Light in colour

The great 19th-century writer and critic John Ruskin said, “Colour is the most sacred element in all visual things”. Designers agree that colour is the most vital and expressive of the elements of design. Therefore, it is essential that designers have a thorough knowledge of the properties and character of various colours, colour theory, colour schemes, colour associations, and other considerations of colour for use in planning both residential and commercial interiors.

Colour can have psychological effects. It can enliven a room or create a subdued mood. Colour's elemental partner is light. It can do the same thing. Light affects the colours we see. In bright afternoon sun, colours are crisp and clear. But in evening sunsets, red and orange tones cast a warm glow. In candlelight or moonlight, colours are muted and dulled. It is essential when studying about colour first to understand that the source of colour is light.

Light is a form of energy that is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Daylight, or the light that humans are able to see in the visible spectrum, is a mixture of wavelengths in a nar­row band of this field. Infrared waves, X-rays, and even ra­dio waves are also forms of energy in this spectrum, but are not visible to the human eye. Colour is light broken down into electromagnetic vibrations of varying wavelengths. The longest wavelengths form the reds, followed by oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and violets. This effect can be seen on a rainbow or when light is shown through a prism, which separates or splits the spectrum. Artificial light­ing that is designed to mimic the sun's light is called white light. Other types of artificial lighting create different com­binations of wavelengths that change the colour or look of an object.

It is important to realize that without light, colour would not exist.

The colour that we actually see in an object is the colour of light that is not absorbed by the object, but reflected into the eye from the object's surface. A particular surface ab­sorbs or reflects a colour of the spectrum depending on its composition. This is referred to as subtractive colour, be­cause the objects subtractall the wavelengths except those that are seen. For instance, a teal rug subtracts all the wavelengths except for some of the blue and green wavelengths, which it reflects back. A black tiled wall subtracts all the wavelengths.

The colours in objects are referred to as pigment colours. Pigments are various substances that can be ground into fine powder and used for colouring dyes and paints. Pigments are combined to produce certain colours, such as when red and yellow are mixed to obtain orange. Pigments may be natu­rally occurring, artificially created or a combination of both.

The interaction between light and colours creates great opportunities for designers as well as unique challenges. Planning and accurate programming are required to determine a client’s personal tastes relating to a colour scheme. Colour schemes can be developed based on the mixing or blending of colours from the colour wheel, nature or from another colour source such as a work of art. The final development of the colour scheme must also take into account the juxtaposition of different colours to each other, the desired effects from the elements and principles of design, and the appropriate distribution of colour.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16