Elements of Design. Color

I. Go through the following list of words and note their meaning.

II. Before you read discuss this question:

As a child when did you learn to name colors?

Considered by many to be the most recognizable design element, color is a powerful tool that projects a space's personality. Children generally learn to name colors before they can identify shapes. Chapter 3further discusses the meaning of color to the interior designer in terms of its physical properties, its impact on perception and mood, and the effects colors have on one another and on other components of a space.

Without light, there is no color. The science of physics deals with color as a physical property of light. Each color is differentiated from the others by its wavelength. When light passes through a glass prism, it breaks or refracts into wavelengths. The spectrum of light that humans are able to see is known as the visible spectrum. It ranges from red to violet (or purple). Red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest. Red is the warmest color and violet the coolest. In between are orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo, a blue-violet. White light is composed of the three light primaries: red, green, and blue.

When we speak of color as substance, we are referring to pigmentation, such as dyes (natural and synthetic) and paints. The three primaries of color as pigment are red, yellow, and blue. When these primary colors are mixed together, the result is black.

There are many commercial ways to name colors, but a more scientific and universal language to describe color is based on three distinct attributes: hue, value, and chroma.

• Hue refers to the family of a color or the way we distinguish one color, such as red, from another, such as yellow. In everyday conversation, people use the words color and hue interchangeably, but hue is a more precise term for a color's family.

• Value refers to the degree of lightness or darkness of a color. When white is added to a hue, the value is heightened, creating a tint. Conversely, when black is added to a color, the value is lowered, creating a shade.

• Chroma refers to the purity, saturation, or intensity of a color. Adding gray to a color lowers its chroma. This type of color is also called a tone, a muted version of a hue.

If you were limited as an artist or designer to only a few jars of paints, you could attain a virtually infinite combination of colors with red, blue, yellow, white, and black.

A. Check your understanding of the subject matter by answering the following questions.

1. What does color mean to the interior designer?

2. In which way is each color differentiated from the others?

3. What are the three light primaries?

4. What is scientific and universal language based on to name colors?

5. What does hue refer to?

6. What does value refer to?

7. What does chroma refer to?

B.Understanding details

Provide evidence from the text to support or disapprove the following statements as True(T) or False(F)

1.Each color is differentiated from the others by its wavelengths.

2.The spectrum of light that humans are able to see is known as the invisible spectrum.

3.Red has the shortest wavelength and violet has the longest.

4.White light is composed of the two light primaries:red,and green.

5.The three primaries of color as pigment are red,yellow,and blue.

6.The best way to describe color is based on three attributes:blue,value,and chroma.

C. Understanding meanings

1. Choose the best explanation for the phrase ‘light primaries’

a.combination of light from the sun,the sky,and the atmosphere.

b.the three colors of light that,when combined,produce white light:red,green,and blue.

2. Choose the best explanation for the phase ‘visible spectrum’

a.the spectrum of light that humans are able to see.

b.the visual emphasis given to a component as an arrangement in a composition.

IV. Vocabulary tasks

A. Definitions

Match these terms with their definitions.

B. Collocations

Give the derivatives of the following worlds and indentify the part of speech they belong to by putting them into the appropriate box.

V. Complete the sentence

1. The science of physics deals with color as…

2. The visible spectrum ranges from…

3. White light is composed of …

4. The three primaries of color as pigment are…

5. In everyday conversation, people use the words color and hue interchangeably, but hue…

6. When white is added to a hue …

7. When black is added to color…

VI. Over to you

A color Scheme for a Celebrity’s Bedroom

You may choose from any of the following as your hypothetical client: the President of the United States, the governor of your state, or your favorite designer, artist, performer, or another person approved by your instructor. Conduct some research to determine what your client’s needs might be, based on his or her lifestyle, preferences, or dislikes. Consider the basic elements involved in planning a color scheme, such as whether it should be warm, cool, related, or contrasting. Write a brief description of your client, the basics of the bedroom space, such as location and size, the desired mood and effect, and your approach to color. Indicate whether you have chosen a related or contrasting color scheme. Describe the basic hues, value, and saturation. Use paint chips or color chips to signify your choices for the major components of the space, such as walls, ceilings, floors, fabrics, and furniture finish.