COLOUR THEORY

ASSIGNMENT I

ZAHRA KAZMI | Roll No; 120 | 9 June, 2021

COLOR
Color is essential for life.

-Frank. H Mahnk

Color is stimulating, calming, expressive, disturbing, impressional, cultural, exuberant, and

Symbolic. It pervades every aspects of our lives, embellishes the ordinary, and gives beauty
& drama to everyday objects. If black and grey gives us the news, colors brings us the poetry.

Color is a sensory event; A psychological response to a stimulus of light. Color is also

unstable. Every change in light or material has potential to change the way a color is
perceived, and in addition, individuals interpret the experience of color in different and
personal ways.

Color is light alone, but is experienced so directly and powerfully that we thinks of its
physical entity. No matter that we may understand about the science of color, or what color
technology is available, we believe our eyes. Designers work with color from the evidence
of their eyes.

- Holtzschue, Linda. “Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers”.

Hoboken, New Jersay, John Wiley & sons, 2011
- Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers 2011, pg. 2

IMPORTANCE OF COLOR WHEEL as INTERIOR DESIGNER

In interior design, the color wheel plays a critical role in the compilation of color schemes
and helps us define spaces, two of the cornerstones of interior design, to fully get a grasp on
color schemes in interior design.

Color schemes act as a guideline for picking materials and colors in a space and can dictate the
overall design direction of a space. Schemes can begin with an inspiration image, a piece of fabric,
paint swatch, a found item, or start out with a color that you’ve simply wanted to have in your
home. Where the color wheel comes in. three types of color schemes can be derived from the wheel
directly.

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 Analogous: analogous colors sit directly to the left and right of a
color on the wheel. These are harmonious colors and ideal for monochromatic (hue-centric)
schemes.

Complementary: this is the color sitting directly

across the from a color on the wheel (imagine a straight line drawn through the center of
the circle). Each color has exactly one, highly contrasting, complementary color. These are
generally employed as accent colors.

Triadic: these three colors create, shockingly, a triangle

on the color wheel. You can find them spaced equally in thirds around the wheel. These are high-
contrast schemes that will absolutely make for a personality-filled space. If you’re looking to infuse
color and character in your home whilst maintaining harmony, a triadic scheme is a solid direction
to pursue.

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Warm vs. Cool; certain materials will have inherent warm or cool undertones which is also
extremely important to note when designing your space. Undertones should have a heavy
influence on the majority of decisions made during your interior design process. Though
your colors don’t necessarily have to “match,” keeping your undertone consistent can ensure
a cohesive space.

For example, a cherry wood has a very warm undertone and chrome (metal) has a very cool
undertone. Because of these vastly different color temperatures, a chrome faucet on a cherry
vanity might clash. To create a more coordinated environment, the cherry vanity would be

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more enhanced by polished nickel fixtures, which also has a warm undertone. Rounding the
room off with paint and flooring that have warm undertones, such as a Calcutta marble floor
with gold (warm) veining, will complete the look!

- A crash course in color theory and interior design,

https://thedelightofdesign.com/home-1/2020/mzpgqjfkrqpnizufp4cahwst105rgh

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HUE
The name of the color or Both Color and shade of a color. A hue is a Pure Pigment.

Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow-each of these is a hue, a color or a shade that’s true.

E.g.1. a rainbow shows the melding of one hue into another, from red to
violet, and all shades in between.

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 E.g.2. Interior space that reflect the pure hues of Yellow, Blue, Red, Green,
White and Black.

A color is called by the name of its obvious, or dominant hues. Every color name
represent a family of related hues. Nearly, all color samples include more than one
hue, but one hue is more apparent and other are present in smaller proportions.

E.g.3. a sample may seem to be pure yellow until it is placed next to a different
yellow sample. Suddenly, one yellow is seen to contain a bit of green, the
other a fraction of orange. Both are called yellow because yellow
predominates in each. "This yellow contains some orange” is perfectly
descriptive. It identifies the principle hue and a second one that modifies it.

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E.g.3. the interior of the space shows the perfect example of the above statement. It
depicts the yellow (chair/ console furniture piece) with fraction of orange. Yellow
predominates. Now we can say that this yellow contains some orange. Portrays a
principle hue “Yellow” and orange that modifies it.

E.g.3.1; Read the description at the right side of an image above.

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- Holtzschue, Linda. “Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers”.
Hoboken, New Jersay, John Wiley & sons, 2011
- Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers 2011, pg. 153

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INTENSITY
Intensity (also referred to as saturation and Chroma) refers to the degree of purity of a color.
A highly intense color is bright and a low intensity color is more neutral and muted. Colors
are at their purist when they are straight out of their tube, not mixed with another color. As
soon as you mixed with another color, you have lowered the intensity of both colored mixed.

A color intensity always diminishes when it get mixed with another color.

E.g.5 The farther apart on the color wheel the two colors you are mixing are, the
more the intensity of both color is diminished. Ultimately, mixing two colors that
are completely opposite to each other on the color wheel (complementary colors)
creates the least intense (most neutral) mix.

The swatches are made by mixing complementary colors. On one end, have a pure
color, unmixed, then slowly adds it’s a complement to it see the desaturation. Add
more and more of the complement until you end up on the other end with just the
pure complementary color. While in the middle created are the neutral mixes of
all your colors. Neutrals are muted down version of the colors you are mixing. The
term neutral color also applies to color such as; black, grey and whites.

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Intensity is the brightness or dullness of a color. A color as we see it on a color wheel is at
full intensity (bright). When we mix it with gray, black, or white, it becomes dull. Colors
also lose intensity when mixed with their complement (the opposite color on the wheel).
For example, adding a little green to bright red will make the red duller.

E.g.6 Above is the example of Intensity Color Palette.

- IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY, University Extension,

https://www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/files/page/files/4H0633color.pdf

VALUE
Value refers to relative light and dark in sample. Hue is Circular and continuous. But value
is linear and progressive. A series of steps of values has a beginning and an end. Value
Contrast exists weather or not hue is present.

Value is first and most easily understood as a series of steps from black to white. White is
the highest possible value. Middle grey, the midpoint between black and white, is a middle
or medium value, neither dark nor light. Black is the lowest possible value.

E.g.6. Below is the value scale is a series of ever doubling steps that move between
the poles of dark and light. Each step in a value series is a middle interval between
the two on either side of it; half as dark as the one before it, and twice as dark as
the following.

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 Eg.7. only value contrasts makes objects distinguishable from their background.
The ability to discriminate objects from their background requires no hue. The
degree of contrast between light and dark areas determines the strength of an
image. The placement of different values relative to one another within an image
gives it individual identity. In order to transpose an image from one color to
another, the placement of values within the two images must be the same.

- Holtzschue, Linda. “Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers”.

Hoboken, New Jersay, John Wiley & sons, 2011
- Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers 2011, Value, pg. 79

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TINT and SHADE
TINT; A tint is hue that has been made lighter. Strong tints are sometimes mistakes for
saturated colors. Tints are sometimes called hues with white added.

Tinting makes a hue more light reflecting. A great deal of added white creates tints that are
just barely identifiable as their original hues. A small amount of white results in a strong
tint that is brilliant and light reflecting, often creates more intense color experience than
that of the original saturated hue.

Violet, the darkest of the pure hues, seems more chromatic when white is added. The same
can sometimes be true of blue green or red.

Strong tints are sometimes mistaken for saturated color, but no matter how hue-intense
and brilliant tint may be, it is a diluted hue, not a saturated color.

SHADE; A shade is a hue has been made darker. Shades are reduces hue experience. Shades
are sometimes called hues with black added.

Black absorbs all wavelengths of light, so adding black reduces light reflectance. The range
of shades is less familiar than tints, but it is just as extensive.

E.g. 8. Any hue can be illustrated as a full range of tints and shades, from near
white to near black.

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 E.g. 9. A chart given below is of seven steps of equal value in different hues
illustrates how a single step of value may contain both tints and shades.

- Holtzschue, Linda. “Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers”.

Hoboken, New Jersay, John Wiley & sons, 2011
- Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers 2011, Tint & Shade, pg. 176

TONE
There’s no really satisfactory definition for “tone.” The Random house dictionary of The
English Language offers three consecutive (and contradictory) definitions.

I. “Pure color diluted by black and white”, which we know as a tint or shade.
II. “One hue modified by another”.
III. “A hue muted by grey”.

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Each definition means a modification of hue, but each means a different kind of
modification of hue. The first means dilution by changing value. Second defines the dilution
by changing hue, the third dilution by adding grey.

- Holtzschue, Linda. “Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers”.

Hoboken, New Jersay, John Wiley & sons, 2011

SATURATION and DESATURATION

SATURATION; Refers to hue intensity. It’s a comparative term that describes the contrast
between dull and vivid. The saturation of hue can be reduced without changing its value by
diluting it with a grey of equal value. A color that has been dulled by the addition of its
complement but is still identifiable is a muted hue.

Purity of color with hue and value and it represents one of the three properties of color.

E.g.10. Below is the chart diluted by grey of equal values.

E.g.11. Below is the chart, hues diluted by their complements. Each color reaches a
different midpoint.

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 Above is the chart showing saturation matrix.

DESATURATION; Term used to describe color that is less than saturated, color that has
been dulled down.

- Holtzschue, Linda. “Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers”.

Hoboken, New Jersay, John Wiley & sons, 2011
- Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers 2011, Saturation, pg. 87

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HIGH and LOW CONTRAST
HIGH CONTAST; when two colors combine to create a very bright combination.

LOW CONTAST; A mix of colors which are similar depth to each other and seem to
blend together.

CHROMA
The quality of colors purity, intensity or saturation.

E.g.;

A grey color is a neutral – an extreme low Chroma.

Fire engine red may be a high Chroma red.

Brick red may be a middle-Chroma red.

In the Munsell color solid (the Munsell 3D Color Model, above).

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Hues change as you move around the center.
Value changes from top-to-bottom;
Chroma changes as you move from the center outward.

Hue is Purple

Chroma changes from left-to-right

Low Chroma colors are on the left...
mid-Chroma colors near the center...
high Chroma colors on the right.

Value changes from bottom-to-top:

Low values (shades) near the bottom
High values (tints) near the top.

Hue is Orange.

Chroma changes from left-

to-right

Value changes from

bottom-to-top:

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 - Color Basics; Hue, Value & Chroma,
https://sites.harding.edu/gclayton/Color/Topics/001_HueValueChroma.html

Chromatic and Achromatic

CHROMATIC; the vividness and intensity of a color is represented by its saturation.
Depending on the presence or absence of this saturation, colors can broadly be
divided into chromatic and achromatic colors. An achromatic color is a one that
lacks hues such as white, grey and black, and a chromatic color is a color which has
even the slightest amount of hue.

ACHROMATIC; achromatic colors (white, grey and black) have lightness but no
hue or saturation. They can be created by mixing complementary colors together.
Chromatic colors, on the other hand, have characterizing hues such as red, blue and
yellow, as well as saturation, which is an attribute of intensity, in addition to
lightness. The elements of hue, lightness and saturation found in chromatic colors
are referred to as the three attributes of color, and specific colors can be represented
by stipulating the values for each of these attributes.

- Chromatic and Achromatic, https://art-design-glossary.musabi.ac.jp/chromatic-

and-achromatic-colors/

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 E.g. 12. CHROMATIC PALETTES PLAY UP PLAYFULNESS BY STACY GARCIA

Photo Shown Clockwise from Top Left: Nhow Marseille Hotel by Teresa Sapey +
Partners, Stacy Garcia Commercial for Artline Studio – Wavelength, Ambrose Chua
via unsplash, Felix Dubois-Robert via unsplash, Robert Katzki via unsplash, George
Kedenburg via unsplash

- TREND STORY: CHROMATIC PALETTES PLAY UP PLAYFULNESS,

https://www.furniturelightingdecor.com/trend-story-chromatic-palettes-play-
playfulness

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E.g. 12. ACHROMATIC PALETTES

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Interior Spaces, showing Achromatic Color Palette.

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Tertiary Color
Tertiary colors are chromatic neutrals made of all three primaries “Brown” is used to
describe many of these colors. Brown is not a hue.

When a pair of complements is mixed together in a subtractive medium, the middle mix
absorbs all of the wavelengths of light, so that little or no hue reflects back to the eye. Or

Pair of colors that, when mixed, produce a sample of no discernable hue. These are the
tertiary colors.

Tertiary means “of the third rank”. Tertiary colors are defined as “grey or brown, a mixture
of two secondary,” Which can be said more simply as “grey or brown, a mixture of three
primaries.

E.g. 13.

- Holtzschue, Linda. “Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers”.

Hoboken, New Jersay, John Wiley & sons, 2011
- Understanding Color an Introduction for Designers 2011, Tertiary Color, pg. 77

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E.g.14. Interior Bedroom Space showing Tertiary Color Scheme.

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