Tuesday 22 January 2013

colour theory session 22/1 & Questions



Colour Theory


Looking at colours using linen checkers , What did we notice?
  • Formula colour smooth and solid colour- these are the colours you can get when mixing CYMK your seeing the colours that are being mixed together with 4 plates
  • 4-colour process has small circles on  DPI dots per inch - CYMK
  • How the plates are organised there slightly off set with each other, we have to be able to see bits of all the colours in order for us to mix them.
  • CYMK is optical illusion and we mix the colour in our eyes.
We looked through our printed graphics examples we all brought in and put the into two piles one pile for design being created using the 4 colour process. & one for Formula (full colour).



We've looked at subjective and subtractive colour mode to a print process thats the most common cause of design work.


Reduce the dots to make a tint , photoshop = black


10 Questions:
  • Which are the most legible colours to use in print?
Colours that aren't complimentary.
  • What is hue?
  • How does contrast of extension work?
Contrast of extension involves the proportion of colour uses. Two factors determine the force of a pure colour , its brilliance or lightness of value and its extent or amount. 
  • Why is the most legible colour for type? Legibility and readability are fundamental to successful typographic design. Often the terms are used interchangeably. Yet, there is a difference between them. I think that the most legible colour for type depends on what size or colour background you are using it on.
  • Why does background colour change when different objects are put in front of it? Using to colours at the same time influences both of there appearances the reason is - Simultaneous contrast  which refers to the manner in which the colours of two different objects affect each other. The effect is more noticeable when shared between objects of complementary colour. 
  • What is the difference between tone and saturation? with tone, look at a colour wheel that is in greyscale, this shows you how high or low the contrast is between two colours so a bright blue and a bright red have a low tonal contrast because they are similar when in greyscale where as De-saturation is less colour saturation is more colour so you can compare these against each other to see how much contrast there is between them
  • Why do colours force out there complimentary colours?  colours that appear together will be altered as if mixed with a complimentary colour of the other colour. The mixture of the two is predicted by the straight line between the two for eg. if red was placed on blue it would project an orange tint.
  • How many colours can one use? It depends what type of design you are creating i think its important to use minimal use of colours so the use of colours doesn't over shadow the content.
  • Where does colour come from? Why do we see colors? Light from the sun or from a lamp seems to have no particular color of its own. It appears simply to be "white" light. However, if you pass the light through a prism, you can see that it actually contains all colors, the same effect that occurs when water droplets in the atmosphere separate light into a rainbow. A colorful object such as a leaf appears green because when white light strikes it, the leaf reflects only the green wavelengths of light and absorbs the others. A white object such as a white flower appears white because it reflects most of the wavelengths that strike it, absorbing relatively few. Inks, dyes, or pigments in color prints also selectively absorb and reflect certain wavelengths of light and so produce the effect of color.
  • simplest way to balance colour? using the contrast of extension will help to balance colour and make it more appropriate to the content. 

5 Group Questions:
  • Why do colours force out complimentary colours? In terms of seeing one colour , putting too colours together getting a neutral tone. e.g. purple and yellow
  • Simplest way to balance colour?   using the contrast of extension will help to balance colour and make it more appropriate to the content. 
  • Is it always a case of contrast of tone + hue working together? YES
  • How many colours can one use? as many as you want , (3 colour combination) the more type or colours your put into a piece of a design , can get in the way of you communicating. Use up to 7 plates CYMK 2 sit varnishes and a gloss.
  • If everyone perceives colour differently does this mean we perceive contrast differently? theres no definite answer for this because no one can actually see through other peoples eyes so this can't be proven.

 The other group questions that we had to present the answers to as a group to the class...
  • What appeals to different audiences ? connotations?

-What appeals to different audiences ? connotations?  (mine and Ellens question)

colours have the potential to affect our emotions , perceptions and behavioural reactions. Colours have different affects to like red and yellow are different and affects us differently than blue and green. colour appeals are different for different people too. not only people different communities and different cultures have varied colour appeal. colours are associated with gender too. like pink and purple are traditionally feminine colours. black brown and green are traditionally associated with men.Blue is a favourite colour of both men than women its still a top choice. Calming effect of the colour blue that makes it a popular colour for both men and women.

Monday 21 January 2013

Colour experiments


Colour Experiments

Our Task:- Using the principles, processes and resources introduced in the module so far produce a set of 10 studies that explore the theories and principles of colour. You should aim to explore the 7 colour contrasts introduce in Colour Lecture 3 - Colour & Contrasts and demonstrate and applied understanding of the relative nature of subjective colour.

Each study/experiment should consist of 10 individual images that demonstrate how our perceptions of colour change based on it's relationship to other colours. You should aim to explore different aspects of colour theory through a range of different approaches an methods.

Mine and Sams power point presentation- 



Our first experiment (that we used for presentation)

COMPLEMENTARY contrast - formed by juxtaposing complementary colours from a colour wheel or perceptual opposites.


We have chosen Purple & Yellow for our experiment because they are complimentary colours, they are on opposite ends of the colour wheel.


COLOUR EXPERIMENTS

1 COMPLIMENTARY COLOURS:-


This is a purple pad against a neutral background.The contrast of colour isn’t high because of the neutral background.This has the highest contrast of complete colours.The mix of the colours would not be appropriate for typeThe yellow looks almost green on this image because the purple is warmer it brings out the cold in the yellow which is contrast of temperatures.
Next we picked a wash bag and placed it with the purple book on top of the previous card.We did this because the yellow has a higher contrast of hueThe purple has a higher contrast of temperature against the soap bag.As well as higher contrast of complimentary colour.

Next we picked a kitchen utensil  we placed yellow card.The contrast of temperature Is closer to a blue hue than a red. The complimentary contrast isn't as great. Here we placed both objects on the yellow card there a number of different colour contrasts taking place here.The contrast of temperature is greater with the note book compared to the kitchen utensil. By the contrast of extension , because there's not a proportional scale of each colour against the yellow background. The notebook appears more purple than the utensil.


2 CONTRAST OF SATURATION WITH COMPLIMENTARY COLOURS-
Opposites on the colour wheel are the extremes against each other. De-saturating complimentary colours does not affect this extreme contrast but makes it worse. This is because the strength of the colour is lacking and recedes into the background.

Theres more saturation against the complimentry colours rather than the neutral. The sponge appears brighter against the purple background. Where as the sponge on the neutral background becomes duller.

The same happens here with the purple pad against the neutral background it becomes duller. Where as the pad against the green background makes the saturation greater because purple and green are far apart on the colour wheel but not as far apart as the purple and yellow.
Because of the brightness of the orange highlighter i feel as thought the saturation is just as great with both different backgrounds but brighter on the complimentary blue.
Although red and green aren't that far apart on the colour wheel the saturation is great.
The saturation is greater on the red phone case against on the blue background making it appear orange where as when the phone case is on the neutral background it appears a dull red.

3 CONTRAST OF TONE - 
Formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values. This could be monochromatic - the rods in your eyes differentiate tone. The extremes are black and white, they have the higher contrast. 


I placed a purple object on the top of 3 primary colours to see how strong the tones were, yellow is the lightest tone , red is mid tone and blue is the darkest tone.

Theres a greater contrast of tone on the yellow background as purple is closest to blue on the colour wheel. As it is a tertiary colour and is mid way between red and blue theres also not a great contrast on the red background.


I chose a red phone case on top of a blue piece of paper I feel these colours both have strong tone but red being the strongest tone creating contrast.
 The blue has a high tonal contrast next to the neutral background as the neutral lacks tonal value.
Both of these colours have high tone the red is the brightest and creates the contrast.
The blue box is a lot darker than the light blue card , there is a high tonal contrast because the blues are so different in tone.
The tone of the bright yellow against the brown is brighter as the brown is dull and lacks tone its also the darker of the two colours.

Where as the deep purple still has the strongest tone but is the darker colour.



4 CONTRAST OF SATURATION:-

Formed by the juxtaposition of of light and dark values and there relative saturations. a de-saturated is a light/pale colour. when put next to a colour which is more saturated colour is placed next to it this new colour is the strongest. this comparison between these colours helps you perceive the strongest. 

The brighter the background item is the less saturated the sponge becomes. So in this case the background isn't that bright so the sponge is clearly visible although the sponge appears bright when its by its self when its on top of something as bright the sponge becomes less bright.
These two items have a similar level of saturation the pad appears more bright here because there closer in colour so the saturation is less visible.
This is the greastest range of saturation out off all three. 

Because the background is darker than the posit notes , they become more saturated. Although the post it notes are bright when there by them selves they become even brighter on top of a low saturated coloured background. 
The green on the lip balm is really pale it has a lower saturation than the green background. The brighter the background is the lower saturation the object has.
These two items have a similar level of saturation the string appears more bright here because there closer in colour so the saturation is less visible.
The phone case and the red background have a similar level of saturation the phone case appears more bright here because there closer in colour so the saturation is less visible.
The background is darker than the string, it become more saturated. Although the string is bright when its by them selves its become even brighter on top of a low saturated coloured background. 

This is the greatest saturation out of all three.

5 CONTRAST OF SATURATION:-


The background is less saturated than the pad. So it makes the pad appear more saturated and a deeper purple colour.
These items both have a low saturation because they have similar tone.
The background here has the highest saturation than the object on top making the object look less bright.

These two items have a similar level of saturation the nail varnish appears more bright here because there closer in colour so the saturation is less visible.

The background is less saturated than the high lighter. So it makes the highlighter appear more saturated and a brighter orange colour.


Because the background is darker than sewing kit ,it becomes more saturated. Although the sewing kit is darker when its by itself it becomes even darker deeper blue on top of a low saturated coloured background. 
These two items have a similar level of saturation the deodorant lid appears more bright here because there closer in colour so the saturation is less visible.

This is the greatest saturation out of all three.


6 CONTRAST OF EXTENSION -  

You need less yellow to make the colour balance. because yellow is the lighter colour in comparison to the purple so in this case the colour is unbalanced.
There is a lot of yellow used here so this experiment is even more unbalanced than the pad and the notebook.
These colours are balanced. The higher proportion of purple against the bright yellow balances out.

I would say this colour balances because the orange is a lot brighter and stronger toned than the lighter blue.
The colour is unbalanced here because there is to much orange in comparison to the blue. Its seems a lot more unbalanced than the first experiment when theres just under less the orange amount.
This balances because the orange highlighter is so bright it balances the amount of blue that is used for the background.

These colours are balanced out the higher proportion of green against the red balances it out.
The colour is unbalanced here because of the amount of tone there is in the red there is to much in comparison to the green.
I think that the red in this experiment still overpowers the green as its that bright making it unbalanced. 

CONTRAST OF TEMPERATURE - 

Temperature is an attribute of color or a characteristic of a pigment. In the context of color and painting, temperature is the degree of warmth or coolness measured when one color stands in relationship to anothercolor creating a measure of contrast. This perceived temperature is usually measuredrelative to something else or relative to the area around it.

For this experiment we chose to place our object on a warm colour background and a cool colour background and compare the differences.

The purple pad appears cooler in colour against the blue background as it brings out the blue tones with in the purple pad.
Here the pad appears warmer in colour as the orange brings out the warmer tones. Because purple is a secondary colour it has both blue and red tones, therefore has a wide contrast of temperature when placed against different colours.
The mascara appears warmer in colour as the red brings out the warmer tones. The same as the last experiment.
There is a low contrast between these two objects because red is a warm colour. These colours are both very similar and there isn't much contrast.
Here again there is a low contrast between both objects because of the brightness of the phone case adds to the temperature of the background.
The yellow posit notes made the red background increase in temperature and the yellow became cooler making a high colour contrast.
The same thing happened with this box as it did with the yellow posit notes the blue made the red background increase in temperature and the blue became cooler this made a colour contrast but not as high as the experiment before because the blue is darker.
The purple object becomes cooler in comparison to the warm background creating a contrast.

Both the pen and highlighter give of warmth like the red but because they're lighter and slightly cooler they create  a higher contrast.


CONTRAST OF HUE -

One way to create a powerful contrast is to place two intense hues side by side. Use pure bright colors and see the stark contrast.the greater the distance between hue's on the colour wheel the greater the contrast.
Because orange and blue are further away on the colour wheel these two bright colours create a high contrast of hue.
There is a slight contrast of hues because the high lighter is so bright but the because the colours are so close together theres not much contrast.
There is a greater contrast that the image above because the colours aren't the same but still little contrast as orange is next to yellow on the colour wheel.
There is a a greater contrast of hue here because the green string. and red are far apart on the colour wheel.
The same with these green posits notes , but there is higher hue because the green is brighter than the string.
Although the yellow and red aren't that far apart on the colour wheel there is still greater hue in this experiment.

These to experiments create the greatest hue as they are complimentary colours and are the furtherst apart on the colour wheel.

CONTRAST OF HUE - 

Theres little hue created in this experiment due to the fact the colours are next to each other on the colour wheel.
The darker blue background makes the lid appear lighter when its actually a brighter blue. As these colours are too similar theres very little hue created.
Although the colours are the same because the box is so dark it creates more hue than the last experiment.

Theres hue created here because both of colours are really bright but as there simlar theres not much contrast.


Because purple and blue are next to each other on the colour wheel no hue is created between these objects.

The post it notes are brighter than the background but because there similar in colour the contrast of hue is really low.

10 SUBJECTIVE COLOR - 
Subjective colour means that a color changes in your head dependent on how your eyes and brain perceive it. A subjective color is the color it looks because of the way you see it.




The inhaler looks like a darker blue against the neutral background taking its natural colour form , where as when the blue is against the orange the blue looks brighter the warmth in the orange and it creates a high contrast.
Theres greater saturation of hue between the blue inhaler than with the purple pad because red and blue are further apart on the colour wheel than blue and purple. Although i think the blue tone looks almost exactly the same.
There isn't really any contrast of hue between the blue inhaler and the blue background because there a similar colour theres little saturation , were as the blue in haler on top of the green appears a paler blue because of the green.
The blue inhaler seems duller on top of the red background blue made the red background increase in temperature and the blue became cooler this made a colour contrast. The blue inhaler on top of the yellow background increases tone dramatically and appears brighter because the yellow background is so pale and the lightest tone.