Semester 1

Monochromatic and Polychromatic Colour Scheme

Monochromatic colours are all the colours (tones, tints and shades ) of a

single hue.

Example of a monochromatic colour scheme

Monochromatic colour schemes are derived from a single base hue and
extended using its shades, tones and tints. Tints are achieved by adding white
and shades and tones are achieved by adding a darker colour, grey or black.
Monochromatic colour schemes provide opportunities in art and visual
communications design as they allow for a greater range of contrasting tones
that can be used to attract attention, create focus and support legibility.
The use of a monochromatic colour provides a strong sense of visual cohesion
and can help support communication objectives through the use of connotative
colour. The relative absence of hue contrast can be offset by variations in tone
and the addition of texture.
However, monochromatic also has another meaning similar to “boring” or
“colourless” which sometimes leads to creating a design composed from true
monochromatic colour shades (one hue fading to black), and the colours created
from the one hue but faded to all wavelengths (to white). This is not
monochromatic in the strictly scientific meaning of the word.

Polychromatic Colours

The term polychromatic means having several colors. It is used to describe

light that exhibits more than one color, which also means that it contains
radiation of more than one wavelength. The study of polychromatics is
particularly useful in the production of diffraction gratings.

 A polychromatic scheme uses any and every color combination available on

the colour wheel