Table of Contents
Colour is the visual perceptual property in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Colour derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light energy versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. These physical or physiological quantifications of colour, however, do not fully explain the psychophysical perception of colour appearance.
Dimensions of Colour
There are three dimensions to colour-hue, value and intensity. This makes a colour multidimensional-any colour appearance can be described in terms of these three dimensions.
Hue
Hue refers to the names of the colours. It is the contrast between redness, blueness and greenness. We most typically think of hues as coming from white light divided into the visible spectrum-red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet or as a “circle of hues” or “colour wheel”.
Value
Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a colour. It is often related to a greyscale where white is the lightest value followed by a series of greys to black, the darkest value. The hues are located somewhere in between the extremes of white and black in value. A colour value scale is a hue mixed with white to form tints and with black to form shades of that hue. Red plus white make pink. Pink is a tint or light value of the hue red. Red plus black makes brown. Brown is a shade or dark value of the hue red.
Intensity/Chroma
Intensity refers to the purity or impurity of a hue. The more pure hue a given colour contains, the more intense it is. Opposing terms used to describe this contrast are intense vs. grey, saturated vs. desaturated or bright vs. dull. When the colour is too bright and its intensity needs to be reduced, we will often say,” Gray that colour.” The most typical ways to grey colour are to add grey (black and white) or by adding some of the complementary colour. The complement of a hue is the hue opposite it on the colour circle. Red and green, orange and blue, and yellow and violet are examples of complementary colours.
Warm and Cool Colours
Warm colours are vivid in nature. They are bold and energetic. Warm colours are those that tend to advance in space; therefore, caution needs to be taken so you do not overwhelm your content with eye-catching hues. If an element in your design needs to pop out, consider using warm colours to do that.
Cool colours are soothing in nature. They give an impression of calm and rarely overpower the main content or message of a design. Cool colours tend to recede; therefore, if some element of your design needs to be in the background, give it cool tones.
Advancing and Receding Colour
Warm hues seem to advance and cool ones to recede. A cool light colour on the wall thus helps to make a small room look larger. A warm colour visually draws the walls in, lowers a high ceiling makes a room that is too large look more compact.
Tints and Shades
In colour theory, a tint is the mixture of a colour with white, which increases lightness, and a shade is the mixture of a colour with black, which reduces lightness. Mixing a colour with any neutral colour, including black and white, reduce the chroma, or colourfulness, while the hue remains unchanged.
Colour Systems
1. Prang system
It is based on Brewster-Newton theory. It deals with primary, secondary, and tertiary colours. There are 12 basic hues in the prang colour system, namely: three primaries, three secondary and six intermediates.
Colour Classification
Primary colours – the root of all colours.
- Yellow
- Blue
- Red
Secondary colours – produced by the mixture of any two primary colours.
- green (yellow and blue)
- orange (yellow and red)
- violet (red and blue)
Intermediate colours- produced by the mixture of a neighbouring secondary colour in the colour chart.
- yellow-green
- yellow-orange
- red-orange
- Red-violet
- Blue-violet
- Blue-green
Tertiary colours – produced by the mixture of two secondary colours.
- russet or reddish brown (violet and green)
- olive or brownish yellow (orange and green)
- slate or bluish grey (violet and orange)
Quaternary colours – produced by the mixture of two tertiary colours.
- buff (russet and olive)
- sage (olive and slate)
- plum (slate and russet)
2. Munsell system
Disregards primary and secondary colours. According to Munsell, it gives an excess of orange and yellow in the chart. The system establishes five principal hues: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The five intermediate hues are yellow-red, green-yellow, blue-green, blue-purple, and red-purple.
Colour Harmony & Scheme (Planning Colour Schemes)
Colour harmony means a pleasing, effective, congruent and balanced combination of two or more colours or shades. It does not imply a random mixing of colours but a purposeful selection of a number of colours to get the desired effect. It is usually achieved by combining related or contrasting colours.
Related Color Harmony
1. Monochromatic harmony — is otherwise referred to as one-mode or one hue harmony. It combines different intensities or values – lightness and darkness or brightness and dullness – of one colour only. Examples are blue, light blue, dark blue.
2. Analogous harmony — means a combination of two or more neighbouring colours in the colour chart. An example is a yellow dress, with a yellow-green collar, and ruffles with green buttons and laces.
Contrasting Color Harmony
1. Complementary harmony — is achieved by a combination of any opposite colours in the colour wheel. Blue and violet, for instance, are complementary colours.
2. Double complementary harmony — is the combination of two directly adjacent colours and their complements in the colour chart. For example, yellow and yellow-orange when combined with violet and blue-violet may achieve harmony.
3. Split complementary harmony — is made by combining a primary or an intermediate colour in the chart with colours on each side of its complement. This is a scheme of colours placed in the chart as to describe the letter Y.
4. Triad harmony — In this combination, the three colours are placed in the chart as to mark out the three points of an equilateral triangle.
5. Tetrad colour scheme– The rectangle or tetrad colour scheme uses four colours arranged into two complementary pairs. This rich colour scheme offers plenty of possibilities for variation. The tetrad colour scheme works best if you let one colour be dominant.
6. Neutral and a colour– this is a combination of colour and black, white or grey.
Consideration for Planning Colour Schemes
There are certain factors that must be taken into consideration when planning a colour scheme for a room:-
- Purpose of room
- Size & proportion of the rooms
- Relationship to other rooms
- Amount of light received by an area
- Type of surface
- Law of chromatic distribution – Law of Chromatic Distribution: As areas reduce in size, the chromatic intensity can be increased. Using less of bright colour, will make it look brighter, and emphasize it. Too much intense colour can be irritating, uncomfortable because the eye has no place to rest. Balance small areas of intense colour with large areas of neutral ones.
Dominant areas- walls, floors and ceilings
Medium areas- draperies, bed covers etc
Smaller areas- sofa sets small pieces of upholstered furniture
Psycho Effects of Colour & Its use in Decor
Red
Red has proven to be a colour of vitality and ambition it has been shown to be associated with anger. Sometimes red can be useful in dispelling negative thoughts, but it can also make one irritable. Pink has the opposite effect of red. Pink induces feelings of calm, protection, warmth and nurture. This colour can be used to lessen irritation and aggression as it is connected with feelings of love. Red is sometimes associated with sexuality, whereas pink is associated with unselfish love.
In decoration, red gives the impression of splendour, warmth, hospitality, and exhilaration. It is cheerful but not restful, and so must be used discreetly. There are fine reds, such as the Chinese red, which can be used without modification in small quantities, as for example on a chair, in book covers or flowers, or as a note in the drapery colouring. There are also rich reds that are used freely in Italian and Spanish rooms.
Yellow
Yellow is a happy and uplifting colour. It can also be associated with intellectual thinking: discernment, memory, clear thinking, decision-making and good judgment. Also aiding organization, understanding of different points of view. Yellow builds self-confidence and encourages optimism. However, a dull yellow can bring on feelings of fear.
In the home, decoration yellow is indispensable because more than any other colour it gives the effect of light. The modified yellows, such as buff, cream, ivory, beige, ecru, and pale lime yellow, are the most useful wall colours there are because they have the happy faculty of pulling together and harmonizing the colours used in curtains, carpet, and chairs. Yellow is a friend to the person with a limited income because it has the power of making inexpensive cotton, linens, and woollens look beautiful. Gilt and gold colour are valuable in bringing life to sober rooms. A plain gold Japanese screen will bring cheer to a dull room of the more elegant type. Small objects of yellow in the living room supply permanent sunshine in it.
Orange
Orange has shown to have only positive effects on your emotional state. This colour relieves feelings of self-pity, lack of self-worth and unwillingness to forgive. Orange opens your emotions and is a terrific antidepressant. Orange is the brightest, most stimulating, and most decorative hue that exists. It possesses the qualities of both red and yellow, and in its pure state, it is so warm that it should be used only in small quantities. It expresses energy, spirit, hope, courage, and cordiality.
One of the most-used colours in decoration is orange in its neutralized forms, some of which are tan, peach, rust, cedar, and copper. These soft warm colours are highly desirable colours for living-room backgrounds, that is, ceilings, walls, and floor coverings. They radiate hospitality and cheer. They are autumn colours and should be used especially in autumn and winter furnishings
Green
Green creates feelings of comfort, laziness, relaxation, calmness. It helps us balance and soothe our emotions. Some attribute this to its connection with nature and our natural feelings of affiliation with the natural world when experiencing the colour green. Yet, darker and greyer greens can have the opposite effect. These olive green colours remind us of decay and death and can actually have a detrimental effect on physical and emotional health. Note that sickened cartoon characters always turned green.
Since it is composed of yellow and blue, one warm and one cool colour, it may be used with cool or warm schemes, as it appears warm if enough yellow is added or cool if more blue is added. There is such a large variety of usable greens that it is possible to find one that is harmonious with any scheme.
Blue
We usually associate the colour blue with the night and thus we feel relaxed and calmed. Lighter blues make us feel quiet and away from the rush of the day. These colours can be useful in eliminating insomnia. Like yellow, blue inspires mental control, clarity and creativity. However, too much dark blue can be depressing
Blues are not as friendly with one another as other colours are, and therefore have to be selected with additional care under both daylight and artificial light. Since blue is not an aggressive colour, it does not have to be neutralized as much as some of the other colours. There are pale green-blues that are successful as wall colours for south bedrooms. The pale blue tint known as baby blue is the most anaemic colour that exists.
Purples
Purples have been used in the care of mental of nervous disorders because they have shown to help balance the mind and transform obsessions and fears. Indigo is often associated with the right side of the brain; stimulating intuition and imagination. Violet is associated with bringing peace and combating shock and fear. Violet has a cleansing effect with emotional disturbances. Also, this colour is related to sensitivity to beauty, high ideals and stimulates creativity, spirituality and compassion.
Purple paint is the bane of the house decorator as it is hard to mix and is likely to fade. A pink glaze over a bright blue coat of paint makes a satisfactory purple, but the process can not be reversed. Artificial light turns purple into brown at night so that by deliberately exaggerating this effect it is possible to have one colour scheme by day and a different one by night.
Brown
Brown is the colour of the earth and ultimately home. This colour brings feelings of stability and security. Sometimes brown can also be associated with withholding emotion and retreating from the world.
Magenta
Magenta is the favourite colour of modern decorators. It is a vivid red-purple and is extremely decorative. It is an exciting colour, yet the purple element in it makes it mysterious and a bit restrained. It is particularly good with purple and vermilion, its neighbours. When using magenta in decoration it is well to have it in small areas such as flowers
Black and White
As no more powerful contrast is possible than black and white, it should be handled with care. Black and white floors should be used only in palatial rooms that require ornamental floors because of their size and emptiness. While comforting and protective, black is mysterious and associated with silence and sometimes death. Black is passive and can prevent us from growing and death. : White is the colour of ultimate purity. This colour brings feelings of peace and comfort while it dispels shock and despair. White can be used to give you a feeling of freedom and uncluttered openness. Too much white can give feelings of separation and can be cold and isolation.