Aug 2, 2010 | 0 comments

On Color

This week's article is the first installment of a multi-part series on MCA's 7 Commanding Principles of Design.

It is hard to think of 'design' without the term 'color' coming to mind almost instantly.  But what exactly is color?  According to Webster's, color is defined as "the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light". What a mouthful, huh?  

In Color:  A Natural History of the Palette, author Victoria Findlay does a slightly better job at describing the phenomenon we know as 'color', by describing it as a process that has its very roots in movement.  In fact, curiously enough, she begins her thorough explanation of the birth of multiple hues in art by saying that color as we think we know it doesn't actually exist! 

To begin, everything vibrates at a molecular level.  Since the human brain is not equipped to interpret the constant undulation of everything we see, our eyes interpret the movement's reaction to light as the thing we know as 'color'.  Different hues are the result of different variations in the range of visible (white) light an object absorbs or reflects.  As Findlay so aptly describes it, one shouldn't think of color as something an object 'is', but rather as something an object 'does':

"The atoms in a ripe tomato are busy shivering...in such a way that when white light falls on them they absorb most of the blue and yellow light and they reject the red - meaning paradoxically that the 'red' tomato is actually one that contains every wavelength except red.  A week before, those atoms would have been doing a slightly different dance - absorbing the red light and rejecting the rest, to give the appearance of a green tomato instead."

Fascinating, yes, but what does this all mean in terms of design?  In the simplest of terms, it means that deciding on a color palette for a room is deciding the way a room will function at the molecular level.  When you take into account the depth of emotion and reaction different colors can elicit in those who experience them, it makes all the sense in the world that those colors are actually dancing around us.  We might not be able to witness the depth of this action in the literal sense, but somewhere deep inside, our minds interpret some of this and give it back to us in the form of our own reactions to the space in question.

Still have doubts that color is really that important?  Pantone, the holy grail of all color collections, describes colors as being 'high-arousal' and 'low-arousal', in reference to what effects different color families have on our emotional and physiological output.  Chromodynamics, the study of the effect color has on our physical state, gives us an even bigger reason to put some serious thought into picking the perfect palette for a design project.  Given the fact that color has the amazing ability to stimulate or calm viewers, and even the ability to increase appetite or make people believe they are warmer or cooler, choosing the right shade can be the difference between creating an engaging space or one that falls flat and is soon forgotten-or even worse, shunned.

Of course, as designers we don't always delve into the most arcane levels of color theory when picking out the perfect shade for, say, a sitting room.  However, it is important for us to realize these kinds of interconnectedness when endeavoring to create spaces that function holistically.  Even in its simplest use as a tool to beautify, color can be almost magical.  The simple science we delved into earlier can be manipulated to our advantage in creating helpful optical illusions.  For instance, paint colors can make a room appear smaller or larger, architectural details can be colored differently to create visual interest and depth, and faux details can be created with just the touch of a paintbrush. That's not all.  Other layers of color in the form of wallcovering, furniture and accessories can all create impact from the most basic of psychological and physical reactions to even personal reactions based on cultural norms. 

If your mind is reeling with the implications of color in design, just wait until next week, when we discuss the second topic in our study of the 7 Commanding Principles - Light.