Colorology

Think back to a time when you noticiced the color combination of a room, a building, or even an outfit that irked you for some reason. The colors individually weren't all too horrid, but together, the combination made your eyes beg for relief.

The fact is certain color combinations are harmonious, while others are utterly discordant. Whether its genetically inherent or culturally acquired, there is some intrinsic component in humans that allows us to prefer or detest color combinations.

Some have attempted to discover that intrinsic component and have experimented with various theories, but most have focused on the actual art of forming color harmonies and theories to be utilized for practical usage. Color theories revolve around the color wheel (the commonly accepted color theory consists of twelve colors: primary, secondary, and tertiary). These are some color schemes of basic color theory:

• Complementary: colors opposite to each other on the wheel = vibrant harmonies
• Analogous: colors adjacent to each other on the wheel = comfortable, natural harmonies
• Triadic: colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel = vibrant, one color must dominate
• Split-Complementary: similar to Complementary, but instead of the complement color, it uses the two colors adjacent to the complement matched with the base = vibrant, but less vibrant than Complementary
• Rectangle: two Complementary pairs = rich variation
• Square: four colors spaced evenly around color wheel = rich, balance of warm and cool

Color harmonies, produced by these theories, all give pleasure of some sort to their viewers, but more importantly, the nuanced emotion each triggers is entirely different from that of another. Notice how the palettes shown below are generally agreeable combinations of colors, yet it is likely that you will prefer one or more over the others:

    

These preferences exist because each palette induces a distinctive feeling--each conjures up a different image or memory, specialized to that palette. Thus, in order to properly design a space for a user, the design must be specialized to that user, and that anonymous title, "user" must become "Jim", "Paula", or any other individual who will realistically have a different color preference than anyone else. This is a vital consideration that must not be left out of the architectural process.

And that is the conclusion of the color and color harmonies segment. Until next time!