(To view all images below for the essay you will have to click on the Decemeber 2004 link on the right)
Colour what does it mean to us? It’s the stuff of emotion, passion, religion and even magic. It drives societies all over the world and allows them to communicate between themselves and each other. Unlike literacy it is something that doesn’t have to be taught, it’s just your gut feeling, your instincts. It’s this then due to the fact that different languages all over the world talk different dialects that make colour so important in universal communication. It’s used by graphic designers to produce persuasive and entertaining communicational designs, just as in the way adjectives are used by writers to emphasise text. Nowadays thanks to the computer more and more colours are available cheaply to designers to reproduce their creative concepts. To me as a graphic designer it is then really important to grasp the whole notion of colour theory, psychology, history and usage.
Firstly I must look at colour theory. This involves looking at the most basic reproduction of colour and its relationships within colour wheel. Colour theory through out time has not just been studied by artists but also philosophers and scientists, Da Vinci, Goethe and Newton to name a few. Probably the best way to display colour theory is by using the Bauhaus movement leaders, Johannes Itten’s example. Fig. 1. it is today the most basic building block for mixing pigments and paints, it consists simply of twelve colours, primary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary colours which are red, blue and yellow shown in the inner triangle are the most simple as no two or more colours can be mixed to create them. A secondary colour is then one that is created by mixing two primary colours for example red and yellow mixed make orange, these are shown in the middle ring. Finally a tertiary colour is then made by mixing a primary colour with a secondary colour. For example yellow and green when mixed create a yellow/green colour; these colours are shown in the outer ring.
Just as important as the basic colours though are the relationships that are between them and for me as a graphic designer I must use these relationships to emphasise the desired meaning of the design:
Monochromatic (Fig. 2.)
It is basically a scheme of a single colour and looks clean and elegant, creating a soothing feeling. It is easy on the eyes and is good at creating overall moods in a design but due to this it then lacks highlighting abilities. As you can see in Fig. 3. it is easy to manage and balanced but lacks visual contrast and punch.
Analogous (Fig. 4.)
This scheme then uses the colours adjacent to each other on the colour wheel, where one is dominant and the other simply enriches the design. So as you can see in Fig. 5. its richer than the monochromatic colour scheme but still lacks contrast.
Complimentary (Fig. 6.)
This scheme uses two colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel and is extremely high contrasted. Fig. 7. shows that it offers strong contrasts and draws maximum attention but is harder to balance.
Triadic (Fig. 8.)
This scheme then uses three colours, all equally spaced around the colour wheel, and is popular with artists as it offers high visual contrast as well as balance and colour richness. As shown in Fig. 9. it offers contrast as well as balance but not as much contrast as the complimentary colour scheme, note though that it is the triadic colour scheme of a mixing colour wheel, red, blue and yellow.
These relationships can then be modified by altering the saturation and lightness of each hue (colour). The saturation of a colour or hue is simply the vibrancy of it, for example a bright red fire engine is heavily saturated while some dull red bricks are weakly saturated. Lightness then obviously refers to the brightness of the colour, for example pink is a lightness of red. This is done by simply adding either white to lighten the hue or black to darken it.
Also to a graphic designer it is important to know the two main types of colour used in design, RGB and CMYK. RGB is simply red, green and blue, the colours that our eyes detect and what monitors and televisions output. CMYK though standing for cyan, magenta, yellow and black are the actual colours that are used in the printing of the designs. This then means that if the design is going to be published on screen everything must be done in RGB but if it is going to be published in print everything must then be CMYK.
Secondly in conjunction with the actual use of colour the whole issue of psychology must be taken into account, as different colours stimulate different feelings meaning as a designer you must fully understand these different emotions to take full advantage of them. Here are some colours and their different psychological feelings:
Black (Fig. 10.)
As black reflects no light or colour it is seen as the colour of death and is used in funerals as the colour for mourning. Graphic designers usually use it as a receptacle and contrast to other colours being used and is often given the back seat in the design. In contrast though in other parts of the industry such as product design it is used to show newness and high technical abilities. It’s a very negative colour as people see it to be the colour of revolt, stubburness, inflexibility and this is why it used a lot in protests and propaganda.
Green (Fig. 11.)
Green is said to be firm, constant, proud and self-contained but resists change and always seeks recognition. People who often wear green are seen to by idealising self-image and seek a longer more useful life for themselves and others. It’s a very natural colour and is universally seen as the colour of peace but also as the colour of greed thanks to its moneyed connotations. Fig. 12. using the analogous colour scheme of green then shows this. The lime green symbolizes the modern money ruled world we live in today, it’s a sickly, vulgar colour. While the dark natural green symbolizes nature and where we come from and what we are now doing to it. The analogous colour scheme works perfectly as it shows all the negativity that beds itself in the so called “peaceful” colour of green.
Red (Fig. 13.)
Red in contrast is seen as impulsive, competitive and strong. It urges for achievement and success over the other colours, seeking excitement. Objects that are red are seen to be intense, rich, experienced and passionate. It’s the colour of love and also danger, it is simply the most powerful of all the colours, be it used to be positive or negative. It is this then that confused me to just what does red mean to me and everyone else. I represented this in Fig. 14, it shows how powerful red can be at getting the message across. It shows that out of all the colours it’s the one we are most in contact with everyday, its one the one most in contact with our emotions be them good or bad. To show this conflict within the colour itself I then decided to use the complementary colour to emphasise this fight.
Blue (Fig. 15.)
Blue is then seen to be a calm, ethical and a orderly colour. It creates feelings of harmony, tradition and is seen to minimise disturbance. To me blue is the colour of nature, pureness and beauty. It is this then in Fig. 16. that I wanted to create so I used the beautiful shape of a dolphin in conjunction with the shapely, powerful contours of the wave. Here the analogous colour scheme was used to show the opposite feeling of the green composition, one of overwhelming positivity and beauty within the colour.
Yellow (Fig. 17.)
Yellow to people gives off the feeling of happiness, achievement and importance as well as danger and caution. It’s modern, ambitious and is seen to be focused on the future. The most interesting thing to me though was the similarities and contrasts of the colour within nature and humanity. Fig. 18. shows this, in nature yellow means caution, insects and plants use it to warn others, but in humanity it is simply taken to the extreme, it basically means danger and lots of it. This is due to its vibrancy and verossity when used, it’s the colour of mass energy, for example in the form of explosions.
A good example of research into these notions of colour stimulating feelings is Max Lücher’s Colour Test which studied the different colour’s personalities. This test found out that each colour creates a different feeling and showed that it is useful for a graphic designer’s to know which colours stimulate which feelings as they often are trying to appeal to a common group of individuals. The above colours are just a few tested and these results give designers guidelines as to what to use in certain designs. It is important to note though that these are common feelings and not individual ones that can often sometimes differ due to experience and perception.
So to conclude as a graphic designer colour is very important to me and to use it well is the key factor as it is this that often makes you either a good or bad graphic designer and your designs brilliant or rubbish.
Bibliography
Colour for Professional Communicators
(André Jute, Batsford, ISBN: 0-7134-7088-7)
Big Colour (Roger Walton, ISBN 0-688-16939-2)
Colour Wheel Pro
Colour Matters
Dutch Flower
Designed
Designers Republic
Slattoff + Cohen Partners Inc.
Bulletproof Design
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