Colour Theory 2

Todays colour theory session was about the process that happens in-between the physiological and psychological stages we go through when perceiving colour.

Some guy came up with the ideas that there are 7 types of contrast that work cumulatively with each other.

Contrast of tone is when, regardless of the actual colours that are next to each other, two colours, or shades of the same colour contrast with each other due to one being darker or lighter than the other, and obviously, the other colour being the opposite (darker or lighter).

Contrast of hue when colours contrast with each other due to having different hues, this sort of contrast is what makes it harder to read yellow text on a blue background.

Contrast of saturation is when a pure colour is put next to a colour that’s had some of it’s pigment cancelled out by the combination of tone and hue. For example, the contrast between a blue and a pale bluey-violet. 

Contrast of extension is based around the weight of colour and the contrast between the different amounts of colour on a page and how it’s placed. For example, a strip of yellow on a purple background won’t be too inoffensive to the eye, but if you split the strip up into smaller strips and place them apart with the gaps between them the same width as the strips themselves, the two colours will be “fighting” for the attention of eye.

Contrast of temperature is when two colours next to each other effect each other by making them look warmer or darker. For example, when orange and blue are next to each other, the blue makes the orange look warmer, which in turn makes the blue colder, making the orange warmer and so on. This can make the colours next to each other appear gradiented towards the edges.

Complimentary contrast is when one colour contrasts with a neutral colour, thus bringing it’s complimentary colour in the neutral. This happens because the neutral colour is made up of pigments of every primary colour, which means the neutral colour has the pigments in it to potentially make any colour. Because your eye wants to perceive the colours as vividly as possible, it noticed the complimentary colour in the neutral, which allows for maximum contrast between the neutral and the original colour.

Simultaneous contrast is when one colour can appear to be gradiented or to be in more than one block of colours next to each other due to how it contrasts differently to two or more colours it’s next too.