Colors-A study

Colors Richa Sehgal | DDE | Semester I Faculty Guide: Nijoo Dubey National Institute of Design, R&D Campus, Bangalore

Index Exercises • • • • • •

Greyscale From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony Good Bad Combinations Color Interaction Color and Products Pulse of a Street

Greyscale Objective: Other than increasing the response threshold of the observer the exercise has a good measure of skill also thrown into it.

Materials: White and black poster color, flat/round brushes, ivory/cartridge sheet.

Mode: • Make 16 or more distinct shades of gray using paints and brushes.

• Cut rectangle of 7X2 cm.

• Arrange the rectangles in a gray scale.

Discussions: Achromatic Colors Human eye and perception of grey Grey‐ Applications and implications in design The Weber Fechner Law Psychological effects of Grey

Greyscale Learning: One needs to be extremely careful in adding pinch of black into white in order to bring out a subtle difference in each consequent shade.

The idea of this exercise was to increase the response threshold and observation power by bringing out 16 shades of grey using paints and brushes.

After 2-3 explorations, the required palette came out nicely.

Greyscale

Discussions

Achromatic Colors Any color that lacks strong chromatic content is said to be unsaturated, achromatic, or near neutral. Pure achromatic colors include black, white and all grays; near neutrals include browns, tans, pastels and darker colors. Near neutrals can be of any hue or lightness.

Neutrals are another important part of creating a color scheme. Gray, black, white, brown, tan, and off-white are generally considered neutral colors. Browns, tans, and off-whites tend to make color schemes feel warmer (as they’re really all just tones, shades, and tints of orange and yellow). Gray will take on a warm or cool impression depending on surrounding colors. Black and white can also look either warm or cool depending on the surrounding colors..

Greyscale Human eye and perception of Grey Grey is a neutral color, generally considered on the cool end of the color spectrum. It can sometimes be considered moody or depressing. Light greys can be used in place of white in some designs, and dark greys can be used in place of black.

Grey is generally conservative and formal, but can also be modern. It is sometimes considered a color of mourning.

Discussions

Greyscale

Discussions

The wide spectrum of gray shades used in this design combine to give a

Adding a bright accent color into an otherwise-

sophisticated and professional look to the site.

neutral palette is one of the easiest color schemes to create

Grey�Applications and Implications in Design It’s commonly used in corporate designs, where formality and professionalism are key. It can be a very sophisticated color. Grey can be a wonderful background color for other, more intense colors. If you get the right shade of gray and stir it into a more adventurous color scheme, it will make the other colors 'sing'.

The danger with grey is that if you have this color on too many surfaces, with no other color (or a clean white) to brighten it up, the color grey will be overpowering and you'll end up in a dull, moody environment.But throw in some whites, or more intense colors, and the color gray will become a chic, sophisticated canvas for your life.

Greyscale The Weber Fechner’s Law The Weber–Fechner law attempts to describe the relationship between the physical magnitudes of stimuli and the perceived intensity of the stimuli.

The relationship between stimulus and perception is Logarithmic.

The Logarithmic Relationship means that if a stimulus varies as a geometric progression, the perception varies in an arithmetic progression. Hence for multiplications in stimulus strength the strength of perception only adds.

Discussions

Greyscale Psychological effects of Grey Positive: Psychological neutrality.

Negative: Lack of confidence, dampness, depression, hibernation, lack of energy.

Pure gray is the only color that has no direct psychological properties. It is, however, quite suppressive. A virtual absence of color is depressing.

Unless the precise tone is right, grey has a dampening effect on other colors used with it. Heavy use of grey usually indicates a lack of confidence and fear of exposure in color psychology.

Discussions

From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony A study and replication of colors found in nature Objective: • Understanding harmonious colors • Sharpen the student’s sensitivity and observation.

• To enhance poster color handling skills Materials: Found flora/fauna on campus, cartridge sheet, poster colours, brushes.

Mode: • Collect three‐four samples of flora/fauna in the campus.

• Cut cartridge sheets in to A‐5 size.

• Reproduce as many colors as seen on the flora/fauna by the naked eye.

• Each color to be painted on an A‐5 sheet.

Discussions: Color Harmony The Color Wheel Primary,Secondary & Tertiary Colors Simultaneous Contrast Psychological effects of Grey

Explorations :

A Rotten Flower with lovely shades of Brown

Explorations :

A White flower with tinge of Purple

Explorations :

A tiny flower with purple shades and complementing green

Explorations :

A green Almond with unusual purple shades in it

From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony Learning : The idea was to pick and choose colors from nature as flora and fauna carry beautiful harmonious colors. Natural colors are very soothing to the eye and can refresh everything. I have chosen 4 samples of flora and reproduced the color combinations in poster color on an A5 sheet.

Sometimes poisonous creatures contain black, yellow and green vibrant colors.

Overall the exercise went good in terms of capturing the essence of nature.

From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony Color Harmony and Color Wheel One of the most challenging aspects of visual design is developing effective color harmonies that strike a balance between monotony and overstimulation. One place to begin exploring balanced and engaging color relationships is a color wheel--a representation of the hues available in a color model.

Color wheels expose relationships between colors that can be used to achieve both balance and contrast. The wheels include a number of full-intensity (saturated) hues as well as a variety of tints, tones, and shades, which are less saturated versions of the hue that include more white, gray, or black, respectively. While combinations of pure hues create dynamic color harmonies, you can design more subtle and subdued harmonies by using less saturated colors that are closer in value--that is, colors with similar degrees of lightness or darkness.

Discussions

From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony

Discussions

Color Harmony and Color Wheel Some of the Color Harmonies are

Monochromatic

Analogous

Monochromatic color schemes are made up of different

Analogous schemes are created by using three colors that are

tones, shades and tints within a specific hue.

next to each other on the 12-spoke color wheel.

From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony

Discussions

Color Harmony and Color Wheel Some of the Color Harmonies are

Complementary

Split- Complementary

Complementary schemes are created by combining colors

In this scheme, instead of using colors that are opposites, you

from opposite sides of the color wheel.

use colors on either side of the hue opposite your base hue.

From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony

Discussions

Color Harmony and Color Wheel Some of the Color Harmonies are

Triadic

Double-Complementary (Tetradic)

Triadic schemes are made up of hues equally spaced around

Two pairs of complimentary colors

the 12-spoke color wheel.

From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Colors Primary colors are Red, Blue and Yellow They are called primary because the human vision system has three types of light detecting devices, most sensitive for the colors red, green and blue respectively.

Secondary colors are the colors that emerge when two primary colors are mixed. So there must be 3 secondary colors: Red + Blue = Violet Blue+Yellow=Green Red+ Yellow=Orange Tertiary colors arise when a primary color with one of the nearest secondary colors is mixed. So there are 6 tertiary colors: Yellow+ Orange=Yelow -Orange Red+Orange=Red-Orange Red+Violet=Red-Violet Blue+Violet=Blue-Violet Blue+Green=Blue-Green Yellow+ Green=Yelow -Green

Discussions

From Nature’s Palette: Color Harmony Simultaneous Contrast Identical colors appear to shift when framed by different backgrounds or patterns. This is called "simultaneous contrast" and has a variety of affects on how we see things.

The diagrams on the right side feature two sets of identical red and green squares within a striping pattern.

Do the colors on each side of the stripes appear different? In each case, the squares on the left side appear darker and the right side appears lighter.

Discussions

Good and Bad Combinations To Come up with a combination of two colors that the student believes are good and bad.

Objective: • Subjectivity of color • Usage of amount of each colour in a two color combination.

Materials: Cartridge sheet, poster colors, brushes.

Mode: Make a two Color combination that you feel looks good together and another that you feel does not look good.

Color Interaction Good Combination

Learning : Colors can bring out a brilliant effect when chosen carefully and also can spoil the individual aura of eachother when used in bad combinations.

I have chosen a shade of purple and yellow green which appealed to me because they complement each other. They can be used for kids toy industry, furniture or bright interiors.

The second combination is red and grey. The grey can be used as a wonderful background color with red color. as it will bring out the singing effect of red. It can be used in retail showrooms, commercial industry, also the interiors.

Color Interaction Bad Combination

Learning : Colors can bring out a brilliant effect when chosen carefully and also can spoil the individual aura of each other when used in bad combinations.

The shades of murky green and blue do not go well with each other. Had the more saturated green been used with lighter blue the combination would have appeared interesting.

The other combination which is bad is that of red and brown.

As they both are warm colors, they don’t create a soothing effect on eyes and don’t balance each other well and thus appear bad with each other.

Color Interaction To Come up with a combination of two colors that the student believes are good and bad.

Objective: An exciting exercise, it simultaneously exposes the student to three most important phenomena of Optical mixture, Color interaction and Bezold effect. It also fine tunes the student’s composition making capabilities.

Materials: Cartridge sheet, glue, colored papers, poster colors, brushes.

Mode: Make a composition using colored paper as background and 2 differently colored squares or lines.

Make the same composition as above by replacing 1 of the 2 used colors in the first composition with a different hue.

Or By changing the color of the background paper.

Discussions: Impressionism Optical Mixture Bezold Effect Color interaction Simultaneous contrast After image

Color Interaction Learning : The idea of this exercise was to visualize the color interaction by using 3 colors in the composition carrying lines or squares only and then replacing any one color in the composition to demonstrate the effect of interaction.

I have used the lines to make an abstract pattern which can be repeated again and used purple background color and green and pink as foreground colors of stripes. On changing the background color as light red, the effect of pink and green lightens as compared to the first one. Thus the purple color enhances the effect of pink and green and they appear more bright in the first composition.

Explorations

Color Interaction Learning : I have experimented on blue and black background composition with orange and magenta as foreground colors.

The magenta color appears more brighter on blue background as it almost merges with the black one and little contrast is there in the black one. While in the first one the blue is complementary to orange and more contrast is there.

Thus colors interact and can reduce or enhance the effect of each other.

Explorations

Color Interaction Impressionism Impressionist art is a style in which the artist captures the image of an object as someone would see it if they just caught a glimpse of it. They paint the pictures with a lot of color and most of their pictures are outdoor scenes. Their pictures are very bright and vibrant. The artists like to capture their images without detail but with bold colors. Some of the greatest impressionist artists were Edouard Manet, Camille Pissaro, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot and Pierre Auguste Renoir.

Monet influenced the development of impressionism. He painted everyday objects. Pissaro and Sisley painted the French countryside and river scenes.

Degas enjoyed painting ballet dancers and horse races. Morisot painted women doing everyday things. Renoir loved to show the effect of sunlight on flowers and figures. Monet was interested in subtle changes in the atmosphere.

Discussions

Color Interaction Optical Mixture The tendency of the eyes to blend patches of individual colors placed near one another so as to perceive a different, combined color. Also, any art style that exploits this tendency, especially the pointillism of Georges Seurat. Apparent rather than actual color mixture, produced by interspersing brush strokes or dots of color instead of physically mixing them. The implied mixing occurs in the eye of the viewer and produces a lively color sensation

Discussions

Color Interaction

Discussions

Bezold Effect The Bezold effect is an optical illusion, named after a German professor of meteorology, Wilhelm von Bezold (1837-1907), who discovered that a color may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colors.

It happens when small areas of color are interspersed. An assimilation effect called the von Bezold spreading effect, similar tospatial color mixing, is achieved.

The opposite effect is observed when large areas of color are placed adjacent to each other, resulting in color contrast.

The red seems lighter combined with the white, and darker combined with the black.

The pink squares look different in the two squares, but their color is the same.

Color Interaction

Discussions

After Image An afterimage or ghost image is an optical illusion that refers to an image continuing to appear in one's vision after the exposure to the original image has ceased. One of the most common afterimages is the bright glow that seems to float before one's eyes after looking into a light source for a few seconds. The phenomenon of afterimages may be closely related to persistence of vision, which allows a rapid series of pictures to portray motion, which is the basis of animation and cinema.

If the viewer stares at this image for 20-60 seconds and stares at a white object a negative afterimage will appear. This can also be achieved by the viewer closing his/her eyes and tilting their head up. Closing the eye can help achieve a better sense of the color in its own aspect.

Afterimages come in two forms, negative (inverted) and positive (retaining original color). The process behind positive afterimages is unknown, though thought to be related to neural adaptation. On the other hand, negative afterimages are a retinal phenomenon and are well understood.

Stare at the center of this man for at least 30 seconds. You'll know it's long enough when you start to notice that the white part of the image starts to turn a little bit gray. Now, relax your eyes and stare at a blank white wall, or a white area on your computer screen. You'll see a ghostly image of this person. Do you recognize him?

Color and Products A study and replication of colors found in products Objective: To sensitize the student to different materials and their influence on the perception of color in a particular material.

Materials: glue, colored paper, poster paints, brush Mode: Select minimum 4�5 products that you like and replicate the colors that you see on them.

Select one product and change the EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT of the product by only changing the color.

Discussions: Object and Emotional Associations

Color and Products

Explorations

Chocos Branding Pamplete

Garnier Face Wash

Color and Products

Explorations

Pink Umbrella for Ladies

Lip Gloss- A Feminine product

Color and Products

Explorations

A checkered pencil box

Eva Fresh Deoderant for Women

Color and Products

Founders at Work Book for Entrepreneurs

Nike-Bag for Youth

Explorations

Color and Products

Eva Sweet Deoderant

Britannia Cake Packaging

Explorations

Color and Products Design Process & Learning: I have chosen to change the emotional quotient of this book by changing the color scheme of the front cover page.

The present color scheme is very dull, serious, boring, monotonous , strict and rude. The color palette consists of all pastels of green color and only one accent yellow is there. As its about entrepreneurship, it should target youth more. But the present color scheme makes it unattractive somehow and much serious instead of being more adventurous.

I have done some explorations in which I have tried to bring out more lively and interesting character to this book which can be summarized as follows: Exploration 1: Willpower,Vigor, Courage,Yearning, Leadership, Success Exploration 1I: Intellect, Freshness, Higher Thoughts, Communication, Calm, Wisdom Exploration II1: Intelligence, Light, Learning, Organisation, Optimism,Confidence, Strength,Vigor Exploration 1V: Sophisticated, Peaceful, Elegant

Dull, Serious, Boring, Monotonous,Strict, Rude

Changing the Emotional Quotient by Color

Exploration I

Willpower,Vigor, Courage,Yearning, Leadership, Success

Changing the Emotional Quotient by Color

Exploration II

Intellect, Freshness, Higher Thoughts, Communication,Calm, Wisdom

Changing the Emotional Quotient by Color

Exploration III

Intelligence, Light, Learning, Organisation, Optimism,Confidence, Strength,Vigor

Changing the Emotional Quotient by Color

Exploration IV

Sophisticated, Peaceful, Elegant

Color and Products Max Luscher Color Test According to Dr. Max Luscher, the originator of this test, each of these colors has a definite significance. They are outlined as below: •

Grey - You are a passive individual and most unwilling to be involved in any activity, even those that are mentally and physically stimulating. This attitude has stemmed from your past, which has been so exhaustive for you that you now seek to be totally uninvolved and have withdrawn into your own shell.

•

Blue - True to the meaning of this color, you are a peaceful individual, who is constantly in search of mental satisfaction and contentment, be it in your family life or work life. A sense of belongingness to the people you love reigns uppermost on your mind.

•

Green - You have a strong desire to achieve your rightful place in society and be recognized for your efforts.You want to be more determined and at the same time, more flexible to establish yourself even in the adverse situation that you are in.You seek self-reliance and independence.

Discussions

Color and Products •

Red - You are a really intense and passionate person with a desire to live life to the fullest.Your intense energy reflects in your animated behavior and enthusiastic way of speaking. All of your efforts are solely concentrated at success and you wish to conquer any given situation.

•

Yellow - You are likely to have an ongoing feeling of being stressed out in your present relationship or even work situation, and you badly need a change to relieve yourself. This makes you embark on a new journey to seek out new and circumstantially better possibilities.

•

Violet - You are a sentimental person, one who has a longing for emotional tenderness from a loved one.Your search for a romantic partner actually translates to a need to identify with someone and depends on a desire to gain support through your partner’s charm and social reach.

•

Brown - You are a person who feels bogged down by a lot of problems and actively seek a way out for emotional release. A secure atmosphere complete with physical comforts is what you really want to relax.

•

Black - You are an individual who definitely feels his/her present situation is not conducive to your health or your personal progress, and actively wants some way to release the pent up tension. Moreover, you are a person who simply refuses to let any other person or situation, influence your views in life.

Discussions

Pulse of a Street To Capture and Emotional Experience Objective:

Colour inspirations can come form the most unexpected places and can be derived from various sources both internal and external. The exercise equips the learner with a “colour inspiration tool” Materials: notebook, pen, camera, A‐1 Size sheets,

computer.

Mode:

In a group of three select a street from the given list.

Make a visit to the place over the weekend and capture the essence of the street with respect to all the 5 senses in collage.

Simultaneously take pictures during the visit.

Having experienced a street come back and pen down the experiences in a brainstorming session with your teammates.

Simultaneously come up with keywords/phrases that aptly describe your experience in the street.

Out of all the pictures that you took during your visit to the street select 10‐12 pictures that you feel are visual representations of that space.

Out of each of the 10‐12 pictures pull out dominant colours. The trem “dominant colours” can be interpreted as amount of colour , which means a colour is present in the situation in large quantities or It could be present small in quantities but the visual or emotional impact of its presence is undeniable.

Place all shades/tints/tones belonging to one family together for ease of comprehension.

Carefully…perhaps by process of elimination select 8‐10 colours that describe the place you visited. This would make your final palette, supported by keywords/phrases thought of during the brainstorming session.

Discussions: Color Trends Asian Paints Color Next Research Process Accent Schemes

Pulse of a Street-Shivajinagar

Design Process

Pulse of a Street-Shivajinagar

Design Process

Pulse of a Street -Shivajinagar

Design Process

Pulse of a Street -Shivajinagar

Design Process

The entire color palette

Keywords for Shivajinagar Observation & Learning

The chosen color palette

Pulse of a Street -Shivajinagar To Capture an Emotional Experience Objective:

Interpretation of experiences and translation of the same into a design solution. The design solution being a poster in this case.

Materials: Sketchbook, Pencils, computer.

Mode:

Make a poster using basic shapes and using the final colour palette.

The format of the poster could be a landscape or portrait or a square format. The decision of which format to choose would be related to the mood of the street, and needs to be explained by the student in the document.You can reflect back to your form exercises and look at the character of vertical/ horizontal rectangles and squares to take this decision.

The theme of the poster could be a word/phrase derived from the brainstorming session.

Discussions: Color Trends Asian Paints Color Next Research Process Accent Schemes

Pulse of a Street -Shivajinagar Explorations To Capture an Emotional Experience

Theme of Poster

Where Commerce-Culture intersect Design Process I have chosen the keyword “Where Commerce-Culture Intersects’ and in this exploration tried to symbolise culture by wavy curves and commerce/business by small aligned squares arranged in a manner symbolising streets of Shivajinagar.

But then the culture element dominates the business and thus starts the beginning of another exploration to suit the tagline.

Pulse of a Street -Shivajinagar Explorations To Capture an Emotional Experience

Theme of Poster

Where Commerce-Culture intersect Design Process As the small elements/objects/products in a particular shop are of particular kind like in flower shop there are small multicolored flowers, in bangle shop there are variety of bangles, in the brass item shop there are small individual pieces of brass collectibles, in salwaar-kameez shop there are different suit-salwaaars. thus almost every shop in shivajinagar comprised of repeatition of small elements forming the entire shop. So I have taken cue from this and tried to depict this in the bottom layer of my composition in the form of multicolored squares stacked over each other and dispersing and merging into the shops in the middle layer.

But again the top layer was not in sync with the bottom two layers and not intersecting properly with them. This called for another exploration.

Pulse of a Street -Shivajinagar

Design Process

Explorations To Capture an Emotional Experience

Theme of Poster

Where Commerce-Culture intersect Design Process Here I have applied color to all the layers of my composition.

The random squares floating in between the arranged middle layer squares show the people who come to these shops and purchase these items.

I have put bright saturated colors to the top layes depicting culture and more earthen colors to the elements in the bottom layer. But eventually they all are merging into each other and taking the colors of each other.

But the composition could be more harmonized in another exploration as the wavy culture element is not going with the overall square elements.

Shivajinagar Final Composition: To Capture an Emotional Experience Theme of Poster

Where Commerce-Culture intersect Observation and Learning

Shivaji Nagar is a multicultural place with raw business of life.

The marketplace can be seen as a composition of small repeating patterns of different variety which combine to form bigger elements of commerce and trade and take a bold and practical shape of business in the form of shops. The cultural elements depicted in bigger squares at the top part of the composition tend to mix with the business ongoing in the street.

The overall place seems crude and dull which is shown by the dull greyish background and therefore the colors of culture and bright elements also get dominated by it and hence appear less brighter.

The Vertical rectangle seemed to be most apt for showing intermixing of the 3 layers of small random elements depicting objects/things in the shops; bigger arranged elements forming street shops and the top big squares depicting cultural layers.

Discussions

ASIAN PAINTS COLOUR NEXT 2010

The bright shades of a flower ask you to appreciate life’s little pleasures. If colour is a language, Asian Paints Colour Next 2010 helps you find new meaning in that language. Born out of months of research and trend mapping by Asian Paints, Colour Next presents 5 colour philosophies woven out of thedrama and truth of today.

These are Aura, Urbanite, Gallerie, Smart Comfort, Nature Networks, each a unique expression of the world we live in.

Discussions

Asian Paints Color Next, the world’s first India-specific color forecast, has, over the last 7 years, developed and fine tuned a proprietary research process to study the Indian design and dÊcor space. It identifies the emerging directions and develops design themes and color palettes around them.

The process spread over 6 months and spanning India, involves interactions with a cross section of society, from direct consumers, to designers, to opinion leaders. During the process, experts from varied fields of design – interiors, architecture, fashion, product, art and Bollywood, help put together a large set of possible design themes for the coming year.

An invited panel of Style & Design leaders curates this into the most promising five themes & color palettes for India.

ASIAN PAINTS Color Next Research Process

Discussions URBA-NITE Young, Vibrant, Unexpected

High contrast colours giving a reflective feel at night.

Energetic, intense colours and flamboyant textures create drama adding to the glamour.

ASIAN PAINTS Color Next The Latest Color Trends

Discussions AURA Positive, Pure & Conscious

Pure Colours to inspire, stimulate inner energy and create balance comprise the colours of Aura.

ASIAN PAINTS Color Next The Latest Color Trends

Discussions SMART COMFORT Essentialist, Handpicked, Comfort

Colours that are at place anywhere in the world - basic skin tones, resonating red and timeless browns, define smart comfort.

ASIAN PAINTS Color Next The Latest Color Trends

Discussions NATURE NETWORKS Green, Smart Technology, Responsible

Sustainable materials like steel and wood, the slightly artificial neon greens inspired by technology and the deep blue of the ocean, symbolizing the ecosystem have inspired the colour palette of Nature Networks.

ASIAN PAINTS Color Next The Latest Color Trends

Discussions GALLERIE Artisitic, Expressive, Treasured

The colours of Gallerie are inspired by the basic pastels, raw earth and windswept textures which often prove to be the best colours to highlight art.

ASIAN PAINTS Color Next The Latest Color Trends

Discussions

ACCENT COLORS

Accent colors are colors that are used for emphasis in a color scheme. These colors can be bold or vivid and are used sparingly, to emphasize, contrast or create rhythm.

Discussions

ACCENT REDS

ACCENT ORANGES

ACCENT BLUES

ACCENT YELLOWS

ACCENT PINKS