Diploma in Interior Design

Colour Study
DNM 115

Name : Yew Jing Hui

Student ID : 2014050061
Prepared For : Ms. Cheryl
Introduction
With colours can set a mood, attract attention, or make a statement.
Beside that we can use colour to energize, or to cool down. By selecting
the right colour scheme, which can create an ambiance of elegance,
warmth or tranquillity, or convey an image of playful youthfulness.
Colour can be the most powerful design element if learn to use it
effectively. Colour is the perceptual characteristic of light described by a
colour name. Specifically, colour is light, and light is composed of many
colours—those we see are the colours of the visual spectrum: red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Objects absorb certain
wavelengths and reflect others back to the viewer. We perceive these
wavelengths as colour.
Colour Wheel

The colour wheel is the basic tool for combining colours. The colour wheel is
designed so that virtually any colours that pick from it will look good together. The
most common version is a wheel of 12 colours based on the RYB (or artistic) colour
model. Additional, there are a number of colour combinations that are considered
especially pleasing. These are called colour harmonies or colour chords and they
consist of two or more colours with a fixed relation in the colour wheel.

The typical artists' paint or pigment colour wheel includes the primary colour, red,
yellow and blue colour. The corresponding primary colour is green, orange, and
violet or purple. The tertiary colour is red–orange, red–violet, yellow–orange,
yellow–green, blue–violet and blue–green.

A colour wheel based on RGB (red, green, blue) or RGV (red, green, violet) additive
primaries has cyan, magenta, and yellow. Alternatively, the same arrangement of
colours around a circle can be described as based on cyan, magenta, and yellow
subtractive primaries, with red, green, and blue (or violet) being secondary’s.

Most of the colour wheels are based on three primary colours, three secondary
colours, and the six intermediates formed by mixing a primary with a secondary,
known as tertiary colours, for a total of 12 main divisions; some add more
intermediates, for 24 named colours. Other colour wheels, however, are based on
the four opponent colours, and may have four or eight main colours.
Primary Colour

These colours are the three colours that cannot be created by mixing other colours.
The colours are red, blue and yellow. They form a triangle on the colour wheel.
Primary colours can be combined to make secondary colours. These three colours
are mixed to create all other colours and can be combined with white or black to
create tints (lighter tones) and shades (darker hues) of these colours. These are the
only colours that can be found in nature.

Secondary Colour

The secondary colours are orange, green and violet and are duller than the primaries
because they have been mixed together. They form a triangle on the colour wheel
and are colours that are mixed from the primary colours.

Tertiary Colour

A tertiary colour is a colour made by mixing one primary colour with one secondary
colour. These colours are yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-
orange, red-violet and even duller than the secondary colours because the primary
has been mixed with a secondary. Tertiary colours are a combination of full
saturation of one primary colour plus half saturation of another primary colour and
none of a third primary colour.
Analogous colour

Analogous colour schemes use colours that are next to each other on the colour
wheel. They usually match well and create serene and comfortable designs.
Analogous colour schemes are often found in nature and are harmonious and
pleasing to the eye. An analogous colour cannot have two primary colours in its
scheme because the primary colours have nothing in common.

Complementary Colour

Colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel. A complementary absorbs
all the light waves the other colour reflects and is the strongest contrast to the
colour. When used the full saturation, the high contrast of complementary colours
creates a vibrant look. To prevent it not jarring, this colour scheme must be managed
well.
Split-complementary

A split complementary colour scheme is one of several methods for selecting

harmonious groups of colours from the colour wheel. Colour schemes can be
categorized as simple, contrasting, or balanced. The split complementary scheme
can be considered either a balanced or contrasting colour scheme.

A split complementary colour scheme is a group of three colours selected from the
colour wheel. It is made up of one colour plus the colours on each side of its
complement. The complement of a colour is the colour directly opposite it on the
colour wheel.

Split complementary colour schemes produce dramatic, visually intriguing

combinations of contrasting colours with good balance. The split complementary
colour scheme is used to choose colours for artwork and interior design.
Triad

A colour triad consists of three colours that are equal in distance from each other on
the colour wheel. Colour triads provide a high level of contrast using three colours. It
may be neutralized, raised or lowered in value to produce a tranquil scheme. To use
the triad colour successfully, balance the colour by choose one dominate colour and
two accent colour.

Tetrad

A colour tetrad consists of four colours that are equal in distance from each other. A
colour tetrad is created by using two sets of complementary colours. Tetrad colour
can be nice if one colour is chosen to be the dominant colour. Tetrad colour normally
use the warm colour and cold colour.
Achromatic

The meaning of achromatic colour is “Free of Colour “. Achromatic means without

colour, in black and white. All neutral tones are from pure white, the shades of pure
grey to pure black are achromatic, but they are not property called colours. The
greyscale also consider as achromatic means that grey are not classified in the subset
of RGB or yellow.

Monochromatic

Monochromatic colours are all the colours (tints, tones, and shades) of a single hue.
Monochromatic colour uses a subtle variation of tints and shades it is just a big word
for similar. It means using only one colour.
Tints

Tints are lightened colours. Always begin with white and add a bit of colours to the
white until the desired tint is obtained.

Shades

Shades are darkened colour. Always begin with the colour and add just a bit of black
at a time to get the desired shade of a colour.

Tones

Add grey colour to get either darker or lighter colour than the original hue.
Warm colour

Warm colour is made up of yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange and red. Warm
colours can get the attention. They are lively and energetic. These colours make the big
space become smaller. Warm colours convey emotions from simple optimism to strong
violence.

Represents : Fire, Sunlight.

Cold Colour

Cold colour is made up of green-yellow, green, blue-green, blue, purple-blue, and purple.
Cold colour recedes. Cold colour implies in sadness, depression and night.

Represents: Sky, water, grass and plants.

Colour Value

Value is defined as the relative lightness or darkness of a colour. It is an

important tool for the designer/artist, in the way that it defines form
and creates spatial illusions. Contrast of value separates objects in space,
while gradation of value suggests mass and contour of a contiguous
surface. In the drawing on the right, value contrast separates the
artichoke from the background, and the separate leaves from one
another, while gradation suggests the curves of leave surfaces and of the
whole form.
Colour Harmony

Harmony can be defined as a pleasing arrangement of parts, whether it be music,

poetry, color, or even an ice cream sundae.

In visual experiences, harmony is something that is pleasing to the eye. It engages

the viewer and it creates an inner sense of order, a balance in the visual experience.
When something is not harmonious, it's either boring or chaotic. At one extreme is a
visual experience that is so bland that the viewer is not engaged. The human brain
will reject under-stimulating information. At the other extreme is a visual experience
that is so overdone, so chaotic that the viewer can't stand to look at it. The human
brain rejects what it can not organize, what it can not understand. The visual task
requires that we present a logical structure. Color harmony delivers visual interest
and a sense of order.

This color harmony is useful to express feelings of cold or remoteness. It is

also useful to represent scenes where you want the elements to recede away from
the viewer and appear distant.
Colour Psychology

Psychology is the science of the mind. The human mind is the most complex machine
on earth. It is the source of all thought and behaviour. Colour psychology is the study
of the effect that colours have on human behaviour particularly the natural
instinctive feelings that each colour evokes. Colours can have both positive and
negative effects on our moods and feelings. Colour psychology is relatively old area
of scientific research, ancient civilizations believed in the influence of colour on
humans. The ancient Chinese Egyptians and Indians believed in chromotherapy or
healing with colours.

White:
 Innocence
 Cleanliness
 Purity
 Peace
 Comfort
 Alleviates emotional shock and despair
Red:
 Love
 Passion
 Emotion
 Increase heart rate
 Increase body temperature
 Danger
 Heat
 Optimism
 Power
 Energy
Orange:
 Health
 Youth
 Activity
 Overcome fatigue
 Treatment of depressions
 Increase appetite
 Stabilizes emotions
 Spiritual
 Sacrifice
 Warmth
Yellow:
 Cheerfulness
 Happy moods
 Trigger frustration and irritation
 Jealous
Green:
 Harmony
 Balance
 Nature
 Calm
 Security
 Life
 Growth
 Good luck
Blue:
 Calmness
 Relaxation
 Lower the pulse rate
 Creativity
 Peacefulness
 Sadness
Violet:
 Royalty
 Prosperity
 Luxury
 Elegance
 Joy
 Independent
 Creativity
Grey:
 Independence
 Self-reliance
 Self-control
 Loneliness
 Intellect
 Futurism
 Decay
Black:
 Silence
 Infinite
 Mystery
 Death
 Fear
Brown:
 earth
 stability
 endurance
 practical
Reference:

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