COLOR
Like death and taxes, there is no escaping color. It is ubiquitous. With colors you can set a mood, attract attention, or make a statement. You can use color to energize, or to cool down. By selecting the right color scheme, you can create an ambiance of elegance, warmth or tranquility, or you can convey an image of playful youthfulness. Color can be your most powerful design element if you learn to use it effectively.Color is the aspect of things that is caused by differing qualities of light being reflected or emitted by them. To see color, you have to have light. When light shines on an object some colors bounce off the object and others are absorbed by it. Our eyes only see the colors that are bounced off or reflected. Objects absorb certain wavelengths and reflect others back to the viewer. We perceive these wavelengths as color.
Describing Colors
A color is described in three ways: by its name, how pure or de-saturated it is, and its value or lightness. Although pink, crimson, and brick are all variations of the color red, each hue is distinct and differentiated by its chroma, saturation, intensity, and value. Chroma, intensity, saturation and luminance/value are inter-related terms and have to do with the description of a color.• Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray
• Saturation: The degree of purity of a hue.
• Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue. One may lower the intensity by adding white or black.
• Luminance / Value: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Those hues with a high content of white have a higher luminance or value. Shade and tint are terms that refer to a variation of a hue.
• Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black.
• Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white.
COLOR SYSTEMS
Available color systems are dependent on the medium with which a designer is working. When painting, an artist has a variety of paints to choose from, and mixed colors are achieved through the subtractive color method.
When a designer is utilizing the computer to generate digital media, colors are achieved with the additive color method.
Subtractive Color.
When we mix colors using paint, or through the printing process, we are using the subtractive color method. Subtractive color mixing means that one begins with white and ends with black; as one adds color, the result gets darker and tends to black.
The CMYK color system is the color system used for printing.
Those colors used in painting—an example of the subtractive color method.
Additive Color.
If we are working on a computer, the colors we see on the screen are created with light using the additive color method. Additive color mixing begins with black and ends with white; as more color is added, the result is lighter and tends to white.
The RGB colors are light primaries and colors are created with light.
Percentages of red, green, & blue light are used to generate color on a computer screen.
Working With Systems
The Visible spectrum consists of billions of colors, a monitor can display millions, a high quality printer is only capable of producing thousands, and older computer systems may be limited to 216 cross-platform colors.
Reproducing color can be problematic with regard to printed, digital media, because what we see is not what is possible to get. Although a monitor may be able to display 'true color' (16,000,000 colors), millions of these colors are outside of the spectrum available to printers. Since digital designs are generated using the RGB color system, colors used in those designs must be part of the CMYK spectrum or they will not be reproduced with proper color rendering. Working within the CMYK color system, or choosing colors from Pantone© palettes insures proper color rendering.
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