Colour 102: Interaction between colours

Colours don't exist in a vacuum, it is dependenton its atmosphere - both in terms of available lighting and other colours. How we perceive a colour, doesn't depend on its inherent chroma, value or hue but on its relation with other colours. The visual mood comes from the interaction between colours.

Josef Albers - American artist and educator

The law of simultaneous contrast states that when two colors are placed side by side, they influence how we perceive each other’s hue, brightness (Value), and saturation (Chroma).

This happens because our eyes try to balance the contrast.

• Example from Bruce MacEvoy: When dark red is placed next to light yellow, the red appears more violet, and the yellow more green due to their visual complements (light blue-green for red, and dark blue-violet for yellow).

Rules of Thumb:

• Light vs. Dark: Light colors appear lighter, and dark colors appear darker when placed side-by-side. - Change of Value

• Warm vs. Cool: Warm colors seem warmer next to cool colors, and cool colors cooler next to warm ones. - Change of temperature

• Saturated vs. Muted: Saturated colors intensify when placed near dull or neutral tones. - Change of chroma

• Similar Brightness: Colors of similar brightness make each other appear duller when placed together.

Fun Fact:The most intense simultaneous contrast occurs with complementary colors, creating strong visual tension and vibrancy.

Origins:French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul developed the theory of simultaneous contrast in his 1839 book The Principle of Harmony and Contrast of Colors.

Colour Proportion (interaction between colours)

Color proportion refers to the relative amounts of different colors used in a composition.

It depends upon:

1. Contrast of quantity : Depends on the number of colours used and area of those colours.

   3-color rule 

   Use a dominant color, a secondary color, and an accent color that complement each other.

   60-30-10 rule 

   A classic rule of thumb for creating balanced color schemes. It suggests using 60% of a dominant color, 30% of a secondary color, and 10% of an accent color. 

2. Contrast of Saturation : Combining pure, chromatic Hue with muted (less chroma) colours. Our eyes are drawn to the more vivid ares.

3. Contrast of Chroma : When hues have same level of intensity (chroma), it creates a vibrant cohesive harmony. However one must be mindful of matching them, if they don't match but are similar, it will cause visual tension. Achromatic black and white can be used to temper Strong chromatic hues

4. Contrast of Value : When the tonal contrast is high, a strong visual focus is created. Images with little tonal contrast looks soothing. (Tonal color is a technique that uses a limited number of colors and their shades to create visual interest.)

5. Contrast of Temperature - In low chroma combination, this helps engagement without tiring out the eyes.

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Materiality is another element that affect the colour but more on it later.