Chapter 5

Understanding Color

Chapter 5: The Instability of Colors.

Painters commonly
experience the surprise of
carefully mixing a color on
the palette only to see it
change when it is placed
among other colors in a
painting.

There are only 6 colors in
this composition, but the
placement of each block of
color is affected by the
colors next to it.

Grace Hartigan, “River Bathers,” 1953

We are not normally aware of this phenomenon, but it is
present wherever one colored shape meets another in our
line of vision.

Changes take place in colors
for two very different reasons:

• Any change in ambient lighting has
the potential to alter the appearance of
colors.
• The arrangement of colors is the
second cause of color instability.

11
11

Changes in ambient lighting affect
subtractive colors only.

12

Additive light is
not affected by
ambient lighting
even though it
appears more
intense in the
dark.

13

Placement of colors affects both subtractive and additive color.
14

The concept that every
color is subject to being
changed by its placement
is perfectly expressed by
Josef Albers’ phrase
“interaction of colors.”

15

A composition
is something
made up of
individual parts
that have been
arranged in such
a way that they
are understood
as a single,
complete idea.

16
Theo van Doesburg

A composition is understood as separate from its setting
and from other things around it.

17

A design
composition
is a planned
arrangement
of forms and
colors meant
to be sensed
as a single
visual idea.

18

A color composition is a group of colors meant to be
sensed as a whole.

19

A group of colors selected for use together is called
many different things depending upon the industry or
design discipline it is intended for: a palette, a colorway,
a color story, etc. 20

The background of a composition is its ground.
21

Different industries use different terms for the materials
that are used as grounds.
22

Colors printed
on fabric or
wall covering
are said to be
printed on a
“ground.”

23

The
background of
a carpet or
banner is
called the
“field.”

24

The paper used in printing is called “stock.”

25

No matter what word is used, “ground” means background
when color relationships are discussed.

26

The ground may be accidental or unconsidered, but it is
always a factor in the final composition.

27

Ground establishes the visual reference point for
carried colors.

28

It is a critical element in color compositions that is
often overlooked. 29

The ground is not necessarily the largest area in a
comosition. 30

The area in a design that is ground is determined by the
arrangement of forms, not by color or relative area.

31

Visual cues determine which part of a composition is identified as
image or pattern and which part is understood as background.

32

Negative space is the area within a composition
that is not part of the image or pattern.

33

Negative
space is
often, but
not always,
the same
area as the
ground.

34

In some kinds of
patterning it can be
difficult to decide
which part of a
design is ground
and which is
carried color.

35

It is not neccessary for ground to be a clearly defined
area. Colors will interact whether the ground is obvious
or uncertain.
36

Three different kinds of color
interaction cause apparent change in
ground and carried-color situations.

• simultaneous contrast
• complementary contrast
• ground subtraction

37
37

All three serve
to intensify
the differences
between
colors.

38
38

Equilibrium is a
physiological
state of rest that
the eyes seek at
all times.

39

The eyes are at rest when the primary colors of light–
red, green, and blue–are within the field of vision.
40

The artists’
primaries red,
yellow and blue
reflect these
wavelengths.

41

The process
printing primaries
cyan, magenta
and yellow also
reflect these
wavelengths.

42

The
presence of
any of these
sets of
primary
colors in the
visual field
will bring the
eyes to a
state of
equilibrium.

43

It is not
necessary,
however, for
the primaries
to be present
as
individual
colors for
the eye to
reach a state
of rest.

44

Any number of
combinations
and mixtures will
allow the eyes to
reach
equilibrium...

45

or two secondary colors... 48

or a hue diluted by its complement (a tertiary
color). 49

The three colors do not have to be equal in
area either. 50

Equilibrium is
reached most
easily when the
primaries are
mixed together into
muted hues.

51

The slightest
dulling of a pure
color makes it less
stimulating to the
eye.

52

The popularity of
“earth” colors,
which are hues
muted by the
addition of their
complement, may
derive from the fact
that they are
genuinely,
physically, restful.

53

The eyes will always seek the most physiologically
comfortable pathways in color perception.

54

Simultaneous contrast is an involuntary response that
takes place when the eyes are not at rest – when a single
hue is present in the field of vision

55

In this situation the eyes work to generate the missing
complement, which appears as a wash of hue in any nearby
achromatic area.

56

achromatic area.

57

achromatic area.

58

achromatic area.

59

If a single primary color is present, the missing secondary
appears.

60

For any give color the eye spontaneously and
simultaneously generates the missing complement

61

The effect of simultaneous contrast is most apparent when
the stimulating hue is a saturated color...

62

or a brilliant tint...

63

...but muted, tinted, or darkened hues will also cause it to
take place.

64

Simultaneous contrast will occur to some extent whenever a
single hue is placed on, or next to, an achromatic area.
65

Simultaneous contrast is a factor in the selection of every
neutral (including, and especially, variations of white) that is
intended for use with a single hue or close family of hues.
66

Fortunately, it is not difficult to anticipate and counteract
unwanted effects. If a green textile is used with a white one,
adding a slight green undertone to the white counteracts the
red that the eye generates.
67

Nearly all
situations in
which three
primaries are
present in the
visual field allow
the eye to be at
rest, but
compositions
with blocks of
very brilliant
colors can be an
exception.

68

Vivid hues used
together can at
times deliver
such strong,
separate, and
contradictory
stimuli that the
eyes respond to
each as if it
were a single
sensation.

69

The struggle to
maintain
equilibrium
means that the
eyes must work,
and work hard.
The resulting
eye fatigue can
lead to genuine
discomfort, like
headache or
blurred vision.

70

Afterimage or successive contrast
is an image that appears after a
stimulating hue is taken away.

71

Afterimage requires a brilliant color
stimulus and a nearby, but separate,
blank white or light surface.

72

Contrast reversal is a variation of
afterimage where the “ghost” reversal
appears as a sort of double negative.

75

Afterimage also occurs without hue.

A black and white illustration viewed
in this way will appear with the values
reversed, like a photographic
negative.

78

QuickTime™ and a
GIF decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

Complementary contrast
describes what happens when two
colors with a complementary
relationship–even the slightest
complementary relationship–are
used together.

According to your book, the difference
between complementary contrast and
simultaneous contrast is that two hues
must be present for complementary
contrast and only one hue is present for
simultaneous contrast.

Complementary contrast intensifies the difference
between two hues that are already present, and already
different.

Complement
ary contrast
occurs with
every form of
color:
saturated
color, tint,
shade, or
muted. hue.

A saturated color is seen at its maximum hue intensity
when it is paired with its complement or near complement.

The difference in hue between the two is emphasized, but
neither color undergoes any change.

This is true for for
saturated colors
that are opposite at
all points on the
spectrum, not just
primary-secondary
color pairs.

The second aspect
of complementary
contrast is its power
to bring out
undetected hue.

Colors do not have to be exact opposites for
complementary contrast to occur.

They can be near-complements or part-complements
like red-orange and green or yellow-green and violet for
the effect to occur.

When colors other than the primary and secondary pairs
are in a complementary or part-complementary
relationship, they undergo a shift in hue toward the most
similar primary–secondary pair.

The orange cup against a
violet background looks
more yellow than when
seen against an
achromatic background.

Two navy blue samples, placed together, may suddenly
appear greenish-navy and purplish-navy.

The important thing to remember
is that the eye seeks not only
equilibrium, but also the simplest
and most “completing” hue
relationship.

Complementary and
simultaneous contrast both
intensify differences between
samples that are already unlike.

Ground subtraction is
completely different.

It takes place when a ground and
its carried colors have qualities
in common–and also qualities
that are different.

Whatever qualities that are
shared by a ground and its
carried colors are reduced; at the
same time, differences between
them are emphasized

A pinkish purple

on a pink background looks more purple.

A pinkish purple

on a purple background looks more pink.

This is an example of hue subtraction.

The effect of altered
value is the same when
hue is present.

Any ground subtracts its own
qualities from colors it carries.

The more similarities a color has
with its ground, the more apparent
their differences will be.

In theory, primary colors will not change in hue by placement,
although they can be altered in apparent value.

Secondary and intermediate colors (and all hues between
them) will change, at times quite dramatically, when placed on
grounds that share different aspects of their own qualities.

The difference between the two carried colors seems even
greater because both hue and value are affected.

A muted or chromatic gray is more vivid on a grayed ground
and more muted on a chromatic one.

The more complex a color is–the more elements it contains–
the more likely it is to be affected by colors around it.

The changes that take place in complex colors are not
necessarily more dramatic than those that take place with
simpler colors.

Change is simply more likely, because the more “ingredients”
that are present, the greater the number of possibilities that it
will have elements in common with (and also different from) its
ground.

Finally, color shifts can be
extreme when both ground
subtraction and
complementary contrast are
in play.

In this comparison, the achromatic gray has been
created by mixing violet and yellow. In addition to the
complementary contrast, there is ground subtraction.
Finally, there is a value contrast.

The principle of ground subtraction can be used in
reverse to make different (but similar) colors appear
to be identical.

A different kind of shift takes place in subtractive
colors when a color that has been selected from a
small sample, like a paint chip or fabric cutting, is
applied to a large surface.

The direction (placement in space) of a large color plane
affects whether it will read as lighter or darker, or more
muted or more chromatic than it does as a small chip.

Changes of this kind are NOT
color interactions.

These changes are caused by the different angles of light.

Typically, light
reaches surfaces from
above and at an
angle. This is why
walls appear lighter
and ceilings darker.

Colors also
appear more
chromatic on a
larger plane.

A vivid color,
mindlessly
cheerful in a
small doses, can
be overwhelming
as a painted wall.

Adjusting a color selection to compensate for the difference
between a small sample and the same color in a large area is an
issue faced more in architecture and interior design than in other
design fields.

But the scale and quantity of colors makes a difference in
every design decision.

Chapter 5

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