2022-09-15 Color Composition

Nude Descending a Staircase, No.2

By Marcel Duchamp 1912
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

色调-色彩倾向 Tone - Color Tendency

How do colors affect our feelings?

There is no precise formula to follow here.

Observing the properties of a colour and paying attention to how it functions in the context of an
image is the most effective way.

Color has a voice.

Colors are best heard when they contrast in large or small ways the voices around it.

Color sends a message.

Colors can be universal as a symbol but are frequently cultural and often personal.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

共同的色彩感情
Common Color
Feelings
What makes a colour
universal?

If you think about the things

that we all experience such
as emotion, it might be
easier to understand how
colours can be proceeded
with universal message.

We all experience
environmental colours
like sky blue, grass
green…
When you see the colour
red, what does it make
you think of? Blood,
Anger, Fire or Passion.

We associate colours
with particular objects as
well as the emotions
conjured by experiences.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

色彩的前进感与后退感
Forward Sense
&
Backward Sense

红、橙等光波长的色在人眼视
网膜后面成像，感觉比较迫近，
蓝、紫等光波短的色则在外侧
成像，在同样距离内感觉就比
较后退。

一般暖色、纯色、高明度色、
强烈对比色、大面积色、集中
色等有前进感觉，相反，冷色、
浊色、低明度色、弱对比色、
小面积色、分散色等有后退感
觉。

Warm colours, such as red,

orange, can appear to move
forward in space while cool
colours, such as blue, green,
can recede.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

纯色、高明度色有前进感觉，低明度色有后退感觉。 暖色、纯色、高明度色、强烈对比色有前进感觉，
冷色、浊色、低明度色、有后退感觉

Highly saturated and bright colors can

Warm colors can appear to move forward
appear to move forward while desaturated
in space while cool colours can recede.
colours can recede.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

纯色、高明度色有前进感觉，低明度色有后退感觉。 纯色、高明度色、强烈对比色有前进感觉，
浊色、低明度色、有后退感觉。

Highly saturated, bright colors in the

Highly saturated, bright blue colors can
background can appear to move forward
appear to move forward in space while
while desaturated colours in the middle
desaturated, muted colours, such as
can recede.
green in the background, can recede.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

色彩的膨胀感与收缩感
Expansion Sense
&
Contraction Sense
由于不同色彩在视网膜上形成
影像的清晰度不同，长波长的
暖色感觉聚焦不准，有扩散感；
短波长的冷色影像比较清晰，
有收缩感。
暖色、高明度色、高纯度鲜艳
色感觉比实际面积大，叫膨胀
色。
Expansive Color

冷色、低明度色、低纯度灰浊
色感觉比实际面积小，叫收缩
色。

Contractive Color
将红色与蓝色对照着看，由于
色彩同时对比作用，其面积错
视现象就会更加明显。

Highly saturated and bright colors, such as bright red, yellow, orange, green, look bigger.
Desaturated and muted colors look smaller.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

色彩的膨胀感与收缩感
Expansion Sense
&
Contraction Sense
色彩的膨胀、收缩感不仅与波
长有关，而且还与明度有关。

由于“球面像差”物理原理，
光亮的物体在视网膜上所成影
像的轮廓外似乎有一圈光圈围
绕着，使物体在视网膜上的影
像轮廓扩大了，看起来就觉得
比实物大一些，生理物理学上
称这种现象为“光渗”现象。
Le Drapeau Tricolore (30:33:37)
歌德在《论颜色的科学》一文
中指出：
“两个圆点同样面积大小，在
白色背景上的黑圆点比黑色背
景上的白圆点要小 1/5。”

宽度相同的印花黑白条纹布，
Attention-getting colours usually get noticed by being brighter 感觉上白条子总比黑条子宽；
than surrounding hues and also by being notably lighter or 同样大小的黑白方格子布，白
darker than nearby colours. 方格子要比黑方格略大一些。
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

色彩的视觉心理-共感性
Color Synesthesia

色彩的轻重感
Light feeling
& heavy feeling

色彩的轻重感与色彩的明度有
关。

明度高的色彩使人联想到蓝天、
白云及花卉还有棉花，羊毛等。
产生轻柔、飘浮、上升、敏捷
灵活等感觉。

明度低的色彩易使人联想到钢
铁，大理石等物品，产生沉重、
稳定、降落等感觉。
Light colors with high value
degrees, such as blue, violet,
white remind us the sky,
clouds, flowers…, which
create light feelings.
Dark colors with low value
degrees, remind us steel,
marbles, which present heavy
feeling.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

色彩的视觉心理-共感性
Color Synesthesia

色彩的华丽感与朴素感
Luxuriant feeling
& plain feeling

色彩的三要素对华丽及质朴素
感都有影响，其中纯度关系最
大，其次为明度。

明度高、纯度高的色彩，丰富、
强对比色彩感觉华丽、辉煌，
有强烈的刺激感。

明度低、纯度低的色彩，单纯、
弱对比的色彩感觉质朴、古雅。
色彩稳定性强，比较容易协调。

Saturated and bright colors

with high value and chromas
offer luxuriant feeling.
Desaturated and muted colors
create plain feeling.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ 色彩的对比 Contrast of Colors

Contrast of colors
• Color is best like a word in some kind of context.
• We look at a particular color. We might describe it
based on its relationship to the other colors around
it in an image. And because it’s affected by its
surroundings.
• Color is defined by its relationship to other colours
in an image.

Color components contrast

Hue contrast
Value contrast
Chroma contrast

Color area contrast

INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Hue contrast

Hue contrast is a measure of how easily we

distinguish between two adjacent colors (hues).
Hue contrast is a fundamental aspect of color
contrast.

The degree of hue contrast depends on the distance

(angle) between two shades on the color wheel.
Small distance (angle) means weak hue contrast;
conversely, big distance (angle) means strong hue
contrast.

For example, blue and yellow contrast strongly,

while blue and green have a lower hue contrast.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Hue contrast

Complementary hue
Complementary hue are opposite each other on the
wheel, for instance blue and orange or the classic
red and green.
Complementary hue contrast
A powerful element for more dramatic color
development

Complementary hues of red and green, used as a

contrast in light and shadow
And if you want two slices of the colour wheel to be
able to express itself with as much visual diversity
as possible, then a complementary pair might be
just what you’re looking for.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Value contrast
Value is how dark or light a colour appears.
It’s as simple as that the eye is designed to
prioritize value differences to make sense of what
it’s looking at. So, value establishes clarity.

Value contrast is formed by the difference in

lightness between two or more colors.

Weak contrast (low value differences)

Medium contrast (medium value differences)

Strong contrast (high value differences)

The same colour can appear more vibrant in one

context with low value (low lightness) versus
another context with high value (high lightness).
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Chroma contrast

Chroma (Saturation) refers to a colour’s brightness

or intensity, meaning how bright or how muted it is
or whether the color appears more subtle or more
vibrant.

The degree of chroma contrast depends on the

distance of the color on the chroma formula. The
longer the distance is, the stronger the contrast is
while the shorter the distance is, the weaker the
contrast is.

Same orange color can appear bright on the

background of desaturated color with lower chroma.
While the same color appear muted on the
background of bright color with same chroma.

It is because the two vibrant colours compete with

each other’s vibrances.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Several ways of changing the chroma

1. Adding black to
make muted colors

2. Adding white to
increase the chroma
degree
3. Adding grey

4. Mixing two
complementary
colors

5. Mixing three
primaries to get
different
secondaries
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Color area contrast

Color area contrast means the proportion of each

color in a composition

When you create a composition, if some colors are

not getting along with the surrounded colors, for
example, one color gets too much attention or
another color appears insufficient, then we should
make adjustment of the proportions of the colors.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Color area contrast

Colors in big areas tend to present strong contrast while colors in small areas are easy to be
getting along with the surrounded colors.

Complementary colors have a strong potential for expressing feeling of energy and diversity. One
way to harmonize colors is to divide the areas of both colors into small pieces.

The color of green in big areas appears brighter than the one in small area
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

Upstaging

That’s when supporting characters of a stage production suddenly decides that they are the star of
the show. They start drawing the crowds’ attention to themselves instead of letting it stay on the
show’s stars like it’s supposed to. So, upstaging is bad and it’s bad when it happens on stage.

It’s also bad when it happens in a colour system. Colour schemes really do resemble stage
productions. They’re often built around one or two starring colours, a small handful of co-stars, and
then there’s a bunch of supporting shades. Their job is to make sure that the stars look good.

Same rule applies to color compositions.

Color harmony is very important in a color composition.

The Analects of Confucius: “Gentlemen seek harmony but not uniformity” , which well describes
the relationship between color contrast and color harmony.
《论语》：君子和而不同

Color contrast presents different colors through hue contrast, value contrast, chroma (saturation)
contrast, and color area contrast. However, the eventual aim of color contrast in a color
composition is to harmonize colors, instead of letting all colors attract your attentions.

What we seek in a color composition is to create a color harmony.

INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ 色彩的协调 Color harmony

Color harmony simply means that colors could get

along with other colors.

Hue harmony
Value harmony
Chroma harmony
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Non-chromatic colors and chromatic colors

White, gray, black, and other colors without color tendency are non-chromatic colors and all
colors except non-chromatic are called chromatic colors.

There is only lightness difference in non-chromatic colors. Non-chromatic colors are easy to be
coordinated, which means they are easily to be getting along with other colors.

Non-chromatic colors Chromatic colors

INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Non-chromatic and chromatic coordination

Any non-chromatic colors could be coordinated with chromatic colors.

Color harmony could be easily achieved by mixing non-chromatic colors, such as white, black,
and grey, with chromatic colors.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Monochromatic color coordination

The easiest formula for color harmony is monochromatic because it only uses one color
Just pick a spot on the color wheel (such as purple) and use your knowledge of saturation and
value to create variations (such as dark purple, light purple, bright purple…).

The best thing about monochromatic color scheme is that they’re guaranteed to match.
When you are working with monochromatic color with different saturation and value, you know
they visually agree with each other, because it actually uses one color.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Analogous color coordination

Analogous color scheme uses colors that are next to each other on the wheel, like red, orange and
yellow. When you are working with colors that are closely related, you know they visually agree
with each other. Analogous color scheme are easy to create color harmony.

Just pick two or three colors on the color wheel (such as red and orange) and then use your
knowledge of saturation and value to create variations (such as light red, dark red, muted red, light
orange, dark orange…).
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Complementary colors coordination

• Complementary colors are opposite each other on the wheel, for instance blue and orange or the
classic red and green.
• Complementary colors have strong potential for expressing feelings of visual diversity.
• To make color harmony, you could reduce chromas of complementary colors by introducing
desaturated tones.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Color ratio coordination

Color ratio coordination is often built around one or two starring colors, a small handful of co-
stars, and then there’s a bunch of supporting colors. Their job is to make sure that the stars look
good.
You could let one color tone (such as green) dominate while the others (such as dark red, grey,
white…) serve as the background.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

⚫ Colors ratio coordination

Colors in big areas tend to present strong contrast while colors in small areas are easy to be
getting along with the surrounded colors.

One way to make a color harmony through adjusting color ratio is to divide big areas into small
pieces.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ Color composition
Color compositions are similar with two dimensional compositions, in terms of structure and units.

Structure + Units

The units could be understood as color elements.

The structure is essentially the organization of color elements in a scene based on a rule.

Repetition structure
Approximation structure
Gradual change structure
Radiation structure
Exception structure
Segmentation structure
Density structure
---
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ 色彩构成的影响因素
The influencing factors of color
composition

Color components
Hue / Value / Chroma

Color visual elements

Shape / Size / Position / Texture

Color tones
Cold or warm / light or heavy /luxuriant
or plain / move forward or backward
 INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ 色彩构成的主要手法
Main methods of color
composition
Color compositions are similar with
two dimensional compositions, in
terms of structure and units.

Structure + Units

Repetition structure
Approximation structure
Gradual change structure
Radial structure
Density structure

(1) Repeat same units and echo certain elements

Repetition is a reminder that all units have a consistent look.
(2) Add color contrasts
There are lots of strategies for creating contrast to break
repetition. Here, cooler colors, like blue and purple, and
warmer colors, like orange and yellow are used to create color
contrast.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ 色彩构成的主要手法
Main methods of color
composition
Color compositions are similar with
two dimensional compositions, in
terms of structure and units.

Structure + Units

Repetition structure
Approximation structure
Gradual change structure
Radial structure
Density structure

Approximation structure: all curvy lines look similar

but actually different in angles.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ 色彩构成的主要手法
Main methods of color
composition
Color compositions are similar with
two dimensional compositions, in
terms of structure and units.

Structure + Units

Repetition structure
Approximation structure
Gradual change structure
Radial structure
Density structure

Overlap two-directions to form intersection parts - that is

different sized rectangles.
Fill in each rectangle with different colors (lighter colors and
darker colors)
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ 色彩构成的主要手法
Main methods of color
composition
Color compositions are similar with
two dimensional compositions, in
terms of structure and units.

Structure + Units

Repetition structure
Approximation structure
Gradual change structure
Radial structure
Density structure
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

■ 色彩构成的主要手法
Main methods of color
composition
Color compositions are similar with
two dimensional compositions, in
terms of structure and units.

Structure + Units

Repetition
Approximation
Gradual change
Radial structure
Density structure

All circles with green colors on the grid system form

interactions, some being dense while some being loose,
which create multi-density structure.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Color Composition

Students work exhibition on color compositions in 2008, at Tongji University

 Layout

· Select one from your 16 printed photos of Task 1-1: Spatial Experience & Recording as the object of color
composition (100mm×150mm, which could be changed);
· Analyze the ratio of the colors in the photo (including the hue, value and chroma), roughly calculate the
percentages of the colors, and present the color columns;
· Design a color composition (150mm×150mm) based on the theme of your spatial experience, using gouache or
acrylic pigment on the white paper;
· Paste your color composition work in a card paper (360mm×250mm).
· Follow the Task 1-2 layout for the font and size requirements. All titles, personal information, and other words
are handwriting.
“Serenity”
Soft colors + texture
Approximation structure: horizontal curved lines and vertical lines
Soft colors from original photo: violet, muted red, yellow, grey, brown
A photo of a balcony in a museum was selected.
We can find different geometric shapes in the space, including the semi-oval shaped balcony, arch window,
curved handrail, oval shadow, square-shaped sunlights, rectangles.
Warm colors include orange, brown, grey, light yellow.
Same geometric shapes and colors were selected and re-designed into a new composition.
It could be better and more interesting if some big areas could be divided into small pieces or even fragmented
areas, then fill in small areas with different colors and add more variation such as values and chromas.
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Composition
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Composition
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Composition
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Composition
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN THEORY & FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN-I
Composition
■ Institute of Fundamentals in Architecture & Design 15.09.2022