Unit 14 Use of Colour

Explore the use of Colour in a creative environment

Colour theory takes on a variety of definitions, concepts and design applications. Although, there are three basic areas of colour theory that are logical as well as being useful these are the colour wheel, colour harmony, and the context of how we use colours.

The colour wheel is based on the primary colours red, yellow & blue and was first developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666 the colour wheel can also have as many colour gradients as you want on it. 

colours affect us in countless ways, mentally, physically, consciously and subconsciously. Good colour choices are important in design and a bad colour combination can have a negative effect.

The colour circle can be divided into warm and cool colours. it is a general rule in design to not use an excessive combination of warm and cool as it can confuse the audience. it can make design too busy and over powering.

warm colours reflect passion, happiness, enthusiasm and energy, cool colours reflect a sense of calm or professionalism.

complementary colours are the colours which are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel. these colours are mainly used on the web as designers can use the contrast to their advantage. they can choose a dominant colour and use them as background and a highlight colour.

Analogue colours are those which are on either side of any colour, these are more often used for nature and are harmonious colours. these colours match well and can be used to create comfortable and pleasing designs.

overall colour is a powerful design element and can be used effectively. cooridnating colour between elements is a good way to create unity.

some good links to colour schemes are colourschemedesigner.com and kuler.adobe.com

Understanding the meaning of colour as well as the cultural use of different colours and how colours interact with one an other is important in the print and media design industries. They must be able to convey the right tone, message, and also to evoke the expected response to the designers task at that time with in the media they are working. Colours are non-verbal communication; they are used to create a physical and emotional reaction with the target audience.

Many cultures have different meanings for colours so whilst designing you need to look at the target audience and the target culture to make sure you don’t use colours that will offend. EG the colour red:

•    China: Good luck, celebration, summoning

•    Cherokees: Success, triumph

•    India: Purity

•    South Africa: Colour of mourning

•    Russia: Bolsheviks and Communism

•    Eastern: Worn by brides

•    Western: Excitement, danger, love, passion, stop, Christmas (with green)

there is a wide variety of difference between the meaning of the colour red so if you were making a poster for a company in south Africa you would try and keep away from using the colour red unless it was the company logo.

The way that designers distinguish there work with colours is that they will use the certain combinations to produce a feeling and theme for the work they are doing like if it is a winter piece they would either use cool colours to show the season or warm colours to make people feel happy and be drawn towards something. Also they will use different colours and styles of colours like in pop art they use primary and secondary colours as they are the bolder colours compared to pastel colours used by more traditional artist or designers.

Many logos are developed using colour. colour is the most important thing for some logos as it conveys the meaning and feelings needed to relate to the logo and the target audience.

multicoloured logos represent larger scale companies, blue logos connote social media which is engaging and connotes communication. blue also gives an impression of importance and seriousness. blues can also show dominance and be bold eg. fox news. 

red logos draw attention and are used to accent and focus attention e.g CNN they are also bold and eye catching. red can also be used to connote information.

orange is a playful, active, childlike colour and so is often used on logos such as nickelodeon. it is a communicative colour and can be portrayed as inspiring. 

yellow logos show information and warning for example IMDB and Yell.com use yellows and is memorable.

greys and silvers connote a  sleek, refined and classic look. it is a perfect neutral colour. it is also used on big well known companies to show superiority such as apple.

Ma

Artists who are known for their use of bold colours are peter grundy and noma bar. both artists use bold blocked colours with no outlines to make the purpose stand out more. noma uses  a limited pallet he subtlety and precisely manipulates shape and form where familiar symbols and pictograms evolve to form new meaning. Colour is very important in conveying these meanings. 
peter grundys use of colour is vital to his designs as they are bright and bold and show each meaning. the audience would not be able to tell what the meaning is without the use of colour and the well known connotations.

Designers also have to be aware of the colour blind when designing. Color blindness may be described as total or partial. Total color blindness is much less common than partial color blindness.There are two major types of color blindness: those who have difficulty distinguishing between red and green, and who have difficulty distinguishing between blue and yellow.

• Total color blindness
• Partial color blindness

• Red–green

• Dichromacy (protanopia and deuteranopia)
• Anomalous trichromacy (protanomaly and deuteranomaly)

• Blue–yellow
• Dichromacy (tritanopia)
• Anomalous trichromacy (tritanomaly

normal Rainbow seen by a person with full colour sight

seen by a person with deuteranopia

seen by a person with protanopia

        
                         

seen by a person with tritanopia   

Designers will have to be careful of using such colours schemes which could look too busy or aggressive to a colour blind person. 

Designers also have to be aware of print colours and how they look different on different screen resolutions to how they print out.
Some printers have software which chooses the hues it thinks is best and therefore the design does not stay true to what is on the screen. 

Prints change colour and density as they dry so sometimes a wait time is needed before assessing work.                                         
LCD and flat screen generic models can have poor resolution so colours can look different or dull.
some software has settings which can control the colours. especially Photoshop and using the colour management settings. 
Screens emit light and paper reflects light, These very different processes can never produce identical results.

My Colour tests

these are the swatch palettes from adobe illustrator they show the colours needed for different projects. these all have to be taken into consideration when designing. 

overall i think that colours from the same spectrum work well better than those from opposite sides. using brighter and bolder colours from opposite sides of the wheel could make designing harder with all the considerations of the audience.colour is one of the most important elements of design and it should be used as a tool well.