Colour plays such an IMPORTANT part in design and our everyday life. There are many meanings that vary from cultures, brand design, and emotions. They have a impact on everyone. I am really intrigued in how colour came to be in our world. Not only is this intriguing, but I have discovered my love for colour a few years ago. My relationship with colour started when I was going through a difficult time in my life. It helped me to forget about my grief and I started to create pieces of work that were powerful, bright and expressive.
Notes
Lascaux cave in France - painting that is over 15,000 years old. The colours used were black, brown, red and yellow. These were used from charcoal, clay, rush mixed with water, animal fat, blood etc.
Colour blindness
Protanopes are more likely to confuse:
Black with many shades of red
Dark brown with dark green, dark orange and dark red
Some blues with some reds, purples and dark pinks
Mid-greens with some orange
People with dichromatic colour vision have only two types of cones which are able to perceive colour. Lack of ability to see colour is the easiest way to explain this condition but in actual fact it is a specific section of the light spectrum which can’t be perceived (red, green or blue).
I really do not know how people with colour blindness feel and cannot imagine this on myself. Colour is everywhere and a part of life. I am completely grateful that I can appreciate and see colour.
Colour wheel
Sir Isaac Newton developed the first circular diagram of colours in 1666. Since then, scientists and artists have studied and designed numerous variations of this concept.
Primary colours - red, yellow, blue.
Secondary colours - green, orange, violet
Tertiary colours - when you mix both primary and secondary colours together to make red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, red-orange, and yellow-orange.
Complimentary - these are colours that are next to opposite each other on the wheel. They create high amount of contrast.
Analogous - these are colours which are next to each other on the wheel (pairs of 3 colours).
Triads - set of colours that are evenly spaces around the colour wheel (set of 3 colours).
Warm colours - sense of warmth and heat in a image / design. Connotations include heat, sun, fire, love, warmth.
Cool colours - connotations include coolness, climates, winter, death, sadness, tranquility, and trust.
Tints - adding white to a pure hue.
Shades - adding black to a pure hue.
Tones - adding grey to a pure hue.
Psychology of colours
‘’Colours, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.’’ - Pablo Picasso
We all respond to colour and sometimes colours can make us feel different.
Lab of misfits appeared on BBC 2′s Horizon programme ‘Do you see what I see?’ which was broadcasted in August, 2011, and explored the nature of colour.
The research I have done has helped me to inform my knowledge on colours. After watching this programme I have learnt how colour is an illusion. We all see colour differently. This includes factors like: gender, age and nationality. Colour changes our perception of time, how we feel and affects our body clock. Our ancestors and animals response to colour has changed and evolved during time. This research will help me when it comes to the main brief and influence me to use colour smartly when designing.
Cultural meanings
Blue
It is considered the safest colour around the world. In North America and Europe blue represents trust, security, and authority, and is considered to be soothing and peaceful. But it can also represent depression, loneliness, and sadness.
In some countries, blue symbolises healing and evil repellence. Blue eye-shaped amulets, believed to protect against the evil eye, are common sights in Turkey, Greece, Iran, Afghanistan, and Albania.
In Eastern cultures, blue symbolises immortality, while in Ukraine it denotes good health. In Hinduism blue is strongly associated with Krishna, who embodies love and divine joy.
Green
In Western cultures green represents luck, nature, freshness, spring, environmental awareness, wealth, inexperience, and jealousy the green-eyed monster.
Green has traditionally been forbidden in Indonesia, whereas in Mexico it’s a national color that stands for independence. In the Middle East green represents fertility, luck, and wealth, and it’s considered the traditional color of Islam. In Eastern cultures green symbolises youth, fertility, and new life, but it can also mean infidelity.
Red
Red symbolises excitement, energy, passion, action, love, and danger in Western cultures. It’s also associated with communism and revolution in countries like Russia.
In Asian cultures red is a very important color — it symbolises good luck, joy, prosperity, celebration, happiness, and a long life. Brides often wear red on their wedding day and red envelopes containing money are given out during holidays and special occasions.
Yellow
In Western cultures, yellow is associated with happiness, cheeriness, optimism, warmth, joy, and hope, as well as caution and cowardice. In Germany, yellow represents envy, but in Egypt, it conveys happiness and good fortune.
Orange
Orange represents autumn, harvest, warmth, and visibility in Western cultures. In Hinduism saffron it is considered auspicious and sacred. In the Netherlands orange is the color of the Dutch Royal family, while it represents sexuality and fertility in Colombia. In Eastern cultures orange symbolises love, happiness, humility, and good health. Buddhist monks’ robes are often orange.
Black
In many cultures black symbolises sophistication and formality, but it also represents death, evil, mourning, magic, fierceness, illness, bad luck, and mystery. In the Middle East black can represent both rebirth and mourning. In Africa it symbolises age, maturity, and masculinity.
White
In Western cultures, white symbolises purity, elegance, peace, and cleanliness; brides traditionally wear white dresses at their weddings. But in China, Korea, and some other Asian countries white represents death, mourning, and bad luck, and is traditionally worn at funerals. In Peru, white is associated with angels, good health, and time.
Purple
Purple is often associated with royalty, wealth, spirituality, and nobility around the world. Historically in Japan only the highest ranked Buddhist monks wore purple robes. Purple is also associated with piety and faith, and in Catholicism, penitence. However, in Brazil and Thailand purple is the color of mourning. It’s also a color of honour.
Colour in branding and marketing
What did I learn from this research?
I have learnt how colour has many different meanings and usefulness in the our world - culture, history, market and design, theories and colour philosophy. Colour is vital in our world and I cannot imagine what the world would be like without it. Like typography it is a form of communication!
Colour is always going to be a part of my creative process and each time I would like to communicate it differently.
My love for colour has been something that I have grown to love and is always a part of my work. To me as a designer it is important because it is a way of expressing myself mentally.
