Design Practice: A Study of Colour

Contrast of Tone

Contrast of Tone is the juxtaposition of light and dark values. It could be described as monochromatic.

First I placed red, blue and yellow next to one another. Red and blue are considered the colours with the highest tonal value. Yellow is somewhere between the two. This is due to their positions on the colour wheel.

The tonal contrast between red and blue is low due to them having similar tonal values. When desaturated, the colours remain a similar shade to one another.

There is a more noticeable tonal contrast between red and yellow. The yellow appears much lighter than the red.

I placed a range of yellow items on a sheet of yellow tissue paper to compare a wider variety of tones within one colour alone. I found objects with a range of shades to produce a more interesting outcome.

Contrast Of Hue

Contrast of Hue is the juxtaposition of different colours.

As a clear way of presenting a broad range of hues I began by pacing all of the colours together. As green was the background colour, the red and orange stand out the most. The blue and violet are the least bold.

When placing the red sunglasses onto a green background, they appear slightly more orange. This is because there is no blue present. The perception of orange occurs because the brain is drawn towards producing blue.. causing the glasses to 'change colour'.

When placing tow violet objects on green they appear more maroon.

When blue is placed on green the blue becomes more prominent. This is because the hues are closer to one another. Their different hues are more easily defined once placed next to one another.

When orange is placed on green it becomes a very prominent orange shade. The hues are almost complementary, causing the differentiation between hues to become easily distinguishable.

When

Contrast Of Saturation

Contrast of Saturation is the juxtaposition of light and dark values.

When placed on its own, the green tissue paper has a rich green quality.

When a range of green objects are placed next to one another on the same green tissue paper, there is a clear difference in saturation.

When the light green clover is placed ontop of the tissue paper the paper appears to be a darker green.

When the green mascasca is then added, the leaf appears to be closer to yellow than previously.

The shade of the moisturiser is much lighter than the tissue paper. The chromatic value is cloer to the leaf, however the de-satruation is closer to a mint/blue shade.

I then layer the objects out in order of their chromatic value. The shades become more saturated left to right.

When the green leaf is placed next to the green post it note, the note appears more saturated and closer to yellow. The tissue paper again appears darker in contrast to the two lighter tones.

I then experimented with showing a three-stage shift in saturation.

In order to visualise the contrast more clearly I placed the objects onto a neutral background.

Contrast of Temperature

Contrast of temperature is the juxtaposition of warm and cool colours.

When two red objects are placed ontop of a neutral background together, the top appears a deep red and the glasses appear a pure red.

When the top is then placed on red tissue paper, the top becomes closer to a shade of maroon.

When placed on a neutral background, the sunglasses are a bold, prominent red.

When placed next to a crimson container, the glasses become more red.

The top becomes more maroon when placed next to the red glasses. In the same manner, the container becomes a more prominent pink.

When the top is placed with the container, the top becomes more red as opposed to maroon.

The top again looks more maroon/brown when placed next to the red glass container.

When orange is placed next to the top, they even each other out.. neither looks closer to red than the other.

When the red glass is placed on top of the tissue paper, the contrast is very subtle however the paper appears slightly darker and closer to brown than he glass.

When the red glasses and fluorescent glasses are placed together, the red glasses appear more orange. The pink glasses remain bright and separate from the other two shades.