OUGD404- Design Principles- Colour Theory 2

COLOUR – Part 3
colour & contrast

Itten’s 7 Contrasts

• Contrast of TONE
• Contrast of HUE
• Contrast of SATURATION
• Contrast of EXSTENSION
• Contrast of TEMPERATURE
• COMPLEMENTARY contrast
• SIMULTANEOUS contrast

CONTRAST OF TONE 

Formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values. This could be monochromatic. (One colour)

Colour

Blue- Darkest contrast

Red- Mid tone

Yellow- Brightest contrast

The orange text on the red background is harder to read because they are both mid tones. The blue stands out on the red background because it has a darker tonal value.

Black/White

Black/White- Highest contrast

Grey- Mid tone

This can be seen clearly in the examples above. Because black and white have the highest contrast, they stand out on the neutral grey background. The example below has similar tonal value which doesn't stand out.

CONTRAST OF HUE

Formed by the juxtaposing of different hues. The greater the distance between hues on a colour wheel, the greater the contrast.

Red 

Blue        Have an equal contrast of hue

Yellow

• The highest contrast stands out
• The lowest contrast blends in

On a white background the blue has the darkest tone, therefor the highest contrast.

On the black background the yellow has the brightest tone, therefor the highest contrast.

When placed next to one another you can clearly see the divide between the blue and yellow, due to the contrast in tones. The red and yellow blur together because they have closer tonal values. 

This can be seen again here. The yellow type is most legible on the black background, and least on the white.

CONTRAST OF SATURATION

Formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values and their relative saturations.

3 Dimensions

• Tone
• Hue
• Saturation

CONTRAST OF EXSTENSION 

Formed by assigning proportional field sizes in relation to the visual weight of a colour. Also known as the contrast of proportion.

The large area of violet next to the small area of yellow creates contrast; The yellow is emphasised.

The large area of yellow next to the small area of violet creates contrast; The violet is emphasised.

CONTRAST OF TEMPERATURE

Formed by juxtaposing hues that can be considered ‘warm’ or ‘cool’. Also known as the contrast of warm and cool.

Warm colors to be those that we associate with heat--red, yellow, orange--while cool colors are those that we associate with ice--blue and purple.

The contrast from warm to cold colours when next to each other tricks the eye in to seeing gradients even thought they are flat colours.

COMPLEMENTARY CONTRAST 

Formed by juxtaposing complementary colours from a colour wheel or perceptual opposites.

Chromatic values compete together to affect your vision, it makes your eyes vibrate.

Complimentary colours react and conflict with each other to create colour discord.

SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST

Formed when boundaries between colours perceptually vibrate.

All the 7 contrasts happen simultaniously.

Task

We were set a task in pairs to choose two complimentary colours from the objects we brought in the previous lesson and select five of each. Me and Will chose yellow and violet. We were given five different colours of paper and had to photograph each object on each coloured paper. We had to observe what effected the colours.

The colours of the objects appeared to change colour depending on the colour of the surroundings. This was interesting to see as Ive never thought about how colours work along side one another. Some of the colours look duller, others look more vibrant and some I can see tints of different colours.