ID Color Theory, Color Theory - Terms and Concepts

Additive color

When colored lights overlap and mix to produce a visible spectrum

Subtractive color

Colors are used to filter out the RGB from white light

Newton

First to understand that colors did not lay on a linear chart

Itten's color wheel

Color wheel based on primary colors of RYB

2 steps of mixing -> 12 hue color circle

Munsell's Color Scheme

Hue is arranged around the perimeter of a sphere

Value as it moves from the top pole to bottom (l to d)

Chroma as you move to the center

HSB Model

Color system used for software applications

Albert Munsell

Developed a color system based on hue, value, and chroma

Monochromatic

Uses a single color in a variety in saturations and lightnesses to unify a scheme

Analogous

Uses colors directly adjacent to the chosen color

Complementary

High contrast color scheme; pairing w the opposite on the color wheel

Split complementary

Pairs the chosen color w two adjacent colors

Triadic

Colors equally spaces around the color wheel

Tetradic

Two complementary color pairs

Color space

Final output of a color

Pantone

Color management system that is used to specify consistent color for prints, textiles, etc

White palettes

Color palette strategy foregrounds texture as a primary design concept, with natural lighting to highlight the contrast in matl surfaces and textures

Simultaneous contrast

Occurs as an optical illusion

Color temperature

Temperature of a light source measured in kelvins

Lower temperature

Warmer

Higher temperature

Cooler

Hue

Gradation of color within a visible spectrum

Primary colors

Grp of colors that when mixed can produce all other colors

Secondary colors

Colors that result from a 50% mixing of any 2 primary colors

Saturation

Intensity of a color

Scheme

Method of organizing color in harmonious combinations

Shades

Result of adding more black to an existing color

Tones

Result of mixing color with its complement

Ambient lighting

General purpose light in a space

Accent light

Spotlight to illuminate specific artwork, detail, or furn

Task light

Provides light for a specific activity

Foot-candles

Measure how much light a lit candle could throw on a surface that is a foot away

Lux

Measure how much light a lit candle could throw on a surface that is a meter away

Illuminance

Luminous flux on a surface

Warm color temp

1900-3450K

Neutral color temp

3500-3800K

Cool color temp

4000-6500K

CRI

Color Rendering Index

0-60 CRI

Poor CRI range for lamps

61-77 CRI

Good CRI range for lamps

78-100 CRI

Excellent CRI range for lamps

Ballast

Small device that controls the flow of current by providing the required starting voltage and then reducing the current during operation

Correlated Color Temperature (CCT)

Spectral characteristic of a light source, measured in K

Color Rendering Index (CRI)

Scale from 1-100 that describes the effect of a light source on an obj

Dimming ballast

Used w fluorescent lamps to vary the output of light by use of a dimmer control

Luminous efficacy

Efficiency in which electrical power is converted to light

Low-voltage lamp

Incandescent lamp that operated w low voltage (6-12 V)

Luminance

Amount of light reflected or transmitted by an obj

Transformer

Device designed to raise or lower electric voltage

Red

Chinese color for fortune and happiness

Black and green

Chinese color- productive combination

Lapis lazuli

Semi previous crystalline mineral where natural ultramarine blue is obtained from

Cobalt blue

Pigment obtained only through a chemical process

Green

ANSI color for piping systems

Orange

OSHA color for Danger

Green

OSHA Color for Safety

Yellow

OSHA Color for Caution

Red

Acts as brain stimulant and may suggest health and vitality

Deep green coral black gold

Empire color scheme

Persimmon orange yellow

Directoire color scheme

Silver grey

Color of mica stone

Carmine

Taken from the female cochineal insect during mid-16th century Europ

Color

Is a mental sensation that can only occur if three requirements are fulfilled: an observer, and object, and sufficient light in the narrow band of wavelengths called the visible spectrum

Color effect

What we actually see as color

Frequencies

All light travels at the same speed but waves of light energy are emitted at different distances apart, or ____________________.

Wavelength

The distance between peaks of energy emissions in light

Synesthesia

A neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway

Grapheme-color synesthesia

An individual's perception of numbers and letters is associated with the experience of colors

Sound-to-color synesthesia or Chromesthesia

A color is experienced as a result of a musical sound such as sound, pitch, tone, key, or timbre. Synesthetes that perceive color while listening to music experience the colors in addition to the normal auditory sensations that would be triggered in the average person

Color blindness

The inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under normal lighting conditions

Factors in Perception of Color

Light quality, media and techniques, eye and brain, psychology and culture

Dimensions of Color

hue, value, saturation

Hue

The undiluted colors, the true colors of the spectrum.

Color

Name for any color

Broken hue

A combination of unequal proportions of all the primaries. Sometimes known as earth colors

Color wheels

Color arrangements or structures that enable us to organize and predict such color reactions and interactions

Pigment wheel

This is a twelve step subtractive color wheel which include three primaries (yellow, red and blue) secondary (orange, violet and green, and six tertiaries ( yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, and yellow-green). The reaction of pigmented colors when they are mixed.

Process wheel

Contains a twelve-step subtractive color wheel which includes the three primary (yellow, magenta and cyan), secondary (orange, violet and green) and six tertiaries colors ( yellow-orange, red, red-violet-red, blue-violet-blue, green-blue-green and yellow green). Used for inks and computer cartridges.

Light wheel

This is a six step additive consisting of three primary colors (green, red and blue)

Is the basis for theatrical lighting and projection, and is now the basis for video and computer graphics as well

The total absence of light: black

Total presence of light: white

Color Temperature

The relative blueness or redness of white light, measured in Kelvin degrees. Bluish light has high color temperature; reddish light has a low one.

Cool hues

A color characterized by short wavelengths. Hues on the right side of color wheel

Warm hues

A color characterized by long wavelengths. Hues on the left side of color wheel

Value

The lightness or darkness of a color

Tint

A color with the presence of white. A lighter shade of a color

Shade

A color with the presence of black. Darker shade of a color

Saturation

Intensity, brightness, or dullness of a color

Tone

Addition of gray to a pure hue

High-key color

Any color which has a value level of middle gray or lighter

Overexposed, bright

Low-key color

Any color which has a value level of middle gray or darker

Emphasizes shadows

Mid-key color

No exaggerations

Strong-saturated

Bright, vibrant, brilliant, less gray

Weak saturated

Muted, dull

Interval

A step of change between color samples

Gradient

Series of progressive intervals that are so close that individual steps cannot be distinguished. It is a seamless transition between color differences

Dissonance

Use of conflicting, unrelated colors that do not seem to belong to each other. Can be dynamic and exciting. Opposite of Color Harmony

Achromatic

Gray, white, and black are an example of this type of color

Chromatic

All other colors with hue are __________ colors

Chromatic scale

Any linear series of hues in spectrum order. Each step in the progression is a change in hue

Advancing colors

Colors that are lower in value (darker), more highly saturated (vibrant) and warmer in hue

Receding colors

Colors that are higher in value (lighter), lower in saturation (dull), and cooler in hue

Monochromatic color scheme

Use of different tints, shades, & intensities of ONE color