Colour Theory Lecture 1 & 2

Systematic Colour

Below is a paragraph proving that you don't need to see the all the letters to read a word,
you can see it clearly when it is black type on a white background... 

Then again when it is reversed...

However when you add a colour for instance pale violet the type now becomes harder to read...

It is even harder to read in this example and the type almost becomes blurry, it almost hurts your eyes ...

And the same again in this piece...

This shows us that you can get it wrong with colour and we need to understand colour theory to use it to our advantage, and not ruin a piece of work.

Colours are largely indefinable, this is because there is a huge spectrum of billions of variations of colour.

Aswell as this everybody sees colour slightly differently. 

We can never be sure of what we are seeing.

Physics of Optics

Light travels at different wavelengths

Different frequencies = different variations

•   The eye contains two kinds of receptors: rods and cones.  
•   While the rods convey shades of grey, the cones allow the brain to perceive colours
•   Of the three types of cones, the first is sensitive to red-orange light, the second to green light and the third to blue-violet light. 


When a single cone is stimulated, the brain perceives the corresponding colour.
•If our green cones are stimulated, we see "green".
•If our red-orange cones are stimulated, we see "red".
•If both our green and red-orange cones are simultaneously stimulated, our perception is yellow. 

Primary Colours- These colours can't be created by other colours, Red, Yellow, Blue
Secondary Colours- By mixing two of the primary colours we create a secondary colour, Orange, Green, Violet
Tertiary Colours- Are the breadth of colours between the primary and secondary, Bluey/Green, Reddish- Orange e.c.t.

However in terms of light 

Red

Green

Blue 

Are the primary colours

RGB

It is screen based and works with light, e.g. on a computer, and television

And in terms of print

Cyan

Magenta

Yellow

(Black is made from all of these)

CMYK

It is print based and works with chemicals and pigments, e.g. onto paper

•The eye cannot differentiate between spectral yellow, and some combination of red and green.
•The same effect accounts for our perception of cyan, magenta, and the other in-between spectral colours. 

The eye can be fooled.

Subtractive and Additive Colour

Still all based on our ability to see colour

There are lots of different colour models.

Complimentary Colours- Are directly opposite each other, they do not go well together.

Tertiary Colours 

A mixture of the complimentary colours 

Tertiary Wheel

Neutrals have no colour value

Brown = Red etc.

Dimensions of Colour

Chromatic Value
 =

Hue / Tone / Saturation

Hue is the name we give to the colour

Luminance - Shades or Tints

Light or Dark

Light Reflect colour

Darker Absorbs

Tones- Desaturation of a Colour

Saturation- how much of a colour is there in its purest form.

Pantone 
Specifies a colour 
It is made from the need for a system that everyone can understand 
Each colour has a code
Its systematic system for subjective content.

Using the coloured items we all brought in we had to arrange them as a colour wheel,
starting with the most of another colour at either end e.g. I had orange so are group had to 
start with the most yellow-orange at one end and the most red-orange at the other. 

Then in our groups we had to pick out six items that full filled the broadest range of the 
dimensions of the colour, one had to be the darkest shade and one the lightest tint, another 
had to be the yellowist hue and then the redist hue, and the others had to be the most 
saturated and then the least.

Then Using the Pantone Swatches we had to colour match each item, the Pantone swatch
system contains thousands of colours, each are in different catalogues. We used the matte
swatches and the coated swatches.

Bic Razors- Pantone, 123C, 15pts Pantone Yellow 93.8, 1pt Pantone Warm Red 6.2

Jelly Mould- Pantone 1505C, 8pts Pantone Or.021 50.0, 8pts Pantone Trans Wt. 50.0

Reeses Wrapper- Pantone 1655C, 10pts Pantone Warm Red 62.5, 6pts Pantone Yellow 37.5

Nail Varnish- Pantone 173C, 12pts Pantone Warm Red 72.7, 4pts Pantone Yellow 24.3, 
         1/2 pts Pantone Black 3.0

Glove- Pantone 1645C, 5pts Pantone Warm Red 31.3, 5pts Pantone Yellow 18.7, 8pts Pantone Trans. Wt. 50.0

Cinema Ticket- Pantone 712M, Pantone Or.021 1.94, 1/8pts Pantone Black .06, 202,1/8pts Pantone Trans. Wt. 98.00

T-Shirt- Pantone 1635M, Pantone Warm Red 15.6, 1,1/2pts Pantone Yellow 9.4, 12pts Pantone Trans. Wt. 75.0