DESI 1213 | EXPERIMENTAL STUDIO PRACTICES | 2021-2022

01 Colour Theory & Studies

Katerina Grosse, Hamburger Bahnhof 2020

COLOUR THEORY & STUDIES

“Colour Is The Eye’s Music” Frederico García Lorca

Introduction
Colour is an incredibly wide ranging subject, which has been debated for centuries from Aristotle to
Albers -and we will by no means come to any absolute answers within the upcoming weeks. However, our initial
investiga-tion into the realm of colour can help unveil some basic properties/theories about colour and how
colour functions. Additionally, one will begin to explore the subjective nature of color and its dependency on
situation - i.e. it’s relationship to other colours, locations, etc. Our first step will be to physically explore a series
of colour related theories through the use of cut paper studies. The idea of using a “study” is to allow you to feel
free to experiment,play around, discover, and take notes on how colour works and functions. The use of
“studies” offers each of you a chance to not feel weighted down by a final piece of work, but rather explore fully
the creative processes and potentiality of colour. In particular, you will begin to understand your own personal
and subjective relationship with this vast subject. We will be using Joseph Albers “Interactions of Color” as the
reference, available in the library.
Colour Studies - Investigations into the Interactions of Colour
You will be asked to create a series of studies based on the following colour theories. It will be up to you
explore them with your own choices of process, material, design and knowledge of colour. Each of your studies
should show how you are testing the notions of colour, include written notes about your observations, and
shouldalso employ a good sense of design skills. Colour is also affected by its size, shape, and texture - you
must bearthis in mind when creating your studies. The list below is a guide of potential colour exercises, but you
are also encouraged to do further research based on your own personal interests:
1) Warm/cool colours: explore the temperature of colours. Can a yellow be cool? Can a grey be warm? How does
theproximity of warm and cool colours effect the one’s next to them?
2) Reversed grounds: using three colours, compare the differences when two are used as the ground and the third is the
subject. How can 1 colour appear as two?
3) Gradations of one colour: explore the brightness, saturation, and intensity of one colour using evenly
sizedshapes and composition.
4) Colour mixture with papers: Can you find a way of “implying” colour mixing by simply using overlays/cutting of paper
intospecific shapes?
5) Bezold Effect: Using a light coloured combination of colours, include one with black and another with white. How does
thiseffect the composition and overall colour of each?
6) Quantity: Using a palette of 4 colours, with 4 different sized shapes, find as many combinations as possible to explore
theeffect of variants.
7) Matching tones (colour and greys): try and find the corresponding greys to match different saturation/intensities of one
color.
8) Vibrating colours/boundaries (contrasts): using complimentary colours, explore how two colours can
actuallycreate visual vibrations.
9) Harmonious colours: create a pallette that explores harmonious colours - i.e. using closely related secondary and tertiary.
10) Symbolic/emotive colour combinations: using a range of colours and design, how can you create
anemotive or symbolic study.
11) Free Studies: try and include variable combinations of the above exercises, and use your composition and layout
skills toexplore your own investigations.

Final Project Presentation

For your fianl project, you will be asked to choose 6 of your most succesful colour studies fromyour
sketchbook, and recreate them CREATIVELY and PROFESSIONALLY on an A1 sheet.