Creating a colour

Vol. 26, Issue 16, 09 Febrary 2024

In ancient times, colors existed in the form of pigments, for example, in the form of colored soil, coal or animal fat. Ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, created works of art using pigments derived from minerals, and therefore the most common color in their works was blue. Over the years, various outstanding artists have made significant contributions to painting, and the evolution of color has continued. The same great Leonardo da Vinci explored various features and principles of flower creation, as he wrote in his manuscripts. In the 18th century, the very science of color: “coloristic”, began to take shape. In 1704, Sir Isaac Newton made a breakthrough when, because of an experiment with a prism, he discovered that light consists of several colors. Even though at that time many considered this statement controversial due to the universal belief that light is colorless, the discovery nevertheless formed the basis of the color theory known to us today.

Experiments have shown that red, yellow and blue are the main colours from which all the others can be obtained. Newton also created the first version of the colour wheel, which significantly influenced the subsequent history and principles of working with colour. At the same time, another concept began to take shape, which determined that by mixing the main colours, others could be obtained, namely purple, orange and green. The transformation of knowledge continued, and the colour circle was gradually refined.

The colour wheel represents primary, secondary, and tertiary colours, as well as their shades, shadows, and tonalities. It acts as a reference point, allowing designers to create unique and attractive colour palettes. The tone indicates the colour pigment and can be rightfully called the corresponding colour.

1. Chromaticity describes the purity of a colour. The high chromaticity of the tone indicates that it lacks black, grey and white. On the other hand, the presence of black or grey simply reduces chromaticity. The designer should understand that it is necessary to avoid using tones with similar chromaticity and prefer to take those whose chromaticity differs by several shades.
2. Saturation determines how the tone looks under different lighting conditions. To achieve colour matching, it is recommended to use saturation levels as close as possible to natural ones.
3. Tonalities represent the colours that are obtained after adding grey to the tone. They look dull and boring, like old programs, and therefore are not suitable for all design solutions. However, if you need to add a vintage effect to the project, you can use them to do it more elegantly.

In addition to the theories and principles that serve as the foundations, designers also need to consider and understand additional factors such as the emotions of the target audience, regional peculiarities of its psychology, as well as the tasks of the brand itself. All this suggests that to build skills and create unprecedented design projects, you need to use not only formal principles of working with color, but also rely on intuition.