Unit 1 Back to Basics — Understanding Color
We are surrounded by color everywhere.Wherever there is light, there is also color and without any doubt.Color represents one of the key elements of every design.It can carry out a message of itself and a good color sense is what separates the good designer from all the rest.
The Science of Color
Color is the perceptual characteristic of light.Specifically, color is light, and light is composed of many colors, those we see are the colors of the visual spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.
As simple as it might seem, color is actually very complex and a good knowledge of how color works and its properties is very important for an efficient using of color in your every day design.
The Color Wheel is a perfect instrument for understanding color.It shows the primary, secondary and tertiary colors.
Blue, red and yellow are primary colors. They are pure colors and can’t be made from any other colors.
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Secondary colors are orange, green and violet which are made from equal amounts of any two primary colors.For example, green is made of equal amount of blue and yellow.
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Tertiary colors are made by mixing a primary color with the secondary color nearest to it.On our color wheel yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green and yellow-green are tertiary colors.
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Complementary colors such as red and green lie opposite each other the color wheel create a strong contrast bringing energy, vigor and excitement to any design.
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Meanwhile analogous colors like yellow and orange for example lie adjacent to each other and create a pleasant, low-contrast harmony.
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A pure color such as yellow or blue is known as the HUE.A single hue may have many variations of its pure color ranging from light to dark.The term describing this is TONE (or value).A color with added white is called a tint while a color with added black is called a shade.
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And a hue will vary according to its brightness.This is known as the saturation.The saturation of the hue ranges from full intensity to low intensity, from bright to grey.
Temperature of the color is yet another important characteristic of color.Colors containing red are warmer while colors containing blue are considered to be colder.
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Advancing and Receding
Colors containing red create the illusion of advancing towards the viewer while colors that contain blue (like green or violet) seem to recede.
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Simultaneous Contrast
When seeing to neighboring colors, the human eye tends to emphasize the differences between them rather than the similarities.The perception of one color will always be influenced by the presence of another color, as you can see in this example.The word blue is the same color on both backgrounds but it’s perceived to look brighter on yellow and darker on red.
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Complementary colors of high saturation and equal luminosity tend to appear more brilliant.
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Weight
Colors differ in weight also.For example colors from the blue-green range appear to be much easier than the ones who contain red which appear to be heavier.
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Choosing the Right Color for Your Text
Poor legibility of the text is a common error which affects directly the way your message is transmitted to the reader.So a good legibility is always a must and you can achieve it by taking in consideration some basic elements like the font you are using and good use of colors.Good color legibility is assured by always using colors that create a strong contrast.For example a white background and a violet text (violet- the color closest to black) is a good choice but putting on the same white background a yellow text (color closest to white) will result in a lower legibility.
Also you can use the color wheel to make your choice of color.Colors that are opposite (like blue and orange) create a strong contrast and good readability while the contrary effect is obtained when using a red/orange text on a red background.
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The psychology of color
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Colors have particular associations that most likely have became deeply rooted in the human psychology.So we don’t just perceive color with our eyes, but we also have an emotional response to it.Of course the meaning of color may vary in different cultures but despite the local differences certain colors do seem to have universal significance.
RED is a bright, warm color that evokes strong emotions.It stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing.Red is associated with love, warmth, passion, strength, energy, fire, sex, excitement, speed, heat, arrogance, ambition, leadership, masculinity, danger, blood, war, anger, revolution, radicalism, aggression, summer, autumn, stop, Mars (planet), respect, Aries (star sign), December.
BLUE is the color associated with the ocean, men, skies, peace, unity, harmony, tranquility, calmness, trust, coolness, confidence, conservatism, water, ice, loyalty, dependability, cleanliness, technology, winter, depression, coldness , air, wisdom, royalty, nobility, Earth (planet), Virgo, Pisces（light blue） and Aquarius (dark blue) (star sign), strength, steadfastness, light, friendliness, July (sky blue), February (deep blue).It’s the most common color used for men products being most preferred by men.It causes the opposite reaction as red.Peaceful, tranquil blue causes the body to produce calming chemicals and calls to mind feelings of calmness or serenity.
YELLOW is cheerful sunny color and an attention getter.Yellow stands for sunlight, joy, earth, optimism, intelligence, idealism, wealth (gold), summer, hope, air, liberalism, hazards, dishonesty , weakness, greed, femininity and friendship.It is also the most difficult color for the eye to take in due to the high amount of light that is reflected, so it can be overpowering if overused.
GREEN is a calming, refreshing color, currently the most popular decorating color.Green symbolizes nature and the natural world also great intelligence, spring, fertility, youth, environment, wealth, good luck, vigor, generosity, grass, aggression, coldness, jealousy.It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision.
VIOLET is the color of royalty, purple connotes luxury, wealth, spirituality, creativity, ceremony, mystery, wisdom, arrogance, gaudiness, exaggeration, confusion, pride, romanticism (light purple), delicacy (light purple).However, because it is rare in nature, purple can appear artificial.
ORANGE is a combination of yellow and red and is considered an energetic color.Orange calls to mind feelings of excitement, enthusiasm, and warmth and playfulness along with aggression, arrogance, gaudiness and is associated with energy, heat, fire, warning, danger, autumn, desire.This color is often used to draw attention, such as in traffic signs and advertising.
(From: http://www.pixel77.com/back-to-basics-understanding-color-part-ii/)
If you want to find out even more about color you can check out these links:
1.http://www.office.xerox.com/small-business/tips/color-guide/enus.html
2.http://colormatters.com/
3.http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html
4.http://www.colourlovers.com/
5.http://krazydad.com/colrpickr/
6.http://www.pixel77.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Color-psychology-infographic-1.png
Exercises
Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions.
1.What are the definitions of primary colors, secondary colors and tertiary colors, what are they？
2.What is the definition of complementary colors, can you tell us three groups of complementary colors？
3.How to use color to improve legibility (for example)？
Vocabulary
perceptual adj.感知的，有知觉的
visual spectrum n.光谱
color wheel n.色环
primary colors n.原色
secondary colors n.二次色
tertiary colors n.三次色（复色）
complementary colors n.互补色
contrast n.对比（度）
hue n.色相
tone n.色调
value n.色值
tint n.浅色
shade n.深色
saturation n.饱和度
luminosity n.光度；亮度
font n.字体
readability n.可读性
psychology n.心理学
masculinity n.男子气概，刚毅
radicalism n.激进主义
aggression n.挑衅
Mars n.火星
Aries n.白羊座
conservatism n.保守主义
Virgo n.处女座
Pisces n.双鱼座
Aquarius n.水瓶座
symbolize v.象征
delicacy n.美味佳肴
artificial v.人工的，做作的