colors around it. This is known as simultaneous contrast.

Gray next to red will seem tinged with red:

Gray on black will appear lighter than gray on white:

Web v. print
Printed publications reflect light.
Computer monitors, Powerpoint slides, films and Web sites project light.

Don't expect the color on your monitor to reproduce exactly the same in print materials, or the opposite. And Web color palettes are more limited, typically 216 colors.

Pantone Matching System >> PMS colors
Hexadecimals

The traditional method of preparing visuals in full color for reproduction requires four plates (CMYK), which are made through a process called color separation. Each of these plates print a color of ink in the density specified so that when the plate is combined with an impression from another plate, it will create the tone or shade desired. So full color is often called process color, or CMYK.

Telling the story with color

Moulin Rouge: lush, sensual, rich, surreal tones
Age of Innocence: rich, deeply saturated jewel tones
Austin Powers: electric, neon, geometric, Warhol-esque (The Dating Game)
Lost in Translation: minimalist, monochrome, night, bonsai, contrast
I, Robot: cool, chrome and blue and black, futuristic, clean

Degas, Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh

"Listen to color, pay attention to its tone, its mood, and its message. And respect its presence in our work." --Itten

Resources:
Poynter Institute (this site is really, really good)
Harlen's color primer