DESIGN PRACTICE: A STUDY OF COLOUR

Our study task was to focus on using the principles, processes and resources introduced in the module so far produce a set of 10 studies that explore the theories and principles of colour. You should aim to explore the 7 colour contrasts introduce in Colour Lecture 3 - Colour & Contrasts and demonstrate and applied understanding of the relative nature of subjective colour.

Each study/experiment should consist of 10 individual images that demonstrate how our perceptions of colour change based on it's relationship to other colours. You should aim to explore different aspects of colour theory through a range of different approaches an methods.

1. 7 COLOUR CONTRASTS.

I was partners with Bobby and we created a hypothesis: "The blue of the object would become more intense when the lighter and mid tones were introduced as a background"

(OUR PRESENTATION)

We explored all 7 of Ittens list of contrasts to see if our hypothesis was correct. Through our research we found that the brighter the background with high saturations the intenser the blue became. Thus making our original thoughts incorrect. I found this colour theory challenging as we explored all 7 of his theories in one colour study.

Our approach to the study was systematical by using no natural light to keep the colour and images consistent. We explored 10 different coloured backgrounds;

Lime
Blue
Bright Pink
Dark Pink
Red
Purple
Orange
Yellow
Beige
Green

An interesting thing we discovered from our experiment was that the colour of the paper would also change colour when the object was placed onto it.

I then carried out 9 other experiments individually.

2. ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL LIGHT

The light can effect the way we percive colour, I decided to begin this experiment by working with one green object against 5 different coloured backgrounds in artificial light: light bulb and natural light: light from the outside. I used the natural light in the early morning around 7am.

Red Inside:

Red Outside:

Orange Inside:

Orange Outside:

Green Inside:

Green Outside:

Blue Inside:

Blue Outside:

Yellow Inside:

Yellow Outside:

I really enjoyed this experiment because there was a clear contrast of how the colour changed due to the lighting differences. It was interesting to see how these two lighting differences were picked up by a camera opposed to what my eye saw.

3. CONTRAST OF SATURATION:

To begin my experiment I took a green leaf and placed it against multiple green backgrounds with different saturations and textures to see if the leafs vibrancy would either enhance it or become duller.

Against the dull green background the colour of the leaf stayed neutral and didn't really change. This could possibly be due to the colour being the closest to white.

I then used a primary green background, the colour of the leaf enhanced in saturation compared to the first colour significantly.

I then experimented with the leaf against a blue-green colour with a plastic texture. The leafs saturation significantly enhanced to a bright green verging on a light yellow.

I then used a dark green background. The leafs colour desaturated completely and produced elements of black.

Finally I used a lime green colour on the leaf. The colour of the background changed slightly yellow and the leaf also produced a lighter saturation and verged on the colour of yellow.

I then experimented with a patent red boot against varying red backgrounds to see if the saturation would increase or decrease.

Firstly I used primary red card, the boots saturation against this was really bright.

I then used it against a brighter and shiny red-orange background and the saturation of the boot decreased dramatically brighting in some darker tones of black.

I then used a bright red bag ainst the boot and the saturation of the boot became brighter and some orange tones came through.

I then used a dark maroon red and the saturation of the boot decreased again. The red somehow became a pastel tone with some hints of pink.

Finally I used a dull red - orange fabric against the boot and the saturation increased showing again some tones of pink.

The experiment showed for the red boot that if the background was lower in saturation compared to the boot the brighter it would be perceived compared to if there was a highly saturated colour used. However with the green leaf the brighter or lighter the saturation of the background was against the leaf the brighter it was perceived.

4. COMPLIMENTARY CONTRAST

On the colour wheel a complementary colour is found in the opposition of another colour. For my experiment I used one red object through out to see if the colour would force out it's complimentary colours against the background.

Against the orange background a deep blue can be seen around the outer rim of the red object. This is possibly due to the red being closer to the orange on the colour wheel and the

The blue background forces a orange glow.

The purple background forces a yellow tint

And juxtaposes with the yellow

I then looked at monochromatic colours and the white caused a black shadow,

and juxtaposed on the black creating a white shadow.

I then took the experiment further by seeing if this study would work against brightly shaped patterns.

Due to the multitude of colours it was hard to see if the red actually forced out the green. In reflection I think this only applies to solid colour. Initially I thought that the object would force out its complementary of green when infact it forced out the backgrounds colours.

5. CONTRAST OF EXTENSION

Contrast of extension is Formed by assigning proportional field sizes in relation to the visual weight of a colour. I experimented with a multitude of collurs and spacial quality to see if the darker colours were perceived heavier than the light colours.

I began using 3.4 ratio, the blue definitely outweighed the orange and was the heaviest out of the two.

I then took the orange paper even further away and the result still remained the same.

I then put the orange paper 3.4 over the blue, the lighter colour looked the heaviest out of the two colours however because the blue is a dark colour it still had a strong significance.

I then took the orange paper all the way to see if the blue would seem lighter. the ratio of orange definitely outweighed the blue and did look like the heaviest colour.

I then did this again with violet and yellow using similar measurements.

The purple still outweighed the yellow because it is a darker colour therefore making it heavier.

The orange and blue showed a broader variation.

6. CONTRAST OF TEMPERATURE

Colours can be considered cold or warm, known as the temperature wheel. Dark colours like blue are considered cold and bright colours like orange can be considered warm. I started this experiment by using these two as backgrounds. I then used a red object to see if these colours would either make the colour seem colder or warmer.

I used the blue background and the temrperature of the red still was warm

Because the red is already a warm colour the orange background made the colour look lighter because they are similar.

I then used a divided page to see if one side would be wamer or colder than the other. The colour of the heart on the right seemed more brighter than the colour of the heart on the right poissibly due to the strong contrast of colour.

I then used a yellow post it against an orange background the colour again is a warm colour and still looked warm.

I then used the blue background again and and the yellow post it stood out signifcantly warmer because of the juxtaposing colour.

Again, The colour of the post it on the right seemed more brighter than the colour of the heart on the right possibly due to the strong contrast of colour.

7. SUBJECTIVE COLOUR

Neutral colours can be affected by surrounding colours, I decided to start this experiment by using a grey sheet of paper against a primary and dark green and again with orange to see if the colour would change.

From the intial results from the first two images I wanted to experiment with this further and see if it applied to not only just neutral colours but the same colours as the background.

8. SUBJECTIVE COLOUR PART 2 - CONTRAST OF NEUTRAL TEXTURES.

Colour starts to control its surroundings. Neutral grey backgrounds against the colours creates a visual simulation.

I was interested by the results of my previous experiment so I again looked at subjective colour but with a change. I wanted to see if different textures of a neutral beige would effect the green objects colour.

Artificial Wood Desk: