Colour

This project will require you to explore the theory of colour, its history and practical use within graphic design work. The project will focus primarily on research that will provide inspiration for the development of roughs and visuals.
The research must include: different approaches to colour theory relevant to graphic design, colour interaction, colour mixing, commercial colour and colour within design work (historical and contemporary examples).

My research :
-Colour source book (Rosalind Ormiston & Michael Robinson)
The mathematician Pythagoras (c. 582-507 BC) linked colour to musical scale and the position of the planets and stars. The philosopher Plato (427-347 BC) in his dialogue Timaeus concluded that the eye transmitted rays of ‘vision’ toward an object. Aristotle (384-322 BC) related colour to the time of the day; he noticed that colours had contrasts. He defined seven colours, plus black and white. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) published his treatise to explain the phenomenon of colour and light in Della Pittura. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), using his observation of nature, began his theories on colour perspective. He advanced the idea that air took its colour from humidity and that sky was a reflected colour, with only the appearance of blue.
Sir Isaac Newton turned to scientific experiment, to understand the colour spectrum. In 1666 his use of a prism revealed that light is not one colour but many.

German writer Johann Wolgang von Goethe (1749-1832) disagreed with Newton. He based his theories on the eye perceiving colour. The French chemist Michael-Eugene Chevreul (1786-1889), published the principles of harmony and the contrast of colours to formalise the colour wheel.

The aim of the colour wheel is to illustrate primary, secondary and tertiary colours. It also shows the light/ dark, warm/cold contrasts within the colours.
The primary colours are: Red, Yellow and Blue.
The secondary colours are: Green, Orange and Purple.
The tertiary colours are: orange-red, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple and purple-red.
The diagram illustrates the warm/cool contrasts within the colour wheel.
Harmonised colours are ones which are similar chroma, or different colours in the same shade. They are combinations of colours which meet without harsh conditions.

Colour mixing
There are two types of colour mixing:
Subtractive = all colours together create black. Artists primaries – red, yellow, blue. Printers primaries – cyan, magenta, yellow. In subtractive light is reflected.
Additive = all colours together create white. In additive colours are illuminated.

Hue = The actual colour.
Saturation = The intensity of the colour.
Value = The lightness or darkness of the colour.
Monochromatic = The same hue but different tints and shades created by adding black and white.
Analogous = Colours that can be found next to each other on the colour wheel.

Complimentary = Colours that are situated opposite each other on the colour wheel.
Split complimentary = colours that are situated four colours from either side of your first chosen colour.
Double complimentary = Any four colours which are situated two colours apart from your first chosen colour.

Contemporary artists
Jennifer Mcduffie – http://www.artxpressions.com/index.php?d=Acrylic-Paintings&p=Blue-Forest_Lrg.jpgThumbnails

Patricias Pastels – http://patriciaspastels.blogspot.com/2010/11/fun-with-complementary-colours.html