Colour Theory

Overall colour is used to communicate a feeling, conjure associations and offer directions in ways images sometimes struggle to. Graphic design was once only seen in black and white which has been argued as “restricted” and “unfinished.” However black and white are integral in most communication and if used correctly can indicate colour by their usage. Yet with the progression of printing processes colour is now an integrated component of our communication with each other.

The colour wheel was formed in 1965 when Sir Isaac Newton discovered prisms separate light into a spectrum of colour- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. He then arranged them in a wheel to understand their relationship with each other. Analogus colours are hues that sit next to each other on the colour wheel and are usually harmonious and complementary. Whereas Complementary hues are ones opposite each other on the colours wheel, they usually contain no element of each other and are opposing temperatures. These often work well together in contrast and bold styles.

Johannes Itten developed strategies as a teacher in the Bauhaus 1919 to format strategies for successful colour combinations. He created seven methodologies for coordinating colours using hue's contrasting properties. These involved contrast in saturation, light and dark, extension, complements, hue, primaries, warm and cold. This are rules that can be used to create different types of form that will have bold and exciting appearances, without having to go through such a rigorous trial and error. He also developed the 12-hue colour circle, which outlines primary, secondary and tertiary colours showing the original colour and the different combinations it can make moving around it.

Some of the attributes for colour ranges include the changing of shade (adding black to the hue,) tint (adding the addition of white) and saturation (the hues purity as it neutralises to grey.) Despite the multitude of colours we have available to us, designers often use a very select few colours. Colour is often used very systematically in design, pallets are found through libraries of swatches. These are usually black, white and one or two other colours. This is to create a strong and bold foundation for communication. A design can be far more comprehensive with a limited pallet.

Graphic design is about the construction of form and composition. Part of this is the subjectivity of colour and how we can use it to reflect or distort reality. We only see colour when light bounces off objects or comes directly from a source and enters the eye. This is hard to comprehend as it feels as if colour should exist as we exist. When in darkness we are still as vibrant and complex as we are within light, whereas colour ceases to be.

Our use of colour is constantly shifting in our cultures and our history. It evolves alongside our perception of society, as a collective and as individuals expanding our own knowledge.